Designer JL Schnabel’s long-lived relationship with the supernatural combined with a strong fascination and a personal touch create the foundation for what lies behind the jewelry of Philadelphia based Blood Milk.
interview by : Vanity Kills
photographer : Christina Brown
fashion stylist : JL Schnabel and Paul Romano
model : Tina Nguyen
Do you dream of unique adornments from beyond this realm, capable of effortlessly lending a supernatural air to your flowy, black tunics? Time to open your third eye and join the legions of sea witches, mediums, and other devout followers of Philadelphia’s esoteric jewelry house Blood Milk. Tap into your unconscious self with the guidance of a hand carved rune bracelet, find your way home (on whatever plane of existence it may lay) with a sparrow skull ring, or reach out to loved ones who shed their mortal sheaths by the way of a spirit board-inspired planchette necklace. Alas, these surrealist charms really ought to come with a caveat; you never know when you might just find yourself whisked away to the other side of reality. Which makes these occult ornaments even more enticing.
Other than the release of Blood Milk’s lookbook The Conjurer, did any noteworthy or surreal events take place in your life on the eleventh day of the eleventh month of the eleventh year? Can you give Auxiliary Magazine readers further insight as to why you chose November 11th for the grand unveiling of The Conjurer?
JL Schnabel : I’m interested in Jung’s ideas on synchronicity. I read somewhere that people tend to look at the clock at 11:11 more than any other time and I like to think that there are cosmic forces at play, but who knows for sure? I like the mystery of not knowing.
Do you foresee a modern day large-scale resurgence of mourning jewelry spearheaded by either the forlorn economy, the ever growing quasi-mainstream popularity of the nu-goth movement, or perhaps something different altogether?
JLS : I started becoming attracted to the idea of mourning jewelry around the time I lost someone important to me. I think in that sense, anyone who has become acquainted with death seeks out the comfort of mourning talismans whether they realize it or not. These types of jewels become a kind of psychic armor.
read the full interview in the February/March 2012 Issue
