JEWELRY • NATURE • PRESENCE Interviewer: Gretchen Fruchey Gretchen talks with Jewelry Designer, Mauri Pioppo, for a conversation that weaves through poetic insights and intimations on several points:
30 min. Full transcriptGF: Hi, hi Mauri. MP: Hi Gretchen, how are you? GF: I'm doing well, how are you? MP: I'm good, where are you? GF: So, I'm in Fort Wayne, Indiana and where are you? MP: I'm in Washington, D.C. and it's very peaceful here and I'm happy to be talking to you. GF: You know, I guess we should lead in with the fact that Shakti invited us to have a conversation today. She's really inspired by and thinks other people would be inspired by this collection of home jewelry and art that you produce, in addition to, you know, your whole fine jewelry line. We've now got this platform, soulartist.life, where we have the opportunity to present all aspects of intentional living, and living with beauty and living mindfully, practicing our life, practicing yoga. There's some astrology. There's some psychology... MP: ...archetypes, deities, goddesses. GF: So, how do you know Shakti?
MP: I had heard about her yoga classes and I showed up for one of them in her beautiful studio. At the end of Savasana, as we came back into the space, I sat up and saw this beautiful presentation of cool tea with a gorgeous mint leaf next to it and a cool washcloth. It was really summer hot in Colorado and I felt her through what she was gifting for students. She in her beautiful melodic voice said to us, "I'm leading a retreat in Costa Rica and we have one spot still available." Keep in mind that I had just met this woman. I raised my hand immediately without any question and said, "I'm coming." GF: So, this is how you and I met, it was on the retreat in Costa Rica. MP: Right, right, it was on the retreat in Costa Rica and yet I felt like you'd been a soul sister for, you know, multiple lifetimes. GF: Yes, absolutely. Instant connection, instant knowing, instant familiarity of the energy, instant comfort. Shakti has that effect on you. I met her and it was a sort of a similar instant connection. She invited me to come to one of her classes in Indiana when she was here helping out her mom when her mom was ill, when she had just had little Marley. MP: Right. GF: And I went up there, you know, sight unseen, never having met her before. "Sure, I'll come check out your class, I'll come meet you and see what this little studio is all about." (She had gotten my name from somebody else). So, I go up to Angola, it's like a 40-minute drive and walk into this little studio space that she had created. And just like you're saying, she's this vision. She comes in a little late (laughs) and is just, you know, beautiful and has this beautiful energy. And I was instantly smitten and, you know, we had a chance to talk afterward and we have just been soul sisters ever since. And she's so collaborative and that's one of my favorite things about her. She's a true collaborator. She's always reaching out. I think that's something that inspires her and she knows that that inspires others. And I think that that's what this platform and this conversation today is all about. It's like how, you know, just us existing in the world and doing our own thing can inspire someone else to find that for themselves. MP: Yeah. It's like the proverbial mirror. GF: Yeah. But a beautiful one. MP: But a beautiful mirror. And I know for me, I do better in the world when I have voices that I trust who maybe are my synergetic opposite. That really informs me, because otherwise I'm stuck with my own beliefs and views and values and I can't see it through any other lens. And sometimes I get a clearer perspective that, wow, I really do like the way I think about this subject and I really even more strongly believe in it. Or, wow, I see that from your perspective, I'm missing out on all these other views. GF: Right. MP: And now that you've offered me this, it really is an offering. GF: Yes. MP: I don't know that most women are like that, but I like to think that we are. GF: I hear you. I think it's either fortifying because you relate or it's expansive and it brings a new layer of curiosity or understanding or exploration or whatever. MP: Right. But I think in either case, you get to look at, do I really value this or am I being covetous or is this personal? Where's the universal aspect that I might be missing? GF: You made the statement and I quote, "beauty is not frivolous." And you're creating this line of what you call uncommon beauty using found objects in nature and combining them with precious gems. And I want you to just talk about that and what inspires you and how you came up with this and how you see it connecting to people and how they apply it to their lives. MP: Yeah. I consider myself a maker, an artist. I was a professional dancer and when my feet gave out and I needed to carry on with something else that was expressive, it turned into jewelry, but not jewelry for women "who wear their husband's wallets around their neck" is what I say, but things that are expressive and unique and almost really worn as good luck charm or a talisman or something that you could touch and feel your energy held in it. So I've been doing this for 20 years. The way that it manifested, it just was like it's coming through me and I'm essentially a conduit for what's already there. So using