PROLOGUE

In times of division and polarization, we dare to connect. To capture and distill the beautiful ways in which our world—our cultures, stories, dreams—are woven together through objects and heirlooms. To venture deeper and deeper into the ancient art of jewelry-making, reviving traditional skills and techniques in communities in Asia, the Middle East, Central and South America, and North Africa. We seek to participate in the wonder of a fantastically unknown world.

THE MISSION

To revitalize dying craft traditions around the world, re-linking ancient trade routes that have existed since antiquity, but have been broken due to war, colonization, and mass-production.

THE VISION

A global, cultural company, developing heirloom products that are beautiful, sustainable, and imbued with cultural pride and history, that are produced by a community of small-scale, ethical, artisanally-focused partners from around the world.

Arianna Calabrese (lovingly nicknamed Ia / Ya or Iaia / Yaya) is a jewelry designer, sustainability consultant, and arts educator working at the intersection of cultural heritage, creative practice, and social & environmental liberation.

She spent her childhood going on adventures, exploring ruins and ancient worlds, cave diving, and hunting the lost Templar treasure in the arid summer countryside of Salento, Italy. Her first jewelry collection, ULUZZO, was kindled by those adventures. She went on to apprentice, then work, with the historic Gem Palace in Jaipur. After returning to the U.S., she worked with the Afrofuturist luxury brand, KHIRY.

With a degree in the Foreign Service, she has organized summits at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on sustainability and the future of fashion, and consulted on sustainable supply chains across Afghanistan, Myanmar, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia.

Iaia, launched in 2022, is born out of these diverse life experiences. She saw how jewelry could become a force for good – a vehicle through which to safeguard cultural heritage and to build global, diploatic connections that are rooted in beauty, pride, and diversity.

Iaia is a practice in radical slowness—incubating sustainable business and design practices by emphasizing the interconnectedness of environmental, social, economic, and cultural layers of each object. I started this business because I wanted to prototype a feminist business amd embody my values at every step—to build a business where profit and generosity can co-exist—a business that nourishes each of its partners while generating enough revenue to grow and expand.

She is endlessly inspired by the ancient and natural worlds & by the confluences of culture.


Every jewel is personal. Write to me