Lily's Bouquet
A Summer Necklace
This is Lily, my unofficial goddaughter. We’re neighbors and friends. Her mama has a photo of us painting together on paper plates when she was 2 1/2 years old. We mostly hang out on weekends. Sometimes we walk around the neighborhood and talk about whatever she wants to talk about. Sometimes, she just wants to come over, sit on the couch, eat pasta with red sauce, and watch her Netflix shows. Sometimes we go to the Met, her favorite museum. Today she used the word ‘mesmerized.’ I’m always mesmerized by her.
For her eighth birthday, I invited her to collaborate with me on a necklace as a birthday gift. She surprised me with the word ‘bouquet’ (once she could let go of the word ‘princess’). I asked her to draw the letters on a heavy paper. From those drawings, I built the model and added five bezels for stones following her choice of colors: Three pink tourmalines and two yellow sapphires.
I wanted to surround her with creature-like flowers—a magical garden for a magical child.
xx y
Style: Liz Quijada (mama)
Set design: Myself
Florist: Mehiko (insta @mehiko.floral)
Photography: Gili Getz
