Meet Up-and-Coming Jewelry Designer Mel Cuevas

Posted by ricky26 on February 12th, 2014

Mel Cuevas began working as an editor. This has had a definite design impact on her work. Because she works to eliminate as many unnecessary words in the copy she is editing, this has translated into the clean, spare lines of her Majestical jewelry designs. She isn’t always able to work on her jewelry designs because editing assignments come in. Editing is Cuevas’ bread and butter while jewelry design allows her to satisfy her need to create. As you look at her work, you may be surprised to see a few particular design elements.

What She Designs
Mel Cuevas’ work is clean and spare. You won’t find any extras on any of her designs. Instead, she tends to draw inspiration from sculptural and industrial jewelry designs, which work well with other types of jewelry. Her jewelry designs can be worn by both men and women.

Cuevas has chosen to design only cuffs, bracelets, and necklaces. Each piece is made when it has been ordered, which could make rings and their sizing a problem. It is much simpler for Cuevas to design only the larger pieces. As customers order them, they can be made and shipped out. To date, she has five bracelets and three necklaces in her jewelry line, called Cova. Cuevas has decided to donate a portion of the jewelry purchases to victims and survivors of super typhoon Yolanda, which struck the Philippines so disastrously in late 2013.

Her Early Years
Architects Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry have inspired Cuevas in her line of high quality fashion necklaces design. As you look at her work, you’ll see that much of what she has created looks industrial, with spare, clean lines.

Because she is an editor, this takes priority over womens fashion jewelry design. While she worked as editor in chief for Metro Magazine, she took a jewelry design class in which she used metal components and beads. She took those pieces for consignment to Firma and Souk, which has since closed. She began getting a large amount of work at the magazine, meaning she needed to turn her focus to that.

Next, Cuevas became editor in chief at Inquirer’s Look Magazine. Once she had been editing for Look Magazine for a while, she resumed sketching design ideas. She also met a new jewelry maker with whom she felt comfortable working. He made up several prototypes of her jewelry design ideas.

How She Comes Up with Designs
Along with the industrial and sculptural inspirations she draws from, Cuevas looks to other sources for her design ideas. These might be nature, the Seven Wonders of the World and everyday objects that she sees, such as nails.

Her editorial experience has a strong influence on her designs. She also works to create designs that can be worn with other pieces she has created or even with other pieces of jewelry.

Some of Her Work
Cuevas has designed the Hive Cuff, composed of a curved piece of metal attached to a short, straight piece. Two tiny pyramids connect the bar to the half-circle. Her Ball cuff features two hammered spheres meant to rest on the wrist.

She created a pearl choker using freshwater pearls. This choker has a tiny clasp that looks just like a nail, meant to dangle down the front of your throat. To get an idea of how her work might look, visit majestical.com.