Carla de la Cruz
Jewelry Through the Eyes and Hands of an Architect
Carla majored in Architecture Design at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco. While a student there, she took a jewelry art class in her senior year and discovered a connection with the process of jewelry design and craft. After working as an architect for five years, her creativity led her to jewelry designing so that she could get back to the idea of creating. Ever since that one jewelry making class, Carla has taught herself the ins and outs of the business and craft through reading, studying, and experimenting in her studio. Carla says, “I love the process of making and find my best work is done through experimentation.” Carla is a one woman show as she designs and creates all her own jewelry. Carla loves using a wide range of materials and enjoys making her own resin beads in order to control the size, shaped, and color she desires.
She considers her collection to be unique and says “I strive for designs that are balanced and have a timeless quality to them... all of my gold filled, silver or resin components and beads are hand crafted in my studio. Each piece is unique because I hand form them. The resin is all hand cast as well, and I also mix and add the color myself.” With her Hispanic and Greek background, Carla grew up in a very artistic and diverse environment as both sides of her family possessed strong creativity. Her father was a painter and cabinet maker while her Greek grandfather was a talented furniture maker. Much of her childhood was spent with tinkering in the garage with them as they created their masterpieces of art. Her design ideas evolve from a lot of experimentation and sketching, but she also finds inspiration from contemporary fashion, architecture, industrial design, and world cultures. Her trip to Greece was the most influential because she was inspired by the ancient Hellenic jewelry designs, which became the basis for her Pearl resin and gold cluster lines.
Carla currently has six distinct jewelry collections and happily shared with us her favorites from each. In the Architectural collection, she adores the Three Circles Necklace for its simplicity in the way the different sized circles flow together. In the Edie collection, the Large Flower Earrings are oversized gold plated flower shapes that are organic in shape and very complimentary to short hair. From the ever so popular Gold Cluster collection, Carla is partial to the Gold and Blue Clusters with Ellipses Necklace for its shape and how it delicately sits on the neckline. With its clusters of baby blue and gold Swarovski crystals throughout and gold ellipses framing them, this is surely a special occasion piece. She likes the playfulness of the Multi-Color Resin Bead Necklace from the Kaleidoscope collection for its resin beads of orange, light blue, yellow, and black with open circles, along a silver chain.
Turning to her Pearl Resin collection, the White Pearl Resin Necklace possesses a classic timeless quality that was inspired by Hellenic jewelry. 
This necklace features three white pearl resin circles hanging vertically to lie beautifully against the skin. Not to mention, this piece was also purchased by Halle Berry. Lastly, she favors the Long Elliptical and Circle Necklace from her Metal and Quartz 
collection just as much as we do. This was selected as an Editor’s Pick for its stunning simplicity and delicate beauty. The necklace is so lightweight one cannot even tell it is there except for its eye catching gold open circles and ellipses throughout. From the same collection, we also 
selected the Ellipses with Blue Quartz Drops, featuring soft blue crystal briolettes dangling from gold chains in between gold filled open ellipses. These earrings are minimal and sophisticated enough to add pizzazz to any outfit. The Purple Crystal Cluster Earrings are also quite mesmerizing as each earring is made of seven carefully cut purple quartz briolettes, arranged in a grapelike cluster. This pair is casual enough for everyday wear while adding a hint of color and glimmer.
Another one of our magazine’s favorites is the Gold Fill Circles with Black and Gold Clusters Earrings from the Gold Cluster collection, featuring a gorgeous gold filled hoop with clusters of gold and black Swarovski crystals hanging from gold chains in various lengths. These 3” long earrings shimmer and shine at every angle and are the perfect accessory to 
complete a black cocktail dress or evening gown. We also adore the Gold Fill Hoops with Pearl Resin Circles from her Pearl Resin collection. These earrings hang 3.25” long with a black pearl resin circle hanging in between gold fill hoops above and below. This is ideal for those times you want something a little more flirty and playful, yet modern and unique.
Her collection always changes to incorporate new styles, but keeps some older lines as their classic designs sell well. Her favorite jewelry designer is Karen Konzuk. Carla de la Cruz Jewelry can be found at Zipper Art Form and Function, Gallery of Functional Art, Zinc Details and Sumi’s in Silverlake. Her future plan is to continue selling to stores, with the hope of opening up her own studio with a storefront to showcase and sell her work. As of now, you can view her collection at www.carladelacruzjewelry.com.