beautiful materials, gold and diamonds and things that are precious, but making these things into wearable, personal, individual art that you don't see yourself coming and going. And when you see it, it's like, oh, bring me home with you. It has a life that's been infused in it partly, I think, because of the intention that I have in making it and we do everything one of a kind, one at a time. So you really can't be reflected everywhere. You're reflecting yourself. And then it merged into this collection that I call Uncommon Beauty, where I literally will be walking along a beach or in the river. And it's like I'm a forager and I'm just looking for things that come to me. And I carry them home and they find a place on my bench and they ask to be recreated. So spun out of history and time and rocks that have been in the river for thousands, if not millions of years. So they've been tumbled and they have this energy that's very alive. And when I infuse them with gold and diamonds and drill into them to make incense holders and sculptures that look like cairns, I feel like they're still living objects. They still have another life. GF: I even heard you say there's like an aliveness or expansion and contraction in them still, this fondant element where they carry on an energetic, vibrational life then. MP: Yeah. And I feel like it's also reflecting something like grandmother in us. Where are we cultivated from that we carry these properties from generations back and we're still living them because they're coming through us, even if it's not the same voice or the same language. It has the same or a similar continuation. I think that's really what it is. GF: Oh my gosh, you're giving me goosebumps. I relate so much and I relate so much to feeling connected to a very elemental basic form. MP: Yes. Elemental is it. And the part about the expansion and contraction, it's like the energy doesn't just go one way. And I literally, because I guess I was really subconsciously thinking about our talk today and I had a dream where we were four women in a room and we were all napping and chatting and somebody asked me a question and I said, I think the truest, most intrinsic truth about being women and obviously being people, but being especially articulated in our emotional intelligence is that we expand and contract all the time. And so it's a living, breathing thing. And I clearly remember having this conversation in my dream. And then when I started talking today, I was like, oh yeah, it is true. It's actually true. It is true. GF: So we had this conversation on another plane or in another time and place if you believe in that, which I do. But I love this thing that you just said about it being grandmother and us. And it's sort of like a knowing and then also like a divine not knowing. MP: Yeah. It's the inheritance of the divine not knowing. GF: Yes. Thank you. That's a beautiful way to say it. The inheritance of the divine not knowing. MP: Not knowing. You inspired that. You just got that out for me. I didn't know it existed until it came out. GF: Yeah. See, this is what we do. MP: This is what we do. This is why women need community and other women. It's true. GF: So this is where I think a lot of people will relate to. So you are calling this line of Cairnes–these kind of symbols of ritual and beauty that are like jewelry for our homes–and you're calling them Uncommon Beauty. And we were talking earlier about what common beauty is and how that kind of helped you come around to this uncommon beauty. So just talk about that a little bit. MP: So I think of common beauty or the obvious, the things, the symbols, the faces that draw us in because they're symmetrical, because they're appealingly young or the faces that advertising has knocked into our brains as being desirable and that there's a desire to imitate that construction of common beauty. GF: Yeah. It's like in our culture and it's influenced or impressed on us in some way. MP: Exactly. In many ways. GF: In many ways. MP: And then when we see ourselves reflected by somebody else who looks the way we do, it gives us a sense of reassurance. GF: Yeah. MP: But not differentiation, not uncommon beauty. So I think of the uncommon beauty as relevant to age, relevant to our time. And when you have to look at something really carefully, when it draws your attention, not because of the sameness, but because there's something that strikes you as being quietly different. So it's nuanced and felt. And I mean, not to be too precious about this, but it calls in your full attention because it's not sitting on a shelf with 20 other objects that are just like it. GF: And honestly, a lot of times that that uncommon thing, that unique thing, and I'm sort of getting goosebumps saying this is the inherited thing, right? Like it's the thing that we brought through. MP: Yes. And it's the thing that these elements, the stones, these materials from the earth, precious metals and gems, like it's what has stood the test of time and is what time has brought through just in the cultivation of our earth. GF: Right. MP: Right. And you just gave me goosebumps because I was also just occurred to me that as much as in Buddhism and yoga and spiritual teachings, we are taught that it's really about impermanence and to not get stuck coveting things that are external because they don't shape us. There