Karenna Maraj

Biography

Karenna is a talented jewelry designer who has taken her experiences and techniques to the next level of jewelry design.  Initially her work began with a few loyal customers and friends.  After getting incredible and immediate feedback she continued pushing her creative and technical work to new limits. Her passion has now transformed into many collections of jewelry.  She creates everything from ready-made to one-of-a-kind jewelry.  Karenna works professionally with clients and shops to make specialty and custom jewelry.  She has a variety of styles and price points sure to please any customer.

After successfully completing her degree in Jewelry and Metalsmithing at Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), Karenna started working as a costume jewelry designer for various prestigious companies in New England.  She learned invaluable skills about trend, fashion, color and presentation throughout these years.  Her professional skills go beyond the diploma and are enriched through experience. Karenna’s costume jewelry experience has allowed her to learn jewelry techniques beyond the typical silversmith’s knowledge.  She has taken her expertise and created custom, handmade jewelry designs.

Karenna uses a variety of materials in each of her jewelry collections such as: fine silver, 24k gold, copper, brass, nickel and base metal plated.  You can view and buy her jewelry online or at her booth during one of her craft shows or you can even host your own Karenna Maraj Jewelry party.

Statement

My designs originated during my senior year at RISD for my thesis project.  I began first by deciding to use one shape and see how many different variations I could make.  I chose to use a circle as my basic shape and thought that through manipulation and mixing metals I would be able to achieve a distinguished look and feel.  I was inspired to mix metals by the Victorian Era and their use of brass, iron and even steel to create jewelry.  My idea was to apply the same technique by using any combination of gold, silver, brass, copper, nickel, bronze and even zinc washers to create refreshing and remarkable designs.  As a way to push my imagination even further I completed a study with different sized metal link combinations by building models and taking photos of them document compositions.  Through this process I gained a better understanding of what arrangements would work best.

After graduation from RISD I continued using circles and mixing metals because of all the excited and positive feedback that I was receiving for my jewelry designs.  By pushing my original designs even further, I created more wearable and affordable jewelry. My Jewelry continues to grow by building and or combining ideas from my existing work and continually exceeding the limits.  The exploration of endless possibilities keeps me inspired and motivated.