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5/12/2016
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Virginie Millefiori: Handmade Jewellery

Jewellery

With so many retailers selling mass produced jewellery, I find myself gravitating towards finding one-of-a-kind pieces. The process of finding unique pieces to treasure has left me with a tiny jewellery collection, if you can even call it that at all. Some of my pieces were bought out of frustration of not finding unique quality pieces and some were bought because of trends. Since the wave of the Marie Kondo way, I've pretty much stopped buying jewellery altogether in search of only quality pieces that makes me giddy or minimalist pieces that I can wear over and over. This past weekend, it finally happened...

I've been wanting to go to the Renegade Craft Fair for over a year now. I had signed up for their emails when I first moved to San Francisco. I was keen on going to the city's events then, but for some reason I've always managed to miss it. Luckily, I woke up earlier than usual on Sunday and randomly decided to go through my less important subscription emails before my inbox got out of hand and saw that the fair was in town. Considering I have a few thousand unread subscription emails in that inbox, it was quite a miracle that I even saw it.

I'm so glad the fair lived up to my inflated expectations of it. There were so many creative sellers at the fair who had amazing high quality products. It's a shame I didn't have deeper pockets. Then I met Virginie Millefiori, a super sweet jewellery maker and designer based in New York.

At first, I was drawn to Virginie's whimsical Kate Spade-like creations on display, then intrigued by her french accent which made me feel Canadian again. Her story about finding her passion in jewellery making was a long but inspiring one, from studying engineering to a career in marketing, to learning how to make jewellery in Paris, and starting her business in her NYC apartment.

When Virginie told me about how she made the jewellery by soldering and polishing silver and gold and filling different colors of enamel into each piece, I was so amazed because you really couldn't tell that the pieces were handmade. There is so much work that goes into making each piece, I thought, wearing them would be extra special.

I had a really hard time choosing from this adorable collection. After spending a good half hour chatting with Virginie, trying on pieces, and deciding on which pieces to buy, my friend and I settled on these very wearable glitter earrings and this super cute kite necklace. They were just too special to leave behind.

Wearing: Virginie Millefiori earrings and necklace, Zara top