Okeanos

All art is a chance to experience a mood, an emotion, a feeling. The art of Laurel Burch (1945–2007) has an especially uplifting, joyful, nurturing quality. Designs from our colourful Laurel Burch Collection can take you on a flight of imagination, from the world of Fantastic Felines to a celebration of the Spirit of Womankind.

Though not trained in art or jewellery making, Laurel began to put together interesting metal scraps she found in junk yards. She created quirky jewellery and developed her artistic style into what we see today. Her vibrant colours and joyful paintings became so popular that her works were licensed around the world. Through art she found her solace, her haven, her sense of spiritual restoration.

Laurel’s pictures are filled with imaginative visions, lively colours and living creatures. When she went to China in 1971 to start mass production of the goods she designed, she discovered “cloisonné,” a traditional technique of embellishing metal surfaces with enamel. This became a signature feature of her artistic style.

Many of her paintings remind us of cloisonné enamels with their small, colour-filled compartments. Just as vibrant and endearing as the rest of Laurel’s paintings, this design shows how there is as much magic in natural as there is in supernatural. Laurel spent her life creating art that would remind people of this magic, and with our puzzle design we seek to honour her intention.

Laurel loved the Aegean and its islands, and water in general. She travelled to Greece in the 1980s and returned to California with the inspiration for a collection she called “The Birds of Santorini” which eventually evolved into a wide-ranging series of aquatic paintings featuring islands, mermaids, and other mythical creatures of the land, air, and sea.

We pay homage to Laurel’s love for this part of the world with this Okeanos design. Its name draws inspiration from Greek mythology, specifically the Titan who was the personification of the great earth-circling river that was said to be the source of all living gods and creatures.

Laurel began as a self-taught artist who connected with others by giving them the pieces that she made. She went on to become a pioneering businesswoman at the head of a merchandising empire. And just as she always wanted, the jewellery, the fashion accessories, the household items adorned with her paintings keep on brightening people’s lives.