Drawing on her west African roots and personal art collection, Paris-born Catherine Sarr combines tradition with the contemporary in her Chicago studio.
While working for De Beers as an international public-relations manager, Catherine Sarr discovered designers could tell powerful stories through their creations. Paris-born Sarr says jewelers who reference their culture in their designs inspired her to launch her own brand in 2014. Celebrating her west African heritage, love of diamonds, and passion for contemporary art, Almasika jewels are produced in a workshop in Chicago, the city Sarr now calls home.
What is your first jewelry memory? When did you realize the power of jewelry?
I received my first piece of jewelry at birth from my mother. It was a pair of earrings which I wish I had kept. I vividly remember being given specific jewelry to wear to attend family reunions and religious ceremonies. My mother would pick different sets of mostly plain gold jewelry that I would wear with a sense of pride and belonging.
Ever since, I have always been fascinated as to why jewelry is an adornment yet also a marker of our memories that then becomes a talisman. The true value of jewelry is what it means for you, which ultimately could be separated from the intrinsic value of ornaments.
What do you consider the most iconic Almasika creation and what does it mean to you?
I think of our Le Cauri collection [celebrating the cowrie shell] as the collection that launched Almasika to the world. When I debuted at [the now-closed Parisian boutique] Colette in 2014 with [the jewel] Le Cauri Endiamanté, I wanted to pay homage to this ancestral symbol of spirituality and abundance that I reinterpreted in gold and diamonds. I used to wear a natural cowrie shell pendant when I was younger, so they’ve always been part of my life and culture.
How important is it for you to work with natural diamonds?
Natural diamonds are central to Almasika. Not only is it in our name — Almasika combines almasi, the word for diamond [in Swahili], and sika, for gold [in several West African languages] — but when I think about incorporating a stone in my design, I think about a diamond first. Together with gold, diamonds are at the beginning of all things for Almasika.
Is there an artwork in your personal collection — or that you particularly love — that has inspired the design of a specific jewel?
I am always inspired by the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson. He explores the power of light and the elements but also shapes and geometry. His ability to transcend cultures through his art is something I aspire to do with jewelry with Almasika.
[Also] in our collection, there is Juliette Green, who is a young French artist. She makes these fantastic diagrams, combining writing and drawing, which invites the viewer to reflect on societal issues. Architecture and illumination greatly influence the aesthetics of her drawings, a design that carries just as much meaning, as an oral story really resonates with me.
What is your latest collection about and what are the hero pieces?
My latest collection, Sagesse, explores ancient symbols representing traditional wisdom. Traditional wise adages have shaped my approach to life, so my intention was to reinterpret these timeless concepts with the hallmarks of Almasika jewelry, including sculpturally rounded shapes and the symbolic significance that is essential to my creations. I have always been fascinated by the cultural aspect of jewelry and with Sagesse, I wanted to explore further the duality of jewelry as adornment and spiritual object.
Sagesse started with my Universum symbol — concentric circles representing the universe have appeared throughout the world and across eras, etched in boulders in the Sahara and found in valleys in Arizona.
What is your most cherished personal jewel?
A gold ring my mother gave me for my 19th birthday. It has sharp zigzag lines and people often think it’s either a Wonder Woman symbol or an M for mom — depends on how you look at it!
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