30 Essential Vancouver Jewellery Designers: Kas Shield and Marie Wyatt of Frost Collections

Know of some wickedly talented jewellery designers? Nominate them for our 30 Essential Jewellery Designer list! There’s still room for a few more submissions.

Both Marie Wyatt and Kas Shield have backgrounds in art and design and have been passionate about it since childhood. Marie is a professional artist and animator with more than 10 years of experience in the television, film and video game industry. She currently works for a local video game developer in Yaletown. Kas is an entrepreneur who owns a successful interior design company and comes from a family of talented artists. She is very committed to the environment and works hard contributing to various non-profit causes. VancouverMom.ca is pleased that these two talented designers are on Vancouver’s 30 Essential Jewellery Designer list.

Why did you get into jewellery design?

We first started making jewellery a few years ago as a way to get back to making things with our hands. We’ve both always been artists, but what with most jobs in our industry turning to digital media we found the lack of manual and tactile work frustrating. Jewellery design has given us a chance to release our creativity in a way that working on a computer just quite can’t.

Tell us a bit about your company.

Frost Collections is a partnership between Kas and Marie. We launched our company in February 2007 with a modest inventory on Etsy. Since then we’ve participated in various local craft shows like Portobello Market, the Fab Fair and Urban Artisans at the Roundhouse. In 2009 we began selling in retail shops and hope to continue our success there. Our work is heavily influenced by the beauty of the natural world. You’ll find plenty of trees and birds in our collection. Even something as simple as a beach pebble can provide the perfect muse. Living in BC and being based in Vancouver, we are supplied with a never ending amount of inspiration but we draw plenty from our world travels as well. In our collections you’ll find work infused with the rainforest of Tofino, the beaches of Costa Rica and the villages of the Greek Islands. As amateur photographers, we also like to incorporate our photos into our jewellery design. Building this business together is a great experience and has helped our collection evolve over the years and ensure that our ideas are always fresh and inspired.

How would you characterize your style?

Individual. Bold. Inspired by natural beauty.

Who are your clients?

We aim to design for people who want an alternative to mass produced commercial pieces and who appreciate something that is handmade by the artist. Our clients are likely to wear something that bucks the trend and says something personal about their style and who they are.

What do you think moms should know about your jewellery?

We like to create work that is meaningful, whether it’s representative of ourselves or whether it be of the client’s specific design request. Our jewellery is customizable to each individual and our hope is that we can create a piece that provides more than a purpose, but a personal connection as well. The nature of the medium we work in allows us to engage the client in the creative process. Our picture boxes are like modern day lockets and are great for moms who like to wear a photo of their child close to their hearts. For something more subtle, we also do lovely fine silver pieces with personal engravings. Maybe most practical to moms, though, is quality and durability. We make pieces that can stand the test of time – and tiny hands!

Where can people buy your jewellery?

Visit us online at Etsy and DaWanda. Or visit us at one of these great shops: House of RTS in Squamish, BC, and Bella Boutique in Tofino, BC. And come summer 2010 we’ll be in Macadi Jewellery in Elora, ON.