HOT PICKS [FRIDAY]

Cutie Cooties

February 29, 2008

Most girls think bugs are icky. This is not the case with Mikel Lefler. In fact, the West Coast jewellery designer loves insects so much, she puts them into her totally fly (so to speak) pendants, earrings, bracelets, brooches, cufflinks and rings.

Lefler’s line of buggy bling, Bijoux du Monde, is surprisingly beautiful. A graceful butterfly adorns a pendant of fuscia-tinted resin, a delicate spider graces a chunky silver ring, a pair of Japanese beetles add a daring edge to a pair of cufflinks.

Lefler collects the specimens herself from far and wide, taking care to not to capture any insect that’s endangered or threatened. Having studied entomology (wow - an artist and a scientist!) she then pins and preserves the little critters before casting them in resin - a process she learned from her dad - that she tints, based on each specific specimen.

The result? One of a kind, hand-fabricated frippery that will have even the most ardent bug-hater yearning to show off a honey bee on her wrist, a dragonfly dangling from her neck, or potato beetles holding together his French cuffs.

Catch the buzz at Dream Apparel & Articles for People, 311 W. Cordova St., The Crafthouse,1386 Cartwright St. (Granville Island), or Object Design, 4-1551 Johnston St. (Granville Island).

See yesterday's Vancouver Trendz and help those trying to help themselves. Have you entered this week's Contest yet? Win 4 tickets, valued at $100.00, to Tremors: Rumble's Festival of Emerging Arts.