is something impermeable and permanent about these pieces because they've evolved over so much time. And then I feel like I'm the caretaker of this river rock. It's like a conversation like, hey, you've seen things that I will never see. You know, you've been through weather and wars that I have not. And there's a steadiness or a heaviness or a sense of weight... GF: ...a sense of endurance. And, you know, I remember when you were... (this was just like a, you know, kind of a baby brainchild)... We were talking about this inspiration, you know, whatever, two years ago. And you were talking about what cairnes were originally used for. And I ended up kind of going down a wormhole about them and how they were used to mark graves, but also to mark a path. A path to help other people out. MP: Yeah. Communicate like a Morse code. Go this way, not that way. GF: Right. And how you're, you know, sort of a steward now for them creating, you know, marks of a new path, bringing a symbol of that into someone's life. I mean, that's infinitely inspiring to me. MP: I'm just holding it. I'm the messenger for it. And not the creator. GF: That's humble of you because it is taking the artist's hand and the artist's eye and skill and time and talent to put that together in a way that can hold it then and bring it into our homes. MP: I feel like really the only times that I'm completely immersed in something is when I'm doing my work. And so there's part of that that's so satisfying because I can't bring my attention. I'm very ADHD. And it calls on a wholehearted presence for me to be present for the work. GF: I really relate to like an earthiness, right? I'm the same way I'm like in my mind is very spacious and airy and moving. And there's a lot of a lot of thoughts and a lot of directions all the time. And so stones and the mountains and the metals like coppers and gold, like something with a little weight to it, you know, grounding very literally has a grounding force. So I'm wondering if, you know, those stones are calling to you. And in a way, they're asking for this, but they're also giving you the anchor to do the work for them because MP: Yeah, I believe that's the best description of it I've ever heard. And really makes me feel understood where modern science can't really do that. I mean, you can take your ADHD medication, but in some ways, it's taking the edge off of what drives you creatively, even if you're going spaciously in so many directions at once. That the materials themselves ground you in a state of like real presence, not in a corny way. Like putting sandbags on your feet. GF: 100% Right. I absolutely feel like when I am in the mountains, is, you know, specifically in the Rockies that I can feel the elements in the earth, like how they vibrate in my body. Yeah. And it grounds me and charges my battery, you know, both things. MP: Which is really interesting, because what else does that? GF: For me, there's not as there's no other direct source. I know some people like really get that from water. Yeah, but it's always a natural thing, don't you think? MP: Yeah, I think those are the only genuine things that can bring us back to our true nature. And it is divine. And it's got a different language. GF: And this is why it's not frivolous. This is why beauty is not frivolous. You were talking about how these found objects in nature are accessible, you know, and relatable, and like, I guess, in a way to use your word common, but not in the negative aspects common as in plentiful, right? And recognizable. MP: Right. A part of you that resonates actively. You get to have a direct experience when you go back to the elements of nature, because a lot of us have forgotten them. If we've been withdrawn from them in our physical reality, with so many people's lives being really urban, and infused by so much technology, you know, maybe you see them on vacations, or, you know, taking a hike... GF: ...childish, our nature as children, like, just fill your pockets with stuff, you know, outside, and I still do that I all over my house, I have cool sticks that are shaped like, yes, you know, dicks or beautiful forms or awesome rocks that just look really smooth or really rugged, like, whatever it is, they're all over my house. And, you know, I just think it's such a, again, really relatable and accessible. If we remember that really natural part of our humanity, where we're just automatically connected to and curious about and inspired by our natural environment. MP: Yes. Sitting in the grass, rolling in the dirt, collecting things, filling our pockets, not staying clean, smudges on our face. GF: So describe some of your pieces, there's rocks, there's snail shells, there's diamonds, there's gold. MP: Yeah, there's magic in all of it. And I see patterns differently from most brains. I see what's different versus what's the same. And so part of my curiosity with creating this collection was that I would walk down the beach and I would see the patterns left on the sand by the waves when they had retreated. And I thought, oh, what is left is what is most precious. So it's like, what can you take away, take away, take away? And it has a sense of its own purpose. So I started drawing all these different patterns from left from the waves, what's left over, you know, what becomes almost like a reminiscence in our mind, and then taking