Georgina Trevino's COVID Collabs
Treviño's signature style is mixing kitschy jewelry pieces with refined design, a concept she developed from wandering the Lagunilla markets while living in Mexico City during her break from school. The Bad Bunny video was released soon after we entered quarantine—giving us a much-needed dose of pure fierceness. But after those three minutes and 21 seconds were over, Treviño, like the rest of us, wondered, what’s next? “I felt the urge. I felt the first-week people were being hurt, you know, like other creatives,” Treviño recalls. “So I was like maybe I should make something to help and use my Instagram platform to help other artists and help each other promote and make money.”
Now working from her garage, the designer had to temporarily move her workspace from her studio in downtown San Diego, where she used to spend long hours before this pandemic. But the designer is not one to ever stop creating. It was at home where the idea to start the COVID-19 Collab Series first emerged. Her brother, Rodrigo Treviño, has an eco-friendly product business, Eco Stuff Co, that inspired her to make her hand sanitizer—Todo Fine hand sanitizer (in Old English letters). The bright-colored bottle includes a Treviño jewelry piece chained around the neck. That one collaboration led to more.
“Hoes Mad” and “Bitch Please” are one-of-a-kind pieces from Treviño’s second collaboration with Egyptian-American jewelry artist and curator, Ashley Khirea Wahba. Based in New York, Wahba makes hand-carved pendants using alternative engraving methods drawn from graffiti and nameplate techniques. The bold pieces are a combination of Wahba’s pendants and Treviños signature pierced jewelry.
For COVID-19 Collab Series #3, the designer worked with Puerto Rican multimedia artist, Radamés “Juni” Figueroa, who creates sculptures, illustrations, paintings, and architectural pieces to create social environments intended to evoke the experience of living. Together, using Figueroa’s illustrations and Trevino’s techniques, they created Looney Tunes-inspired jewelry pieces, currently sold out (another collab coming soon). The mini-collection includes a neon orange, powder-coated Daffy Duck holding a rhinestoned basketball.
After coming up with the first collab in March, Treviño has released a new project every two weeks. She scouts artists from a range of mediums and experiences. “I'm very open and I’ll work with any mediums just as far as I like the aesthetic, of course,” Treviño explains her selection process. “But it doesn't really matter if you're an upcoming artist or like a bigger one. I'm not being picky, you may have 10 million followers, like, I don't care about that. I think that's the point, to get other people to know this artist, and that's basically how I've been doing it.”
Treviño does not shy away from a challenge. She looks for unconventional collabs that will push her to rethink jewelry design. For collab #4 she worked with an 18-year-old digital artist from Mexico City to create a face filter using her jewelry designs used on a cowboy hat for Bad Bunny. There’s not a medium she’s not willing to explore. Treviño recently released her fifth project and has a roster of at least eight more artists to work with. Her list includes Natalia Mantini, a freelance photographer based in New York City, who is known for shooting names like J.LO and Chlöe Sevigny.
“Yeah, it's using jewelry and expanding its purpose,” says Treviño. She finds an artist she’s compatible with and directs the creative process. The designer is working with various mediums to reimagine jewelry design—while giving exposure to other artists during a time that everyone needs it.
“So for me, this definitely has helped to challenge myself creatively and make more work and have more deadlines for myself,” states Treviño. The series grew from an artistic urge to continue creating while supporting each other.
Treviño intends to create a cute catalog of all the collabs at the end of all of this (whenever that comes). This pandemic has proved how much we need each other to continue to exist.
When asked what she recommends other artists to do during quarantine, Treviño advises: “Just keep creating, you know, even if it's like at home. I think work makes work.”
