News: Gerardi Setting School
01.2026 - 03.2026
I am writing from Rome, Italy as I head into my last week of an intensive high jewelry stone setting program. The experience has been unbelievably rewarding and I will certainly write more about my time here over the coming months as I reflect and take the learnings with me into the next inevitable phase of Embirikos' growth.
I chose Gerardi because it is regarded as Italy's number one jewelry school, and Italy of course is famed for excellence in craft. Not to mention that the school in is Rome, the eternal city that is brimming with history, art and culture- a much needed refresher.
For those of you reading who have joined along my journey, I'd like to briefly explain why I make jewelry and to what end. I began making jewelry formally while I was studying architecture at an art school (The Rhode Island School of Design). The two fields are closely related although at opposing scales. Eventually I realized that focusing on jewelry would allow to express myself most efficiently and directly. The greatest factor being the intimacy surrounding the world of the jewel. Everything about jewelry can be made as personal and meaningful as you would like it to be, down to the micro millimeter, down to the physical and metaphysical constitution of the metals and stones you chose. T
The only thing keeping a jeweler (or artist) from total freedom of infinite expression in mastery of craft. Art school was a great foundation to experiment, to understand how to get to the "why" of creation and expression, but the Gerardi School is deliverance.
News: From Tigers to Leopards
08.04.25
I am looking forward to sharing more on the inspiration behind my latest piece, the tiger ring, and on where it's going. The original ring is a miniature sculpture of a tiger that comfortably wraps around the finger. It took 3 weeks of hand carving under high magnification to perfect. A combination of my Bornean background - having a mother who told me stories about how she grew up in the jungle, taking in wounded and vulnerable wild animals and playing with seahorses on the beach, her father eventually founding the first orangutan sanctuary where she released her beloved pet "Jimmy" after he grew up- and my deep love for nature gives me an inherent interest in conservation.
The tiger ring is such a comforting presence to wear, making me reminisce on my deep love for animals that I cultivated as a child but grew separated from as I got older and eventually felt completely removed from after living in New York for 5 years. I decided it's time to reconnect with my roots in a different way than I had in previous collections which had centered on spirituality and culture. It's time to bring back my connection to nature. This time, through figurative representation, and of course continuing the use of pure, natural, and ethically sourced materials. If I can provide people with the comfort of a strong majestic presence through jewelry, there is no reason not to solidify that feeling than through connecting it to action that will go straight back to the source.
This led me to collaborate with Overstories, a team of environmentalists actively working on creating a royalty for the leopard print. My following release- a capsule collection of luxurious stone studded golden leopards - will donate a portion of the sales to aid on the ground efforts protecting these endangered animals. I will continue to make the tiger ring, a solid silver or gold staple piece. Lions are currently available on custom request. Please follow the link below to find out more about Overstories, and their initiative "Imprint".
-Ariana
The northern Chinese (top), African (left) and Amur (right) leopard subspecies.
The Animal Kingdom
I have based some of my research for details on photographs by Joel Sartore. His incredibly detailed photos show the differences between subspecies.
Check out his Photoark below, a quest to document all animal species before they disappear.