Maker: Eilen from ERS Creative

One of my favorite things, that occurs on a daily basis in my home, is being privy to overhearing my kids conversations. My kids are so full of imagination, and it comes out in their conversations as they play. “Pretend I’m the queen, and I made you into an ice statue and you can’t move until the green branches are touching your feet”. “How about this is my chariot and we are flying in the sky above this big river and we are throwing down gold to the people below us.” “Pretend that a lion just came and ate up mom and now we are on our own and we get to eat nothing but candy for the rest of our lives.” {True story} Their imaginations are great until bedtime, when it becomes my job to make sure that the last things we talk about are NOT monsters and scary bugs and long drops off cliffs. At that point we might pull the book of fairy tales off the shelf, stories of forests with enchanted animals, beautiful princesses, bad guys that are always defeated by loves’ true kiss, or an awesome sword fight. I love to watch their faces as they picture what the words are saying. I love to see them close their eyes and picture themselves in the midst of the story. I love their imaginations. I love that they don’t feel the need to rein them in. I love that they don’t even know that their make believe worlds are truly a gift. Our featured maker this week Eilen has held onto her make believe worlds and translated things from her imagination into pieces of jewelry that give us all a glimpse into a pretend world that we have probably all forgotten. Meet Eilen and enjoy her art!

{Angie}

Please introduce yourself.

I’m Russian-born, American-made artist Eilen R. Stewart. My company ERS Creative is located in Los Angeles, California. I design and hand fabricate high fashion jewelry using green and recycled materials such as Bronze, Sterling Silver, as well as precious stones, meteorites and any other wonder of nature that I can find. ERS Creative is dedicated to keeping production of work in the United States to ensure superior quality as well as to support the home economy. Each piece is given individual attention from me and my small team to ensure highest quality of craftsmanship and aesthetic.

What do you make or do?

I design and hand make Bronze and Sterling Silver jewelry, with inspiration coming mainly from the bustling metropolis of Los Angeles, where I live and work, and the juxtaposed peaceful nature that I work hard to surround myself with. I always think: If I can’t live in an enchanted forest with magical creatures and fantastic plants, then I will just make myself a miniature, jewelry one.

Where can we find your work?

My work can be found on my website at ers-creative.com as well as in my Etsy shop at etsy.com/shop/erscreative.  Any social media fans can also follow ERS Creative on most platforms (Twitter, Instagram, FaceBook, Pinterest) under ERSCreative.

How long have you been creating and is creating your full time job?

I have always had ‘itchy hands’ I have to put them to good use, or they’ll put themselves to a destructive one.  As I struggled to find my place in the world, I found people really responded to jewelry I made, and it made me feel wonderful! One day my husband looked at me frantically searching for a new ‘real’ job and said: ‘I don’t understand: You’re going to make this stuff anyway, why don’t you just do it for a living?’ And that was it! ERS Creative was born. Now I do this full time, 40+ hours a week. But because I love to, I also teach a few classes on Jewelry and Ceramics at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center. It keeps me grounded and keeps me from accidentally turning into a hermit that never leaves her studio! 🙂

When you are not making stuff, what do you do?

Mostly when I’m not ‘making things,’ I’m making other things… I knit and sew, I love to work on my house and I love to garden. And in the end, it all intertwines together. I love to garden, but I also have to do it because I use some of the plants in my jewelry. Same thing goes for knitting, I love doing it, and it also inspires jewelry pieces. At the end of the day, I guess I’m just fundamentally a ‘maker’.

Where do you find your inspiration?

I love beautiful things. It’s so cliche, but I do!! I love how pretty the trees in the fall are and how fluffy foxes and bunnies are. I love how funny pugs are and how serious wolves are. I love the Renaissance and I love the Baroque even more. And the more I see these things, the more I have to surround myself with this beauty. I can’t have an entire zoo with every animal in the world, so I make animal jewelry; and now I have a Fox friend and a Snail friend and a Pig! I can’t live at the Palace of Versailles and wear ball gowns, so I make fancy earrings with gems and emulate small details and shapes that most call to me from that gone by era. Ultimately, I am forever remaking what I see around me into my own universe. And it thrills me that other people love my pieces and see their own happiness in them.

What other makers inspire you?

This is a hard one, as there are so many!!! I love the work of my former instructor Kurt Weiser, his attention to detail, craftsmanship and sense of humor are to die for. For the same reasons, I love the work of Mark Ryden. I am always curious to see the work of Jill Baker Gower. We went to school together and I feel like I have an idea of where she began as an artist and where she is now. And of course, my ultimate jewelry inspiration is Faberge!