Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Serena Van rensselaer. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Serena thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

I am presently working on a most meaningful and inspired project. I have always loved the book, Le Petit Prince, and the quote below from this book inspires me daily, and reminds me to follow my heart always.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

This project is a true love story, filled with inspiration, magic, profound challenges, deep growing pains, insightful lessons and so much more.
The single most motivating factor is love; A love for the creative process; A love for my chosen work; A love for a favorite book of mine – The Little Prince.
My story began over 20 years ago, when I first sketched jewelry designs inspired by The Little Prince and the enchanting drawings in the book. At the time, I had a small shop with a partner and was creating and selling jewelry out of the shop. I shared the designs with a few people, who encouraged me to try and create them. I had no idea how to go about contacting the right people to obtain the rights to use the designs from the book.
As happens in life, unexpected events occurred, I gave up the shop, got divorced and started teaching. I stopped designing and creating jewelry, as I devoted my energy and love to raising my son and teaching.

In 2021, this idea re-surfaced. I don’t quite know why, but something within profoundly inspired me to explore this idea. I started thinking about the designs that I had sketched so long ago. I re-read The Little Prince, a book that I had long cherished and have read with my son many times. An inexplicable desire began to grow within me, I was hooked. New designs danced in my imagination continuously, so I sketched and I dreamed on paper. Through what felt like a magical series of events, I attained a license agreement with The Little Prince. It truly was and is a dream come true. I did not know at the time, the sheer will, perseverance, and courage that I would need to tap deep within myself to bring this dream to life.
I feel deeply privileged to have this collaboration. My deepest desire with this project is to translate the magic of the book into timeless artisan jewelry pieces.

I donate a portion of sales from this collection to the non-profit organization, Read Alliance. Read Alliance works to accelerate the educational trajectory of early elementary students through the power of teens who provide one-to-one literacy tutoring in under-resourced communities.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am a jewelry designer, and fell in love with designing & making jewelry many moons ago, in San Miguel d’Allende, Mexico. I have always loved creating, and am attracted to working with all different mediums. I lived in the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas & St. John where I co-owned an art gallery. I then moved to New York City and Brooklyn, where I had a studio for many years. I created jewelry, taught art to kids, and taught jewelry design to adults.

The pandemic hit, and life changed dramatically.
While home, attempting to teach remotely, and helping my son with remote learning, I re-visited a jewelry collection idea inspired by one of my favorite books, The Little Prince, as I shared!
So, I shifted my energy to focus only on designing and creating jewelry.

Presently, Aziz and I moved out of the city, and live upstate, surrounded by nature. I create jewelry collections inspired by ideas, concepts, or things that move or captivate me. I am always designing new pieces for my collaboration with Le Petit Prince.

I am also creating several other collections that I adore:
I collaborated with master wax carver, Aurelio Rivera, to launch a very special jewelry collection inspired by nature.

Impression of Love Collection:
Art created in nature – Lovingly translated into jewelry

The Inspiration
Using only the flipping of his fins, the male Japanese Puffer Fish works twenty-four hours a day for an entire week to sculpt a seven foot diameter sublime masterpiece on the ocean floor to attract a mate. This extraordinary and natural symbol of love captured our hearts.

The Story
When Aurelio (master wax carver) & Serena (jewelry designer) discovered photographs of these ephemeral sculptures, they fell in love with the exquisite patterns of these suboceanic mandalas. They were inspired to collaborate and design a jewelry collection honoring the artistic & devoted ingenuity of the Japanese Puffer Fish.

I am also creating a collection inspired by angel numbers
I had a dream about the designs in this collection, and woke up and started sketching!
Angel numbers are repeating sequences of numbers. Many believe that encountering multiple repeating digits, like 333, is a sign, and interpret this instant of synchronicity as a message from the universe. Think of them as meaningful coincidences, ones which you can ascribe as much meaning as you want.

The most recent collection that I am working on is the LoVe Collection. A collection inspired by Love, and sketches that I created with the word Love.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I have had so many times when I have had to pivot, and am grateful for them all, even the most challenging and excruciatingly painful ones. For these are the ones that have inspired the most growth, and where I have learned the deepest lessons. I have seen and felt that when one door closes, and all seems to be at a loss, there is always light and abundance ahead. I have 2 stories to share that illustrate this. The first is connected to Le Petit Prince Collection. I had invested time and money working with a manufacturer at the beginning of that journey, and had created perhaps a dozen designs. Communication started breaking down, and I was not getting the quality that I needed in my finished pieces. I ignored the signs, that I should move on, and find another manufacturer. I kept trying and pushing, until I realized beyond a doubt that it was not a constructive or productive relationship. I could not continue to work with them. I had to start over – completely. I lost money. I lost time. I was scared. But, I knew in my heart that it was not the right fit. I persevered, I followed my intuition, and I was very careful with who I chose to proceed with.
I know have a wonderful team that I work with and I feel incredibly grateful every day for them.

The 2nd story is personal.
During the pandemic, Aziz struggled so much with school as so many kids did. My ex-husband had moved upstate, since his work became entirely remote. Aziz was a freshman in high school in NYC. Life was challenging – there was turmoil around us, some violence at school, and he needed to make a change. His dad & I decided to see if he would like to finish high school upstate. He looked at the school and loved it. I quit my teaching job, and we found a house to rent in one day. We adore our house, Aziz loves his school, and I have a beautiful huge studio. Just the studio is almost the same size as the entire apt that we had in Brooklyn, which we did love and miss. But living in nature is inspiring & healing for us, and it has encouraged me to take my business to the next level.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

I think that at this point in time, people are craving to have personal connections – to their food source, their clothing or adornment choices, local businesses, and to engage in meaningful interactions. I love living in a community that celebrates and honors this. There are farmer markets, art fairs, flea markets, live music, theater, and free trade/swap groups. I feel society can thrive when we foster and nurture relations within our communities. We can all support our local businesses and local restaurants. We can all give back, and help within our communities.

Personally, I feel grateful that I can attend shows with my collections and interact and share my work with people.
In such challenging times in our world, I feel creating jewelry that is personal or nostalgic on some level touches people. It can remind one of cherished memories or bring them back to their inner self. It can help one connect with their heart and with love.
In a society that is so busy, one in which we are all quite tied to technology – something about holding and wearing a piece of jewelry inspired by a book or by sculpture made by a fish feels deeply soulful.
Any medium or form of art that can affect people on some personal level is important. One of my customers who happens to be a writer and a translator, (she translates books from English to Italian) told me she felt that I that I had “translated” the beloved Le Petit Prince book into jewelry – wearable art for all to enjoy. This was one of the most beautiful compliments to receive.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.serenavr.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/serenavanrensselaer/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/serena.vanrensselaer
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serenavanrensselaer/
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Gold Star w/diamond inset – Timor Raz All other jewelry images – Alain Simic