By Vanessa Packer
Photo Credit: Harper’s Bazaar Brazil

OVER A LUNCH OF SMASHED AVOCADO and a kale salad at The Butcher’s Daughter in Nolita, bonberi caught up with Canadian jeweler Arielle De Pinto who recently revealed her Spring 2014 collection. Pinto, whose work has been featured in the pages of ELLE, Bullett and VOGUE ITALIA, has earned a cult following thanks to her anachronistic style of jewelry where she spins hard metals into crochet-like baubles. But the Montreal dweller, who has found herself on and off the road over the last six years, has passions that lie beyond the studio. Here, the former fine arts student revealed everything from the challenges of keeping vegetarian to her interest in the art of Reiki. How does she keep balanced amidst a busy schedule of work and travel?  Read on to discover what keeps her centered and fit and her go-to recipe.

Your jewelry is very unconventional in its texture. How did you start crocheting metal? 
A lot of my stitches can be done by anyone who knows how to crochet. I’m not doing anything super fancy with it.  As long as they can deal with the tension on their hands, I could train them how to crochet metal.

So anyone can crochet jewelry?
Well, it is hard on your hands. There’s no elasticity and it’s heavy. If you were knitting with a piece of yarn, the stitch would stay and wouldn’t fall out when you let it go, which can happen when you work with metal.

What metals do you work with and how do you choose them?
Mainly silver and steel. Steel because it’s hypoallergenic and super strong. I can process it in many colors, and it’s not like brass. Brass can cause a reaction on the skin.

I noticed you have a lot of rose gold and dip-dyed pieces in your new collection.
I featured for SS14 the rose gold spectrum in a silver color palette because I’ve never been able to get those colors before. I like pairing rose gold with green or something old-fashioned and vintage-looking, matching a salmon with a turquoise. Kenzo does a lot of complimentary colors similar to that. 

Where do you look for inspiration?
Kenzo reinterpreted the brand so beautifully. It’s so colorful.  I’ve always loved bright gold, but if I show that to a shop they always ask me to oxidize it, which I like because it gives so many different tones. When I’m developing a new collection I’m trying to see what kind of textures I can emulate and what new stitch techniques I can develop. I like to reference old crochet books. The more time I have to focus and develop, the richer a new collection will be. If I create a new technique then it weaves itself in.

There’s an unfinished quality about your work. The pieces change and come apart a little.
Well they stretch. If you think about a sweater, you wash it and you lie it flat to keep its shape as best as possible. If you hang your knits, they begin to warp. Jewelry does that too. You can’t think of it as a bad thing. 

Do you ever get commissioned to do traditional pieces?
If someone asks to borrow a show piece for their wedding, I can work off that, or I can consult with them. I have enough show pieces right now that I can change them a little bit.

Changing gears a little, how did you get into Reiki massage?
I would be lying if I said I have a daily meditation practice but I find the principle of Reiki to be so intriguing. A friend invited me to The Rose Healing Workshop, and that’s where I met Padma Rose. I did the Rose Healing Session with her where we did a lot of breath work and it really had impact. 

Have you been to other retreats that affected you spiritually?
Jon Santos and Peter Coffin run The Last Weekend where they rent a camp in the Catskills for the weekend and invite friends to do workshops. I did an accessories making workshop, but they have Reiki, yoga, gin making, paper dress workshops and makeup workshops. It’s an easy way to learn something without having a necessary end goal. Popping into these workshops, you learn so much about another person’s approach just by standing beside them and watching them make something 

Does your energy work ever spill over into your jewelry making? 
I need space and time to reflect over things when I’m designing and there is the connection with being heavily reliant on my hands.

How about fitness, what type of workout do you do?
Yoga and Pilates. Crocheting, working on the computer and traveling can be hard on the body and Pilates helps a lot with that. 

Do you have a health secret you can’t live without?
I heavily rely on endorphins. I cook a lot. I’m a very interpretive cook. I can make something from anything. 

What do you like to cook?
If I have the prep time, my favorite thing to make are these collard wraps. I sauté oyster and shitake mushrooms in liquid aminos, cook lentils with garlic and ginger. Then I add sprouts, tomato and avocado and wrap it up in a collard green leaf. I do it differently every time, but when I make those I’m good. It satisfies me, I don’t crave sugar–and I’m a candy freak! 

Is there anything you avoid? 
I avoid soy. I don’t eat it because it makes me break out. Gluten too at times. 

Do you cook mostly vegetarian? 
I was vegetarian for fifteen years from when I was ten until I was twenty-five years old. I don’t even know how to cook meat. 

What made you switch?
Well, I was eating healthy, but think I didn’t really know how to properly feed myself. I ate a lot of soy and a lot of bread. It’s like anything, in moderation it’s not bad but I developed all sorts of allergies to my entire grocery list. Maybe it was stress too but I had to eliminate a lot out of my diet. I got a blood allergy test and it freaked me out, because I was having bad acne because of all these mild allergies. When I cut a lot of those things out, mainly soy and gluten, it took away the acne and cleared up my skin. Now, I eat those things occasionally.

When you switched to being vegetarian, was it difficult for your body to adjust?
Not really. At first, I ate a lot of meat, but just as quickly I was off it again. I knew it would be like that, that I would be over it. 

What’s a typical day like meal wise for you?
I like eggs a lot and I change up how I make them. I make a very good omelet–thin with toasted pumpkin seeds and greens in the middle. My roommates make fun of me because I’m always eating kale in the morning. Greens for breakfast. Sometimes I’ll skip lunch because I’m usually working. If I’m working late, I’ll pick up Pho for dinner. If I have time, I cook. The collard wraps or soba noodles with kale, something simple and quick. I have a magic bullet at the studio too, so I’ll make something in that during the day.

What is the biggest food trend in Montreal right now?
For years, Montreal never had food trucks, it was illegal. They finally started doing them this summer. When you think about food trucks, you think about small businesses with low overhead making affordable street food, which is great. But in Montreal they have all these rules. You have to have run a restaurant for a certain number years, so all these trucks are gourmet. If you want to get a taco, it’s like $16 for one taco. It’s not for the emerging food entrepreneur. 

Is there a health food scene in Montreal?
Montreal is a little behind. There aren’t as many, but there are those places. Mostly there’s good Vietnamese food. There used to be lots of ethnic mom and pop places, but now it’s all trendy coffee shops. I don’t want to feel like I’m in Brooklyn when I’m in Montreal.

Arielle De Pinto’s jewelry is available at Opening Ceremony and Assembly New York.