Erin Tracy’s studio is immaculate. Her basement room of an awesomely old building in Liberty Village gets a surprising amount of sunlight that illuminates the white walls, white floors, and white furniture. Like any perfect hostess, Tracy asks me to excuse the mess on her work table that has a glorious assortment of gems, settings, and intricate tools for design. This is the birth place of every shiny piece of Erin Tracy Designs jewellery.
Jewellery designer Erin TracyKnown for amazing craftsmanship and her use of unique materials, Tracy designs everything under the label. After leaving the advertising program at the Ontario College of Art and Design, she decided to relax for a summer by enrolling in a jewellery class.
“As soon as I did the jewellery class I was like ‘Okay, this is it. This is what I’m going to do,’” says Tracy. “So the next year I enrolled in the classes they offer which is Jewellery and Metal Smithing and ended up getting a Bachelor of Design and starting my business. But it was that initial class that opened me up to what jewellery was really all about.”
Starting her business in 2003 (and celebrating 9 years in September), Tracy designs with a clean aesthetic in mind and is all about creating interest in her designs through the unique materials she uses. Mixing metals with stones, diamonds with acrylic, concrete with precious stones are juxtapositions that Tracy loves integrating in her pieces. Calling her designs “pretty, but with an edge,” Tracy favours pastel summery colours like aqua, pinks, and purples. One of her signature processes is the casting of stones in poured concrete– an idea that took Tracy some time to perfect.
“I always experiment with new materials,” she says. “I go to hardware stores and try to find new things that can be used to make jewellery. I started sampling and mixing concrete to find the right consistency. But it’s exactly the same stuff you’d find in the sidewalk. I put acrylic into it so it’s not as brittle, but it’s basically the same stuff.”
Her concrete designs are among my favourites. Not only are they durable (important for a klutz like me), but just so unexpected.
Tracy’s rings made from poured concreteWith a design process that compares to that of clothing designers, Tracy is regularly taking pictures of furniture, architecture, outfits, colours, and anything that captures her attention. Using the photos to discover what might translate into jewellery is her biggest trial. Interestingly enough, photos of other pieces of jewellery never make it into her inspiration album.
A huge fan of custom work, Tracy encourages clients to visit the studio for a chat about what they’re looking for. Learning about their likes, dislikes, lifestyles, and visions for adornment helps Tracy render different ideas in the beginning stages of the process.
“It’s a pretty fun process,” she says. “I do a lot of wedding pieces of course, but a lot of the time clients have been given a gemstone and want me to creating an interesting, unique setting to show it off. I love custom work because I like working with people who are excited about what we’re creating. You get to really know someone. When I design my collection, I’m designing based on what I like but when I’m designing for a specific person it’s all about what they like and want.”
While her collections are released in time for the Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter seasons, Tracy says her inspiration and creation never stop. New products are always popping up between collections if she feels moved to create them.
“My creative process is so innate at this point,” Tracy says. “I can’t even say what I’m thinking while I create because I just do it without thinking about it. I know what I like and what I don’t…it’s like second nature to me.”
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Bianca Teixeira writes about style for Toronto Standard. Follow her on Twitter at @BeeLauraTee.
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