Angelegacy Designs is a fusion of my fondness for nature and my appreciation for design and fashion, all put together in a very down to earth yet exciting union of metal and stone. I love bold statements. I create pieces that stand out. They are either very bright and tribal looking with a bohemian flair, or they are sleek and elegant with a more modern edge. Women, throughout history, across time and all cultures have always used adornments. I, myself, love to adorn myself with jewelry and great clothing. There is nothing more satisfying to me than to see other women wearing my jewelry to enhance their beauty and presence. Women can tap into the more daring side of themselves without being gaudy. My jewelry balances being different, unique, big and exciting, yet at the same time being safe. There is always a very down to earth feeling in all my art, because that is me.
My name is Angelina Rasmussen. I am the designer and creator for Angelegacy Designs. Making Jewelry has been a life's journey for me. It all started when I learned to macramé when I was a teenager and sold my jewelry at Phish concerts on the west coast. That is worlds away from what I do now, but it was the beginning. Making jewelry seems to be this thing that I will pick up doing and then I will stop and I will pick up again. Every time creating a new style that is very representative of the person that I am at that time when I decide to pick it up again. The thing that has always been constant throughout my jewelry history, though, has been stones. When I was a child we would take road trips a lot. We were usually travelling in California, either visiting grandparents or moving. Either way we would stop at truckstops to eat and to take breaks from the drive. It was very common for these truck stops to sell stones, and I was immediately drawn to them. Luckily for my mother they were very cheap, too. She would let me pick some out when we stopped at the truck stops. As time went on my love of rocks in general grew. I started noticing them on the ground out in nature, and would pick up the ones that were attractive to me and I would add them to my collection. When I went to my first bead store it was amazing to realize that they made so many different beads out of rocks! I was immediately inspired and driven to create jewelry, so that I could have these rocks on me, not just sitting on my desk in my bedroom. To this day you can see that I am still trying to find new ways to wear stones. It is exactly this that I find to be the most appealing thing about my jewelry. What attracts people to my art is, not only the designs, but that with the designs comes a piece of nature, a treasure within each piece. Although I use other natural things like shells, pearls or woods, my most common medium is stones.
I am a leo in western astrology, I am a monkey in eastern astrology. To some this might mean nothing and to others this means that I am naturally creative, almost to a point that I cannot control. I got a magi card reading done once, and I was told that all of my cards are creative ones, and that it is so in me that I have no choice but to be creative. This explained everything. Not to mention my mother was an interior designer who would decorate every corner of our house with a different theme just to be able to decorate more, and my father is a contractor who works so much with his hands and creates, creates, creates, and being a leo himself seems to have no control over it.
Beyond that I love to create with my hands. I make every piece with my own hands. Every piece is absolutely one of a kind. I design it and I create it. There are some pieces that look similar or might have a similar design or the same stone, but due to the individuality of the stone and the fact that I shape the silver and hand hammer it myself using no shaper or mold there is never two pieces that are the same. Each hook or hoop that I shape is somehow different from the next. Not only is it completely natural that no two pieces are identical, it is also my goal as a designer. It seems that being unique with your dress and accessories becomes harder and harder these days in this world. I am a person that treasures individuality so much that I love to make pieces that are one of a kind. All this makes your piece an absolute unique work of art from me to you. You can feel special knowing you are the only one that has that piece. Enjoy.
On a more personal level, I am a mother of two amazingly smart, funny and wondrous children. My daughter, Avia, is 6, and my son, Diego, is 4. I am a very grateful partner to the love of my life, and best friend, and amazing father, Kalaka. I come from a brood of women, 5 sisters altogether who at any given time or on any given day will be wearing my earrings, and I love this. They are the best models in the world. I live in Kauai, Hawaii, and have lived here for almost a decade, and think it is one of the most beautiful places to live in the world. I don’t even have to know that from going places, I just know. I spend as much time out in nature as I can because everybody should and because I love fresh air.
My goal as an artisan is to design jewelry that is attractive to all women, no matter what age, including the very young, (I have a young lady line of jewelry). Not only to create jewelry that is attractive to all ages, but to create jewelry that, itself, is ageless. The idea is for it to not go out of style. I also want to appeal to men as well because men also have an amazing eye for design, and I just love when a man comes to me to buy something for his woman. It is a compliment that is different from a woman buying for herself. If my love of nature shines through my work then I am satisfied because it is nature I have to thank for my inspiration to create…..Give thanks!!!
Many Blessings and much appreciation,
