Eisentraut Jewelry: Badass Yet Ethical Jewelry

Sometimes I want to look subversive, but secretly be doing good with my purchases. That’s where bad-ass bone jewelry comes in, and my new favorite is Eisentraut Jewelry.

Lindsey Eason (formerly Eisentraut) designs and builds her jewelry in Brooklyn Heights before passing them off to her caster in Manhattan. She is inspired by objects that she has collected over the years, including wood, bone, stones and shells, and often incorporates fine metals, stones, wood, glass, and bone into her pieces. She also co-designs pieces with clients, incorporating materials they supply, including pearls from a trip abroad or stones from a family heirloom. All pieces are made of the finest ethically mined and sourced materials including recycled metals and conflict-free stones.

Eason was introduced to working with metal in college, where she first started casting wax sculptures and natural objects. After graduating in 2003, she began entering local craft and jewelry shows in Colorado, and Eisentraut Jewelry was born. She spent four years in San Francisco, where she worked for several jewelers and metal smiths, then moved with her husband to New York City, where she worked in antique jewelry restoration while continuing to grow Eisentraut Jewelry. In 2013 she left her full-time job to have a baby girl and focus on Eisentraut full time. Now her jewelry is sold in twelve states.

I especially love her latest collection. As she says, “I somewhat recently found out that my grandfather and great-grandfather used to raise courier pigeons in Ohio. After hearing stories about these incredibly intelligent birds from my grandmother, I became fascinated by the scruffy pigeons that are a part of our every-day lives… they actually are descendants of once domesticated and prized birds. In doing some research I came across a fully intact pigeon skeleton being sold by an educational supply company. It was beautiful (and a little creepy) and I had to have it.  It was the true inspiration and model for the Messenger collection, which is cast from its bones.”

This collection features a lariat that captures the courier in two ways: with a cast pigeon wishbone and a glass vial containing handmade paper for you to scribe your own wish upon. The vial is corked with handmade silver or bronze caps so you can remove or replace your wish as you like.

I got the wishbone and skull to look at*, and when they arrived, they were just as beautiful as the pictures – they glow in the light, and are finely detailed. When I wear the skull, I find myself absentmindedly fingering the tiny grooves in the beak.

She also has a pigeon skull bracelet, in addition to the necklaces shown here. Her other collections include one based on birch tree twigs, and insignia rings and charms that can be used to seal wax with your initial.

Go check out the rest of her items! I wholeheartedly recommend her jewelry to ladies who want to be both bad-ass and ethical – it’s not an oxymoron.

*She sent me these samples for free.