Casket Jewelry by Mariam Aryai-Rivera

The other night, my friend's friend was wearing a necklace with a giant gold clasp in the shape of an octopus. I was charmed, moved and...I found out the name of the designer. It's Mariam Aryai-Rivera.

Not only sea creatures, she also makes bracelets out of metal tags taken off of caskets...yes, caskets. Here's a bit about those: http://thehandoffatima.blogspot.com/2008/12/im-not-morbidreally.html

Here's what else I found out about her: "I am a jewelry designer from New York City, specializing in reconstruction of antique and vintage parts into one-of-a-kind pieces. I sell my work on http://www.thehandoffatima.etsy.com/. My work has been featured in BUST magazine, and newsday.com, along with several reputable blogs." (oooo, now she can include Guerilla Shopper too!)

website: http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=104420
blog: http://thehandoffatima.blogspot.com/
portfolio: http://www.etsy.com/shop_sold.php?user_id=104420
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/406/6b4