Recognized worldwide, San Francisco designer Masha Archer has created an extraordinary style in jewelry; when not worn her pieces rest in cases on walls, like icons and other precious objects of art.
Her necklaces are breathtaking; coral, lapis, pearl, jade, amber, bone, African Trade beads, and turquoise touch the skin. Her art is an embodiment of the spirit of color reborn into the shape of beads, whose function is that of body sculpture.
Extending the horizons of our vision beyond the safety of compositions that match or “go together”, because of similarity and uniformity, Masha introduces the viewer to elements that are diverse, not only in color, shape and texture, but in design and cultural origin, mixing materials that span time and many ethnicities.Â
The resulting piece momentarily takes us aback, and we are submerged in a rich sensory experience of vibrant colors, patterns and shapes that at first seem impossible, but command a desire to see more, to comprehend something new.
Any initial feelings of forces working against each other, give way to a coherent wholeness, and anything one thought one knew about design falls away, and is reorganized into a higher sense of order, in which the individual components of the necklace at once communicate amongst themselves, creating a symphony; the entire piece greater than the sum of it’s parts.
Inspired by music, Opera in particular, Masha says,
“I see melodies and repetition of themes in pieces, and I work to achieve certain harmonies and rhythms….my mother transmitted to me that colors are to be heard on groups and as a melody, and the same notes and the same colors that will interact differently and combine perpetually with each other, producing entirely different music.”
To describe Masha’s jewelry, we must create a new language, one that speaks to the grandeur of the human spirit.
