The material and sentimental value makes jewelry special. But, a piece with your soul in it is one for keeps.
This is what model-turned-jewelry designer Pamela Bahre intends to do with each of her piece: to capture the soul of its wearer. Each is crafted specially for the bearer to resonate with their soul’s desires and needs.
“I don’t really create things, I just channel them. I allow myself to just be the channel of something,” Bahre told Manila Standard during the launch of her Cosmos collection at APHRO in The Alley, Makati City.
The way Bahre sees things is an enigma. Born and raised in Santiago de Chile to parents of German-Austrian heritage, she has learned at an early age that she was able to perceive people’s auras and see their divinity.
Driven by the quest for truth and beauty, she left Chile as a teenager to support her family as an international fashion model. Her life was packed in a suitcase, moving from one country to another, such as Singapore, Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Thailand, South Africa, USA, Germany, Greece and Turkey.
Bahre’s long stint as a model afforded her the opportunity to see the vast expanse of beauty and divinity in different people from all walks of life. “I did have a great exposure to things that are considered beautiful,” she shared.
But her connection with the divine inspired her to look for something more fulfilling, which she has found in metals and gemstones.
“I always like stones and metals, and I do have a great affinity with the mineral kingdom,” she said.
Metals and gemstones are known to store, transmit, transmute, amplify and nullify energies—energies, which can be earthly or cosmic.
She studied to be a Master Bench Jeweler in Chile, and in 2007, designed and handcrafted her first personal jewelry collection. After receiving positive feedback from friends and family, she further honed her skills and studied Gemology in Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in Hong Kong; she graduated in 2011.
Bahre said she learned jewelry making from the best goldsmiths in Chile, and a few more things whenever she travels abroad.
She shared that having no prior background in jewelry designing and making, she struggled at first. “The first pieces were difficult because I was just learning. Those were probably the most difficult I made.”
But, today, she said she could create a simple wire band in half an hour.
Now based in the Philippines for four years, she continues to hone her craft, creating pieces for herself and clients who approach her. Bahre doesn’t make collections, but rather accepts consultations and makes custom pieces for each customer. This way she’s able to create something that truly resonates with the wearer.
“I want my jewelry to really bring forth the very best in the people wearing them,” she enthused, adding, “My aim for my jewels is to help clear the path of the bearer; to embody this consciousness, this state of being where all, including us, is whole, perfect and complete.”
Bahre only works with noble metals, such as silver, gold and platinum; while she uses many kinds of gemstones—precious and semi-precious—in their natural form and with less treatment as possible.
The designs she creates are not your usual run-off-the-mill jewelry: edges are rugged, surfaces are rough, no two designs are the same, and the lines flow almost naturally. She even said that her jewelry pieces are for “very adventurous people,” particularly those in the art industry.
“This jewelry is not for everyone, because some people may find it too crazy, too big. This is not conventional jewelry,” she said matter-of-factly.
To schedule your personal consultations with Pamela Bahre, cal 0949-888-9238 or email [email protected]. Visit pamelabahre.com to see her designs.