Designer Spotlight - Le Ster
Aishleen Lester's jewellery brand, Le Ster is Curated Crowd's latest jewellery designer, and we are extremely excited to have her on board. With her experience as a sculptural installation artist, creating large scale pieces for private collections, such as The Riflemaker Gallery in London and Nyehouse in New York, Aishleen Lester founded LeSter with a hope of creating bespoke jewellery that holds a personal message.
Apart from creating timeless pieces of miniature sculptures, Aishleen is also passionate about celebrating and embracing individuality. Want to know why this is so crucial to her designing process? Read on and find out more about mastermind that is behind the brand, LeSter.
Aishleen Lester in the process of designing a masterpiece
Curated Crowd: With your background in sculptural installation, why did you decide to make the jump over to jewellery design?
Aishleen Lester: I trained and worked as an artist for many years, making large 3 meter high sculptural installations. Over a period of time, I realised I wanted to make work on a much smaller scale, using materials that still had a feeling of fragility, that didn’t need a stage to be seen, but could exist within the everyday. Jewellery seemed like a natural fit, it united my passion for storytelling and craftsmanship.
I think of my jewellery as miniature sculptures that can be worn, in that way, they exist in the everyday, they become part of life. With time I know my pieces will form their own associations with their wearer and in that way the pieces feel very alive as objects.
An explosion of brilliance - LeSter
CC: What sets Le Ster apart from other jewellery brands?
AL: With a strong training in art, painting, sculpture and drawing, Aishleen has learnt the process of weaving together elements from different areas and disciplines to create pieces with their own distinct sense of style, story and movement. Often they combine opposites, hard and soft, line and form, opaqueness and transparency to create their own sense of movement, which interacts with the body when worn.
Rock-it! - £1500
CC: Celebrating individuality is something very important to you, why is that?
AL: Imagine a world where everybody dressed the same, the world would become so very grey. Even if you have to conform with what you wear at work, jewellery gives you the ability to express yourself, to rebel against a conformity, to choose the narratives you want to be reminded of, the stories you want to hold close.
As a designer I believe in celebrating individuality, to create pieces, which are different, that have their own voice but also remind others to celebrate their own unique strengths.
CC: What is your inspiration behind the designs, especially ’The light Through the Grey'?
AL: When I start a new collection and go looking for ideas, I normally begin at looking at art, listening to music and reading literature. I find I am always drawn to a story, which evokes a confidence or strength.
“Light Through the Grey” combines the graphics of Pop Art, Lichtenstein and Warhol, with the dynamic explosion of a firework, a reminder to light up the sky.
Zadie - £3200
CC: Do you have a certain designer or artist that inspires your work, and how?
AL: That’s a difficult question to answer, I am drawn to so many pieces that I love in all the arts, whether that be writing, music, visual art. However for the collection Light Through the Grey, I looked at Pop Art, but also the abstract art of Miro for his use of line and contemporary artists and designers like Conrad Shawcrass and Thomas Heatherwick for the way that they break up physical spaces, there is a strong interplay of positive and negative space within their work, which I love.
Summer's Light - £4000
CC: How long does it normally take you to design and create one piece of jewellery?
AL: It really depends on the piece and it is really difficult to say, but it generally takes a period of weeks rather than days. I find it takes time for a piece to find its own character.
CC: Are there more designs coming soon?
AL: Most definitely, I am currently developing the collection and expanding the range of pieces on offer. It’s an exciting time.
Frida - £950
CC: Any events about the brand that we should know about?
AL: I recently won a Kickstarter spot for emerging designers at International Jewellery London and was picked as Editor’s Choice, Designer to Watch. Also, in November I will be showing with Handmade in Britain at Chelsea Town Hall.
The LeSter Collection in all its glory
