Los Angeles-born Tini Bloom was raised to embrace her artistic inclinations. "I grew up with creative parents," she says. "Throughout my childhood and adolescence they placed me in environments that helped foster my creativity."
We have a sneaking suspicion, though, that Bloom's flair for design would have developed regardless of her environment, so naturally elegant are the cool metal baubles she conjures for her collection, Etten Eller-which, we learned, was a deliberate misspelling of Soren Kierkegaard's Enten Eller. "It translates to Either/Or," explains Bloom.
In some ways, "either/or" speaks to Bloom's open-ended approach to jewelry design. "I like playing with the unexpected," says Bloom. "I often used parts that one wouldn't find elegant or even interesting upon first glance ... I started the collection with pocket watch parts because of their intricacy and delicacy. I wanted to showcase them."
Among Bloom's diverse materials are recycled vinyl, African phono record beads, snake vertebrae and metal springs. "I love how personal jewelry is," says Bloom. "How every piece I own can be traced back to a moment in my life, somewhat like a shell found on a beach. A souvenir. I wanted to be a part of people's memory-making and personal histories."
