Boston - June 06, 2006

Your True Nature

Louise Douglas Jewelry

Good thing nature has inspired the best minds of our species.

Otherwise, Thoreau might have been a tax attorney. Wordsworth would have been a nervous wreck. And Monet would be painting hangers instead of haystacks.

And then there’s Boston jewelry maker Louise Douglas, whose handcrafted, pearl-scattered silver and gold pieces incorporate all kinds of organic trimmings — from crystals and leather to resins and fabric. And though each may be born of nature, you’ll find the whole line at her new in-city studio.

Want to feel at one with the sea? Try a luminous lariat from Douglas’s oyster pearl collection. Rather go earthy-chic? The crystal- and stone-flecked rings and bracelets she painstakingly puts together are, quite simply, knockouts.

So this stuff might not make it into any Western canons. But they are small masterpieces unquestionably bound for timeless status.

And, with any luck, your personal collection.

Louise Douglas, 46 Waltham Street, studio 205A, South End (617-378-8890 or louisedouglas.com).