Ready for an afternoon challenge? Of course you are. Try saying “leather feather” to yourself on repeat. While you’re playing with that one, get a load of these leather feathers by Mariele Williams, a local artist and designer we were amped to get a chance to chat with this week.
As Lorraine wrote on the 7×7.com Glamwatch blog yesterday, Mariele creates jewelry using feathers and skins from fallen animals sourced from her family in Montana, as well as wood she shapes and cuts using the band saw that currently resides in her bedroom. Yes, her bedroom.
But don’t worry, her band-mate neighbors are even louder, she reports. While they’re rocking out until the wee hours in the SoMa apartment upstairs, Williams does her woodworking and jewelry-making until she can’t keep her eyes open any longer and collapses into bed. And though she likes San Francisco living, the 21-year-old says she’d rather be a hermit living in some wild, forgotten spot where she could do her art in peace and then jet into town as business beckoned.
We dig her focus on sustainability and recycling found materials, as well as her diehard artist’s spirit. How can you not respect a girl who’s totally cool with sawdust covering her bedroom floor and a pheasant carcass tossed across her desk?
You can check out Mariele’s work in person by visiting her at Lower Haight boutique doe, where she’s an artist-in-residence and also an employee, as well as at Divisadero Street antiques shop The Perish Trust. You’ll also find her work for sale online in her etsy shop.
Click through for more shots of Mariele’s work…
