Levens Jewels X ROWSE

Shaping beauty


Every season, we like to collaborate with artists whose work we admire to create something special for our community. This year, we have asked Barcelona-based actress and jewellery designer Mar del Hoyo, founder of Levens Jewels, to craft a series of unique ceramic pieces that reflect our mutual passion for raw beauty. As a result, a collection of colourful and playful handmade vanity trays in which you can display both your skincare products and jewellery. Read our interview with Mar and learn more about her creative process, femininity, and nature as an endless source of inspiration.

Levens Jewels X ROWSE

Levens Jewels X ROWSE

Shaping beauty


Levens Jewels X ROWSE

Every season, we like to collaborate with artists whose work we admire to create something special for our community. This year, we have asked Barcelona-based actress and jewellery designer Mar del Hoyo, founder of Levens Jewels, to craft a series of unique ceramic pieces that reflect our mutual passion for raw beauty. As a result, a collection of colourful and playful handmade vanity trays in which you can display both your skincare products and jewellery. Read our interview with Mar and learn more about her creative process, femininity, and nature as an endless source of inspiration.


ROWSE

1. Tell us about your first contact with ceramics. 

MAR
Levens is the name of the town where I made my first earrings. I had never been interested in ceramics before, but on that trip, I met a ceramic artist named Magalis Stage. She showed me her workshop and her work, and gave me my first piece of clay so that I could try to do "something". Without giving it much thought, I made three pairs of earrings. At that time, I was not aware, but it was an eye-opening experience, because somehow a new avenue of artistic expression opened up for me. I had always considered myself a bit clumsy with my hands and I did not imagine that I could create something beautiful with them, much less that they could become my main work tool. After that trip, I signed up for classes in Barcelona, I started making earrings non-stop and I turned my house into a small workshop. Giving the brand this name was my way of paying tribute to her, to that first contact with ceramics.
ROWSE

2. Why did you chose jewellery?

MAR
Since I was very little, I have felt a real fascination for jewellery. I remember being very happy, rummaging through my mother's and grandmother's jewellery cases over and over again. I used to try everything, so I guess that’s why I did chose jewellery in the first place.
ROWSE

3. Do you think of jewellery pieces as some kind of personal amulets? 

MAR
Yes, exactly. For me jewellery goes beyond fashion. I see my pieces as small wearable sculptures that accompany you on a daily basis. Small amulets that remind us of people we love or important moments that we want to remember. That to me is really empowering and meaningful.
ROWSE

4. What is your most special piece of jewellery and what’s the story behind it?

MAR
The first pair of earrings I made comes to mind because they marked a before and after in my life but since then, I have created many more that have helped me define myself as an artist and find the spirit of my project.I have a special affection for pieces like the Bits Hoops which, despite their simplicity, have evolved over several collections and from them I have created many other styles. Every season, I have new crushes though. Now, for example, I am very into glass. I am having a great time working on this material, and the pieces seem very special and flattering to me.
ROWSE

5. We would like to know more about your process. What do you look for when creating new designs?

MAR
I usually start looking for something that inspires me and pushes me to create. It can be a song, a theme, a mood, a phenomenon of nature or a type of woman. Anything that arouses curiosity or interest in me can be the driving force. During the creative process, I make a lot of pieces and then I select what works and what doesn't until I find a coherent set. I always try to highlight what differentiates me from the rest and what represents me.
ROWSE

6. As an actress, you are used to create different characters. Are you interested in exploring femininity through your designs and Levens’ visual communication?

MAR
Creating the entire brand image is one of the parts I enjoy the most about my job and surely the one that is most related to my actress side. In the end, the universe that you generate around a product is actually a story with particular characters with whom you feel identified and inspired, right? I believe that femininity is an endless theme and exploring or representing it from a more diverse and inclusive perspective is very necessary and helps to free ourselves from unfair pressures.
“Small amulets that remind us of people we love or important moments that we want to remember. That to me is really empowering and meaningful.”
ROWSE

7. We love that you embrace imperfections and irregularities that occur during the manual process and make each piece unique. 

MAR
Yes, aesthetically I am always more attracted to irregular or imperfect pieces. To create I don't like to feel that I have everything under control. The feeling that I still have a lot to learn technically triggers my imagination. Being surprised during the creation process of each piece keeps me alert and connected. That is why introducing new materials and techniques in each collection is necessary to me.
ROWSE

8. Any daily rituals you have? How do you like to take care of yourself? 

MAR
A good bath or a long shower relaxes me a lot. I really like taking care of my skin and I can notice the benefits when I am consistent with my beauty rituals. I try to use natural ingredients and products with textures and aromas that inspire wellbeing and help me slow down at the end of the day. That's why I love ROWSE so much.
ROWSE

9. What can you tell us about the series you’ve created for ROWSE?

MAR
I've been making ceramic masks for a while, it amuses me to imagine faces and it's a way of taking a break and disconnect from jewellery from time to time. For this collaboration, I have created a small series of ceramic vanity trays with different faces. The idea was to work with very simple shapes and play with colour. I wanted to unite both Rowse and Levens universes through these decorative and functional pieces in which you can display both your beauty products and jewellery.
ROWSE

10. What will inspire your next collection? What’s next for Levens, and you, in the upcoming months?

MAR
To create the new Levens jewellery collection I have been inspired by the Salnitre caves, an impressive landscape within the interior of the Montserrat mountain, in Barcelona. For me, nature has always been an infinite source of inspiration, especially in terms of shapes and colours. On this occasion, I wanted to experiment with the shapes of the different rock formations, the ancient stalagmites and stalactites that decorate the cave and turn it into such a mysterious place.
Image 1
Image 2
Image 1
Image 2
Image 1
Image 1
Image 2
Image 1
Image 1
Image 1
Image 1
Image 2