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THE INSEAM VOL. 53: BUENO STYLE

Vancouver is home to a thriving fashion industry made up of individuals committed to its growth and success. Get to know these personalities in The Inseam and discover what makes the Vancouver Fashion scene so awesome.

Vancouver is home to a thriving fashion industry made up of individuals committed to its growth and success. Get to know these personalities in The Inseam and discover what makes the Vancouver Fashion scene so awesome. Every month, The Inseam’s Eco Edition focuses on the innovators that shape the green movement in local fashion.

Photo courtesy of Christi York

Vancouver is definitely the place to be if you love unique, locally-made jewelery.  While each designer has a different look and feel, no one has mastered the art of reworking vintage like Christi York of Bueno Style.

In order to create her unique and one-of-a-kind pieces, Christi has collected an inventory of the most wonderful bits and pieces of vintage jewelery from flea markets, fairs, warehouses and shops from Portland to New York and everywhere in between. Her lines, Bueno Style and OAK, are both hand assembled from all these treasures, and her eye as a designer allows her to see how each vintage piece can have a new life.

While each of her pieces are “new”, they retain a distinct look of vintage, and the kind of feeling where you know there is a story behind each one.

Jessica McIlroy: Tell me how you get started.

Christi York: I dabbled a bit in high school, making my own earrings, but was never really drawn to jewellery as a medium until I discovered that you can actually find these vintage pieces that used to be mass manufactured, made from about the early 1900’s up to 1960ish.  It was when I discovered that there are these warehouses of vintage pieces that you can go to or find online, and I dug through them and realised I would be reusing something, and that’s always been my main focus.

My other background is graphic design and floral design, so always in that creative area.  Then I started making handmade things to get away from the computer, when I starting working freelance it freed up more time, and I stared making more things.

My earlier work was more textile-based, salvaging fabrics and making big broaches or scarves, but always with the common thread of reusing something.  Once I found that it translated into jewelery then it exploded a bit for me.

JM: In terms of your ability to do it as a profession or your interest in it?

CY: A bit of both.  It’s a lot easier to sell jewelery than a larger accessory.  The amount of work that is put into a textile piece has a different economy of scale and the business side has to come into it.  I found the scale I was able to produce jewelry met well with the creative satisfaction I was getting, so it clicked as something to move forward on.

Photo courtesy of Jessica McIlroy

JM: Have you done any technical training?

CY: No, a lot of research. I’m still constantly doing research on techniques.

JM: Is it easy to find the information you need?

CY: Not all the time, but it depends how much time you want to devote to searching it out.

JM: Have you learnt things from other jewelry designers?

CY: Actually no.  A lot of my friends in Vancouver are jewelry designers, but I have this reservation of looking too closely at their things and being influenced by them.  Almost that funny distance, for me anyways.  But there are a lot of books out there, and you still take what you see from others and distill it into your own style.

Photo courtesy of Jessica McIlroy

JM: How would you say the Bueno Style line has evolved?

CY: I have developed another line under Bueno Style, called OAK or One of a Kind.  The reason I differentiate it is because literally each piece is one of a kind, but with the Bueno Style line I may be able to produce up to 50 pieces of the same thing because of the materials I have available to me.  The pieces are still vintage, but they were mass manufactured.

For me, the entire drive comes from finding the vintage pieces to rework.  When people have asked about what inspires me, I feel that the actual pieces that I find inspire me.  That is filtered through my creative eye and what is happening in my head, so the style can be hard to define.  It can run from heavy and masculine to feminine and girly.

JM: Are the materials you find mostly in pieces or do you breakdown existing jewelry?

CY: It’s a bit of both.  Sometimes a piece will be so perfect that I can’t bear to do anything with it, so I will just clean it up and re-present it, but that doesn’t happen very often.  Sometimes I may find something like a perfect vintage locket and it just needs a beautiful chain.  But sometimes I’ll just find something I’m drawn to and will break it all down and completely rework it.

JM: Are there stores you look in or specific vintage jewelry markets?

CY: Different places, the Croatian Cultural Centre has a vintage market once a month and I love going there. I’ll gather up weird little feature pieces and objects that I’m attracted to.  My favourite places to look are places where the sellers all come together, at vintage fairs or flea markets.

JM: You have a lot of objects around; to you try to have a good stockpile around?

Photo courtesy of Christi York

CY: It has become just second nature now, and I do like to have lots of stuff to work with.  Sometimes I’ll find something and bring it back to the studio and it works perfectly with another piece I’ve had for three years, so it does help to have a good stash of things.

JM: Are you distinguishing between “used” and “vintage” when you are looking for pieces?

CY: Good question, because there is that line.  I’d say I’m definitely drawn more to the older pieces, just aesthetically.  I would say that anything I find in a antique fair is fare game, but I am drawn to older pieces.

JM: Have you used many items that weren’t jewelry?

CY: Yeah, locks, keys, whistles, little knives.  Depending on what I can find.

JM: Any plans coming up?

CY: There is an interesting show coming up, Indie I Do, which is an alternative wedding show.  I find that it is a good market for me, with brides looking for something unique, but also traditional.  I’ll also take something that someone already has, like a vintage broach, and rework it into a bridal piece for them, such as a showcase necklace. Or pieces from their grandmother’s jewelry box and made a bracelet.

JM: Do you do much custom work?

CY: Occasionally, when ever people approach me and have something in mind.

You will be able to find Christi and her Bueno Style and OAK pieces at the upcoming Indie I Do wedding show, as well as other markets throughout the year.  Or head to Dream Apperal, Fine Finds, Virgin Mary's or Twigg and Hottie to pick up pieces in store, and of course check the Bueno Style website for all retailers and to buy online.