Pamela Love: The Language of Symbols
How a childhood fascination with meaning, myth and materials became a jewelry brand built on more than aesthetics.
Pamela Love has always been a maker.
Long before she built an internationally recognized jewelry brand — before the CFDA awards, the fashion magazine spreads, the shelf space in some of the world’s most influential stores — she was the kid turning whatever she could find into something to wear.
“I got the jewelry bug early,” she said. Growing up in South Florida, she made friendship bracelets and lanyards, experimented with clay and glass beads, and took jewelry classes throughout middle and high school. Her mother loved jewelry too, but her taste ran traditional — feminine, pretty, hearts and flowers. Pamela went the other way entirely.
“Mine was rebelling against that look. It was cool, eclectic, and distinctive.” How distinctive? At one point she pulled the bristles out of toothbrushes, softened the plastic in hot water, and bent them into bangles.