By now, most of you know of my Love of Travelling that inspires most of my collections.

And the Vintage Lace that textures the TORI.XO silver.

Last week I had the pleasure of returning to Paris.

It goes without saying, this city will always fill my sketchbooks with new designs,

but there is one key element I source when I get there: the Chantilly Lace

My very first inspirations for the TORI.XO collections came from a piece of lace that I found in a Parisian flea market about 7 years ago. Originally handmade in Chantilly over 100 years ago. This piece of lace has driven the heart and soul of over 120 TORI.XO pieces.

You may remember this picture from back in 2011, while buying my lace supplies from this lovely lady.

This is from last week's reunion with my beautiful Lace supplier who remembers me after 2 years.

Here are some of the treasures I bought to introduce into the next collections:

About the lace

The lace is very delicate. Many people ask me if it can be used again once pressed into the silver.

The answer is that it can be used only once, which makes every TORI.XO piece unique. The lace is old and has so much history, yet once used, the memory of the 100 year old hand made lace is preserved and brought back to life, in its jewellery form, given a new meaning to the wearer.

Here are the bobbins being sold at the Parisian Flea Market, used to make the lace. 

And some tools I found to hammer our the silver jewels and lace...

New inspiration

This time around I visited the Monet gardens in Giverny.

Monet, a master of Impressionism, built his own gardens and designed his own ponds in his house at Giverny. He then went on to create his very own masterworks that moves millions of souls today, the water lilies series.

These gardens moved me deeply and I found my own inspirations in the roses, poppies and lily pads...

Where jewellery meets inspiration

Returning to the city from a trip out into country side Paris, I took a walk in my all time favourite neighbourhood, St Germain.

It was here two years ago I drew my inspiration for the French Door Knocker Collection

And I stumbled upon one of the very brass door knockers that was the inspiration for the:

FRENCH DOOR KNOCKER EARRINGS

Now, I'll sit in my studio for the next couple of months, designing, prototyping and hammering out the new collections. 

Dreaming of my next adventure...

Keep your eyes posted here, on our Facebook Page, twitter and Intsagram @torixojewelry

Tori xo