New York—Christina Puchi, founder of CCWW Designs, is known for her beachy designs and shell charms she collects herself.
However, the Florida-based designer has leaned into other themes, creating solar system-inspired pieces, acorn charms, and jewelry depicting popular snack foods often associated with childhood.
From fruit designs to entire collections dedicated to pasta, food-inspired jewelry is a playful way to bring out one’s inner child.
For Puchi, the goldfish came first. When she sees the crunchy, cheese-flavored snack, she thinks of her three kids.
“For other people, it’s their childhood or when they went to college,” she said in an interview with National Jeweler.
“They mean something different to everybody, but everybody has some kind of happy thought when they see a goldfish-shaped cracker.”
Later, she launched charms modeled after Lifesavers and Swedish fish.
The styles aren’t such a stretch from her nautical aesthetic, Puchi said.
“I love that the goldfish and Swedish fish just look like fish. There are people who buy them who fish with their dad or brothers or their husbands or wives, and I love that too,” she said.
“It all looks like mine still,” the designer added.
“I love the different textures of pieces. I love the sound that stone on stone makes, or stone on wood, or stone on gold.”
anda’s Style File: Candy-Colored Gemstones
Puchi’s most recent launch are customizable beads meant to look like M&M’s.
It is the brand’s first fully enamel design and was born from Puchi’s desire to bring in a new texture.
The high-gloss look, which Puchi said looks almost edible, makes for a realistic take on the iconic candy.
The customizable beads inspired by M&M’s are CCWW Designs’ first fully enameled pieces.
The bead colors even match that of the actual chocolate candy, a departure from the more artistic renditions of the other snacks, which are available in materials such as hardstone, wood and gold.
When designing these pieces, Puchi wanted to be creative while also evoking a sense of nostalgia.
For example, some of her goldfish are flat, while others are charms made in a puffy mold that more closely resembles the actual cracker. It comes in variations of earrings, a ring, pendants, cufflinks, and more.
“Whenever I look at something I think, ‘But what else could it be?’” Puchi said.
CCWW Designs’ gummy bear charms are available in carved wood, hardstone and 14-karat gold.
It meant working with motifs that not only sparked wonder but also were instantly recognizable, like gummy bears.
“I studied art and art history, and I think that choosing iconic structures that you know aren’t going to be known today and forgotten tomorrow is important when you’re making something,” she said.
See more of CCWW Designs’ sweet and savory jewelry on the brand’s website.