these things and not overdressing them. So picking up something because of its weight, or its color, or its size, or the different varying shapes, because stones have been in the water for so long, they've just been recharged and re-cut, which is essentially similar to what you do with, you know, with jewelry. You take a stone, it could be obviously a very precious stone, and you can calibrate it and you can, you know, as a lapidary, you cut it into whatever shape, and usually it's submissive to what you're asking for. But there's something with the rocks and the elements of nature that they're demanding. They have their own strength and presence. And you have to respect that, as well as not to over shape it or over work your product. And I think that's something that when you look at it, people can really relate to, there's a sense of weight or balance. And they may not even know why, which for me is perfectly fine. Everybody can have their own vision and view and perspective on what I create. And it's essentially an offering. And you either love it and say, take me home with you, or you don't. And that's fine either way. GF: Talk about how this is the next incarnation of fine jewelry. MP: The materials and the properties are of great value. But sometimes the greatest part of the value is that it's come from someplace precious, which is our earth. And when it's sitting next to your bed, or it has a prime place on a table, it calls you in, it brings your energy into something small, that still carries the weight of time. And at first I was like, self doubting, is anybody going to really appreciate this? It's not large sculpture, it doesn't take a lot of space up. And then I realized, well, these are personal little talisman offerings. And they're each so incredibly different. And I don't know, this sounds so corny, but I feel like they're calling you from another time, that grandmother aspect again. GF: Well, and you know, it's just landing on me... (I'm like getting emotional hearing you talk about this) is that maybe in a way, just having that piece that has, for one, it is hung around, right? And it has its own gravity, and it has its own, you know, vibrational quality, and it has its own story. And then it's given itself to you, it's given itself over, it's asked to be... MP: Embodied with other... GF: Exactly, not remade, right? It's asked to be... MP: Reimagined. GF: Yeah, so that it can be appreciated. But the second you bring that home, and you put, it's this, you know, relatively small thing, like you're saying, like, what, six inches, eight inches of your universe. And you use the word talisman. Well, once I set that on my shelf or dresser, then it's, then there's an altar. MP: Yes. Yes. Beautiful. GF: And so it has the potential to bring, like you were saying, that aliveness into a space, and then that space becomes imbued with something divine, and an aliveness itself. MP: Right. And the idea that it contains it innately, and it's not something that we've given a meaning to, like a cross, or a symbol in religions. GF: Right. MP: That this symbol is alive with it, and it doesn't care what your faith is, it doesn't care what your belief systems are. It's connecting to a deeper, more ancient... GF: Exactly. MP: ...Part of ourselves. GF: Yeah. MP: I like that. GF: I like that too. It's like I can instantly envision those little cairns, those little altars, those little symbols throughout time, like that kind of inherited vibe, that connected chain through time. MP: That you can still keep touching. GF: Yeah. MP: It's not behind glass. It's not to be admired. GF: Nor is it something we just have to hold in our head or memory. You know, it's an actual, like, concrete thing. MP: Right. GF: That's really special. MP: Thank you. GF: Yeah. Thank you. MP: It's so nice to feel yourself being understood, you know, that gives me such a sense of place and comfort. GF: I'm happy to hear that. And I also think it should tell you that you're doing your work well, and you're doing your art in a way that it's asking to be understood. You're listening to the message and you're doing it with integrity. GF: Thank you. GF: I love the idea that beauty is not frivolous. MP: Beauty is not frivolous. GF: And letting the earth be our inspiration for all of those things. And, you know, I was looking at your other collections on your website and you have a collection called Earth. MP: Yeah. I started naming all the elements and creating collections around it. And then people would say, you have too many collections. People can't take in that much information. GF: Not everyone has ADD. MP: Right. Thank god. GF: But you've implemented rocks and stones in those pieces as well. MP: Right. Oh, yes. Yes, absolutely. In fact, I have a collection of rings that has diamonds in them and they're held by 18 karat gold prongs with diamonds, but they're river rocks. And they're sometimes encased and wrapped in symbols that might be spiritual or snakes that are evocative of Kundalini energy. But the basic energy of it, the basic properties are common. GF: They're beautiful. MP: Thank you. I love them. And I just want to appreciate Shakti, who brought us together on this plane of existence and invited us to have this conversation. GF: Yes. Our true collaborator. The goddess. MP: The goddess.
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