Since 2005, Joy Cho has been charming and cheering us with her delightful blog Oh Joy!, featuring fun and inspiration in design, fashion, and food.  As if these top-three themes weren't enough to make us feel as though we'd found our West Coast soul mate, her penchant for cheerful brights and oversized organics is right on-cue with our own Elva aesthetic.  Essentially, she's an Elva gal through and through, we think!  

So, it may come as no surprise that we're launching our Leading Ladies Collection with Joy, a quadruple-threat these days, as she now adds the roles of author and mother to her blogger-designer lineup.  (And creative consultant, and wife, and editor, and friend...she is endlessly talented...and busy!)  Between beautiful baby Ruby and her new book launching this Fall, Joy snuck some time to create an inspiration board as we started our collaborative project: designing and creating a necklace that Joy could wear as an everyday pop of color.  

{a few snapshots of Joy's Pinterest-based inspiration board for the project}

Armed with her visual cues, we began sourcing some materials for her consideration: from mint to kelly green, a rich azalea and melon hue or two, and even a bit of white for bead colors...to an assortment of blooming blossoms, delightful daisies, and jeweled ear bobs as her vintage options.  A bit of swapping emails and images followed, and in no time at all, we narrowed it down to these:

And...after some consideration...voilà:  the finished look!  Joy's new "Joyful and Jubilant" necklace features three strands of polished green quartz with a cluster of vintage glass and rhinestone jeweled earring pendants at the side and a gold vermeil clasp to bring it all together.  

Once the jewels arrived in Los Angeles (quite the cross-country adventure from Kentucky!) Joy snapped a photo as she wore her new necklace--and we think it's the perfect pop of color that reads as creative and fun as Joy is.  We're delighted and honored...and think Joy is quite the lovely Leading Lady...in Elva Fields jewels and in life at large!

A Few Questions for Joy

Emily/Elva Fields: Your beautiful name and creative style seem to be perfectly in sync--"joyful is certainly a word we'd use to describe your aesthetic.  What, design-wise, brings you the most joy?

Joy/Oh Joy!: I've always been a fan of unexpected details:  a pop of color or pattern inside a jacket lining or shirt placket, or a mix of materials, contrasts in color, or bits of shine. 

EF:  How do you incorporate color in your everyday look?  And what are some of your favorite colors in your wardrobe?

OJ:  I'm a big fan of strong primaries like kelly green, cobalt blue, dandelion yellow, but also what I like to call "sophisticated pastels" like mint green, apricot, or strawberry.  They're pastel, but a concentrated version of the color, so as not to be "too" sweet!

EF:  Since we were aiming for a look that worked for daily dressing, tell us where in Los Angeles you'd wear your new jewel.

OJ:  Brunch with friends to one of my favorite East-side spots:  LaMill, Proof, Cafe Stella, or Canelé.

EF: We love that you have your very own Elva...any other jewels on the site catch your eye?

OJ: The "So in Love with Skies Above" necklace, faceted pyrite/fool's gold briolette earrings, and the "Pale Pink with Posies" necklace.