Aparna Halpé's Etsy store is called Melisma Wire Work. What caught my attention was her heritage. Aparna is from Sri Lanka, the fabled land of gemstones (see my past post Sapphire Mining in Sri Lanka). Her designs reflect that influence.

Her interest in jewelry began when her boyfriend gave her a gift of pearls, crystals and tools. She said, "As I mastered the art of wire-wrapped jewelry, I found myself traveling back in time, to the exquisite pieces that my mother and grandmother wore."

She too loves history as I do. Her new collection shown here from her store as well as her Flickr site, are inspired by the Victoria and Albert Museum's Maharaja Exhibition : The Splendor of Indian Royal Courts which I also wrote about last year.  Aparna tells me the exhibition will travel to Toronto this November.


As you can see from her designs, Aparna has done a wonderful job of creating just the type of pieces you'd associate from her part of the world. They evoke the past and the exotic - all imminently wearable for today. Some of her designs are also available from the Purple Thumb in Toronto.


She used to be a full time musician before switching to academic studies. She is currently doing her PhD in Post-colonial literature at the University of Toronto. She explains the inspiration behind her shop name, " A melisma is a melodic line that ornaments a single syllable of text in Gregorian Chant."



"Although these days they use it to describe the long ornamented vocal improvisations on a single note that you get in R&B music. It seemed like the perfect metaphor for a wire worker -- a song and a single line taking flight."  You have to agree, she has in a way, set her designs to music! The violin pendant design below was inspired by her violinista buddies!


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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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