The Creative Duo

THE BRAND

The brainchild of a tattoo-loving couple, edgy New York-based jewelry brand Rebel Ideal® melds high style with punky attitude. For a refreshing departure from the expected check out our handmade collections. 
 If you have questions about Rebel Ideal® Art & Jewelry, email us at info@rebelideal.com  ~ xoxo
THE MAKER
Hi, I am Natalija and I'm a bench jeweler. 
I haven't always been a jeweler, although since I was 7 or 8, I remember myself either looking for fool's gold on the side of a school road, or for rough unpolished amber rocks on the coasts of the Baltic Sea where I was born and raised. 

In my last year of high school, I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with my life. I came from a patriarchal family, so my father told me that teaching in school would be quite a practical job and would bring constant money into the family. So I went to get a degree in teaching, and I ended up getting a Master's Degree in Education... I taught languages to kids for about 4 years or so. But I learned soon though that I didn't want to spend my entire life in a tiny country of Latvia and so I moved to the U.S.A...

Let me just fast forward through all the years of learning the new language, adjusting to the new culture, getting jobs here and there, getting another Master's Degree in Consulting, constant dissatisfaction, and occasional loss of sanity and patience. At some point, when I quit another job, I realized that I didn't want to work for anyone else anymore but myself. A friend of mine told me once to look deep into my memories and remember what I really liked doing when I was a child. Suddenly, my "fool's gold adventures" resurfaced, and I knew what I needed to do... I began studying gemology and learning the art of jewelry making, specifically - sculpting.

Why skulls, you ask me? Why not something girly, bright and colorful? 

I love human anatomy, and I love nature as a whole. I love the concept of yin and yang as the two opposing forces of the world - life and death, day and night, water and earth and so forth. I am also a Libra, a dual sign, that seeks balance all life long. I am also a Fire Dragon, the most mystical creature in the entire Chinese Horoscope.
Thus, my inspirations come from the dark side of a human being and from the bright side of nature itself. I make things like dragons, bird skulls, human skulls, skeletons, leaves, and flowers. My goal is to combine feminine and masculine beginnings into one piece of jewelry and make it genderless and unisex...

I grew up in the late 1980-, the early 1990s. Punk, Alternative Rock, Underground, Electronic and Rock music was what we listened to, even in Latvia... I wore grunge style street clothes and listened to Depeche Mode, Nirvana, then Papa Roach and Linkin Park.  I'm only now realizing how great that time period actually was for music and art and the politics of both, and also how simple everything was.
Quality of work is my top priority. I strive to make a piece of jewelry that can complement not only a person's outfit but also his/her character. I want my jewelry to last a very long time, I don't make trendy and small things.

Most of my jewelry I sculpt from a block of wax. This type of jewelry making is called “lost wax casting” which is an incredibly long and tedious process and takes about 2-3 days to make each piece of jewelry. 
Creative Duo
Rebel Ideal Duo

My husband Chad and I are the only people running the shop. My husband is the one who motivates and inspires me every day. He makes sketches and I often use them as an inspiration for my future designs. I call him a 2D Artist, and myself - a 3D Sculptor. That's how REBEL IDEAL® was born in 2011, from our creative duo...

Even though I love making molds for most of my jewelry, I am not a mass-producer. I cast every item pretty much separately as soon as an order comes in, and a small casting shop in New York City helps me with that (I simply can't afford all the space and equipment required for casting)...


Rebel Ideal