Zoe Cassavetes and Ileana Makri Release a Fine Jewelry Ode to Greek Record

Cassavetes and Makri were being launched by a mutual pal in the course of the pandemic and rapidly bonded in excess of their shared adore of jewelry and Greek background. “Ileana is the coolest girl I have at any time achieved,” suggests Cassavetes. The two labored on the collection solely above Zoom, a meeting of the minds that Cassavetes claims, “actually saved my brain during lockdown.”

Makri, who has worked with talismans like the evil eye in the past, dug deep into Greek background to unearth victory symbols to use in the selection. “I arrived across a collection of banners lifted by several leaders of the Greek Revolution, and I thought they ended up certainly stunning. They all experienced that deeper feeling of flexibility that led to naming this capsule assortment Liberty,” claims Makri. “Each piece is an ode to independence which, for me, is the finest worth in lifetime. With out it, there is no existence.”

The collection is a heritage lesson wrapped in diamonds and gold. There is the Jesus Christ Victorious pendant, crafted out of 18k white gold and showcasing blue sapphires in a cross shape. It symbolizes the flag elevated by Standard Dimitrios Plapoutas through the uprising of the metropolis of Tripolitsa in 1818. Yet another wonderful and reality-packed piece is a ring based on the Flag of Kastelorizo. Made from 18k white gold and enamel, it incorporates a heart manufactured from rubies to symbolize enjoy, and an anchor and cross made of blue diamonds that signal hope and faith. The rings and pendants open like a locket, very similar to a poison ring—a design and style that retains some thing beneath the bezel—a motif that Cassavetes and Makri chose to use in the course of the assortment.

Cassavetes, who is 50 % Greek on her father’s facet (her father was film director John Cassavetes), took the project as an option to dig deeper into her background. “Of training course, getting Greek, it is an homage to my roots,” she says. “It is exciting to me simply because as you get older, you’re like, ‘What is my history yet again?’ An individual told you [about it] when you were younger, then you are living your everyday living, and ultimately, you’re like, ‘Oh, I’d enjoy to master extra about exactly where I arrived from and understand about these men and women.’ Also, it is an unbelievable civilization.”

Cassavetes types the items in a pretty contemporary way, throwing a pendant necklace in excess of a white T-shirt or wearing a ring with a common white button-down. And although her appreciate of all points Greek is from her father, her obsession with jewelry hails from her mom, the actor Gena Rowlands. “I appear from an old college mom and grandmother who donned a large amount of jewellery all the time. It appeared seriously ordinary and incredibly highly effective and stylish,” claims Cassavetes. “Life is too small, so let me just place on all my jewelry and just wear it!”