Luxury Jewelry Design & TASCHEN Publication
Client: Eliantte (luxury jewelry atelier)
Project: Custom jewelry design for high-profile hip-hop and entertainment clients
Role: Creative Director
Duration: 5 Years
“Two of the chains I designed were featured in ICE COLD: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History, published by TASCHEN in 2023“
The Story
For five years, I designed custom jewelry at one of the most recognized names in jewelry for Grammy-winning and Grammy-nominated artists across hip-hop, R&B, and pop. I conceptualized and worked alongside the owner to create one-of-a-kind pieces worn by artists who needed their identity made physical.
Every client had the same core need: their public identity had to become a single object. Something that would be photographed thousands of times, shown on camera, recognized by fans. The design had to hold that weight while remaining wearable and production-ready.
It was fast-moving, high-pressure, and personal. There's little room for generic work, and first impressions are essential.
What Happened
The client roster over five years included Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Young Dolph, DJ Mustard, Rich the Kid, Hailey Bieber, City Girls, Roddy Ricch, and others.
Two of the chains I designed were featured in ICE COLD: A Hip-Hop Jewelry History, published by TASCHEN in 2023 . Written by Vikki Tobak, it is a NYT-bestselling book documenting the full arc of jewelry in hip-hop culture. The book was exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History in 2024, reaching over 5 million visitors.
Design Decisions
The first decision is always research. Where is this artist right now, and what symbols belong to them specifically?
For the Astroworld chain, the text came first. AstroWorld was one of the most referenced typefaces in hip-hop during 2018, but it earned that from the album’s theme. The major decision first was what shape would this take. The second decision was which aspects of the carnival to render.
Across the full five years, the thing most people won't notice is how much of the work is hand-drawn. The Rich The Kid designs make it most visible, the line work in those pieces is recognizably human. Not crude, but not constructed from a font either. That distinction matters in a market where most design work starts and ends in software. The hand-drawn quality creates a singularity.
I drew up to around 5 sketches per commission before narrowing to two directions for presentation. One or two get presented to the artist. The work is fast-moving and personal. You're designing for people who will wear the piece on their body in front of millions, in photos that will circulate for years.
The Lesson
Jewelry and logos share the same discipline. Both communicate who someone is in a single glance. Both have to work at every scale: up close in a photo, across a room on a stage, in a magazine at print resolution. Designing for recognition at any distance is the skill behind brand identity systems. The medium may change but the core skill remains the same.
Impact
Two original designs published in ICE COLD (TASCHEN, 2023), NYT bestseller — the book was officially exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History (5M+ annual visitors)
Featured in GQ, MTV, BET, TMZ
Client roster: Lil Wayne, Travis Scott, The Weeknd, Hailey Bieber, City Girls, Rich the Kid, Young Dolph, DJ Mustard, Roddy Ricch
5-year tenure as Senior Designer
May 2026, Eliantte engaged publicly with a Slowbucks brand resurgence post — a brand whose logo was designed by RFL in 2009.
Press
