Alasha Lantinga, Canadian Jewelry Artist

Growing up, Alasha’s mom always had a craft table set up for her in their tiny kitchen. Some of her first memories are creating macaroni art and jewelry, painting and drawing and having it proudly displayed around the house. Her macaroni jewelry transformed into creating pieces with plastic and glass beads and later she was introduced to gemstone beads which spurred an obsession with these beautiful stones. As her love for creating jewelry grew, Alasha acquired new skills of silversmithing and working with Precious Metal Clay. She was soon receiving commissions from friends and family which gave her the courage to start her dream, her own small jewelry business. Precious Metal Clay is now her primary medium of choice (and of course natural beautiful gemstones) which she has now been working with for about 15 years.

Inspiration for her work comes from an integration of many different elements. Growing up surrounded by the ocean and lush forests on Vancouver Island, nature is a large influence in many of her designs. Her travels throughout the Asian countries of Japan, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam, as well as India have also had a subtle influence on her work as well as her love for yoga. Her work is a fusion of organic and geometric, funky and classic, earthy and ethnic, and always with the use of color.

Alasha creates all of her pieces in her home studio in Calgary Alberta, Canada, while also raising her two beautiful daughters. Currently her work can be seen in a number of boutique and clothing shops throughout BC and Alberta.