Aunali

It always touches my heart when my path in this life meets with another kind spirit, like Danielle of Aunali. I just love saying the name of her shop: Aunali - it is a beautiful word in and of itself, but wait until you behold the beauty in both of her shops: Aunali (Elegant Artisan Jewerly) & Olivyea (Artwork of Portraits, Landscapes and Prints)

Danielle and I met in a most disturbing way. If you read my last post about the "thief", then you'll understand why I say this as Danielle is one of the other Etsian's that had several items "stolen" by the thief. We've been talking ever since and she's an absolute joy! Moving on, as this post is not about the thief, it is about Danielle & James, her hubby, and their art.

Aunali - you must read their Profile as it is very touching. Here is a brief quote: "The name of our shop 'Aunali' is the name of our style, which we chose to signify the elegance, beauty and sense of adventure expressed in our jewelry." They not only create finished jewelry, but also a variety of very lovely jewelry findings.

Their work is a collaboration of sorts, Danielle is the artist and James is the engineer, as she says and their work is living proof of this: "I improvise and create as I go, whereas he needs to work from a preconceived design--often one of mine or a spin off of mine, but he thinks up his own as well. He is the soldering genius and can build complicated things that require lots of time, patience and skill--I tend to burn such projects to a crisp or do all the steps in the wrong order. But he needs me to create flowing, feminine forms or tell him if a shape is awkward or doesn't match the design. We really do work very closely on a lot of things. I love it!"

Sometimes while they work, the enjoy listening to "The Teaching Company lectures on philosophy or writing or to books on CD".

It's nice to know where fellow Etsian's live, so I asked Danielle about her surroundings and her answer struck me as quite romantic, which is revealed in her work: "we live in a hilly neighborhood in Temecula surrounded by tall trees of various sorts. Mornings start out overcast and the sun breaks through the mist beautifully around 9:00am. Our walls are covered with my oil paintings, all set in James' handmade and carved dark wood frames! We love to surround ourselves with rich natural tones."

By day, Danielle is a sign language interpreter for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing at a local high school. Her goal is to "one day - possibly soon, doing my art full time with James" - I sense that to be a reality.

I must admit that it was very difficult to select photos for this feature as there are SO many to choose from. I love everything about their shop from artistic designs, photo style, color scheme and atmosphere. I realized that I didn't select any of their finished beaded jewelry (hooked on metal, perhaps?), but feel free to visit Aunali for yourself - you'll fall in love at first glance. I did!

Have a beautiful and Aunali kind of day,

Rocki