I have always been drawn to the strange.
Maybe it's because I'm an October baby. Maybe it started with an aunt who told us scary stories when I was little, or watching The Nightmare Before Christmas at a very young age and realizing that the darker parts of life could also be beautiful.
Or maybe I've just always been a spooky girl at heart.
Halloween has always felt different from other holidays to me. There is no great obligation attached to it. No expectation to fulfill someone else's idea of what the holiday should be. For one night, we get to dress up, eat treats, hang out with friends and play with the things that usually frighten us.
There is something freeing about that.
And, unsurprisingly, that freedom eventually found its way into my jewelry.
Where the Spooky Collection Began
The first piece in what would eventually become Universal Deco's Spooky Inspired Collection was my little Till Death Skull Pendant, created in 2021, the same year I started making jewelry.
I made a tiny skull because I loved it. It was personal, playful and a little macabre. Then I realized just how many other people out in the world loved spooky season as much as I did.
Over the years, the collection grew, but underneath the playfulness there has always been something deeper that fascinates me.
Death is something every single one of us will experience, yet it remains incredibly taboo to talk about.
Art gives us another language.
It can make it easier to explore death, grief, fear and the things we don't completely understand. Something can be dark and still be beautiful. Something macabre can be precious. Something strange can make us feel seen.
Meet Salem & Luna, Our New Spooky Cats
This year, the collection has two very tiny new inhabitants: Salem and Luna.
I had been thinking about carving a spooky cat for a while, but the shape and posture hadn't come to me yet.
Because really, what is a traditional witch without her spooky kitty?
When I finally started carving the design, I approached it the same way I do many of my pieces. I didn't have the final form completely planned. I let myself carve freely and allowed the design to become what it wanted to become.
What it became was teeny tiny. Each cat measures just 8.8mm x 10.7mm, small enough to disappear into your palm.
Luna is crafted in 14k yellow gold. Salem is crafted in 14k white gold and finished with black rhodium. Both are finished with a 14k yellow-gold jump ring that forms a tiny golden moon above each pendant.
And then there is perhaps my favorite detail.
The diamond butthole.
Yes. That is a 0.6mm round diamond.
If you're a cat person, you know. Whenever I see cat stickers, drawings and little cat objects, somehow the cat butt always seems to be front and center. So naturally I thought, why not give these little kitties a sparkly booty?
Salem gets his name from Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Luna comes from Sailor Moon. I know Luna isn't technically spooky, but you can't tell me there wasn't a little witchiness happening there.
They are fine jewelry that doesn't take itself too seriously, which might be one of my favorite things.
Salem and Luna launched today through a very limited preorder, giving us time to handcraft each tiny familiar so they can arrive before Halloween.
From Spooky to Unladylike
Somewhere between the skulls and the curse words are the Dead Girl Pearls, classic looking until you notice the black knots and the little bone-shaped clasp.
At first glance, a tiny gold spooky cat and a pendant that says F*CK might not seem to have much in common.
But the more I think about my Spooky Inspired Collection and Unladylike Collection, the more I realize they come from a similar place.
Unladylike came about after watching blatant hate become increasingly televised, supported and encouraged by politicians in recent years.
It reminded me of growing up in the South and being taught to be silent and meek. Growing up as an immigrant mirrored that same idea for me. Be quiet. Don't make waves. Don't draw too much attention to yourself.
It made me feel weak.
Now, as an adult, I see how powerful words can be. And there is something pretty fucking amazing about taking those words and wearing them in gold.
F*CK. FERAL. C*NT. RAGE. NOPE.
F*ck is my favorite curse word. It has so many uses.
Feral is what I think I strive to be. Untamed. Unbound. Free from the expectation of what someone else thinks I should be.
C*nt has always felt like the biggest dirty word. But why? I've allowed other people to give that word so much power, and with this collection I see using it as taking back the power. It's a lovely word.
And then there are Rage and Nope.
Those two have felt particularly relevant to how I, and so many other women I know, have been feeling lately.
I used to see rage as something bad. Now I see it as a kind of focused power.
Rage can empower you.
It can protect you and the people you love. It can motivate you to speak when staying quiet would be easier. It doesn't have to mean destruction.
I think a woman enraged can be a beautiful sight. I'd like to see more women empowered by their rage. Perhaps we'd see more change for the better because of it.
And sometimes you don't need to explain yourself at all.
Sometimes the answer is simply Nope.
→ Explore the Unladylike Collection.
Do Spooky and Unladylike Connect?
I think that over the years I've come to realize that when I feel passionately about something, it's very likely that others feel it too.
Perhaps they both have a tinge of injustice to them. Unladylike, because women and minorities have been silenced. Spooky, perhaps, because it's about death and things beyond, and how we're told there's no such thing.
But we witches know better.
Why Make It in Gold?
There is something I love about taking a swear word, a skull, a skeleton or a tiny spooky cat with a diamond butthole and making it as fine jewelry.
Gold is simply the medium I love.
When I first started carving designs, I cast everything in sterling silver. But in my mind's eye, I always saw my designs in yellow gold.
There is something almost yummy about gold to me. The warmth of it. The weight. The way it feels to work with it.
And jewelry has never felt like mere decoration to me.
Jewelry as Talisman
Across cultures and throughout human history, jewelry has been used to communicate identity, status, belief, remembrance, protection and connection.
Ancient Egyptian priestesses wore gold and jewels as a form of protection and connection to the divine. In pre-Columbian Central America, warriors wore gold jewelry to show status and invoke divine protection. Shamans used gold talismans in ceremony.
All of it wearable art. All of it holding power.
We still give jewelry enormous meaning today. We wear wedding rings. We inherit jewelry from the people we love. We mark births, deaths, anniversaries and transformations with it.
Does jewelry hold power simply because we decide it does?
Maybe.
Or could there be something a little magical about these beautiful elements themselves?
I personally believe there is something divine about it. I have my own ceremonies around how I create, and I give thanks to Mother Earth for being able to work with it.
And I think that may be where Spooky and Unladylike ultimately meet.
Both are about reclaiming something.
The strange. The dark. The wild. The angry. The profane. The things beyond our understanding.
The things we've been told shouldn't be beautiful, feminine, precious or displayed proudly.
I disagree.
Put them in gold.
Add a diamond.
Wear them around your neck.
A Very Special Spooky Drop
This year, the full Spooky Pendants preorder opens October 13, which also happens to be my 40th birthday.
I've been getting so many requests to bring back sold-out Spooky designs that it felt like a pretty perfect way to celebrate with our collectors.
I like to keep each drop very limited, because I think that makes these pieces even more special.
Until then, our newest Spooky designs, Salem and Luna, launched today through a limited preorder ahead of Halloween.
Whether you choose a skull, a spooky cat or a gold pendant carrying a word you were once told not to say, I hope my creations give you something you need.
Maybe it's courage. Maybe it makes you feel beautiful. Maybe it makes you feel protected. Maybe it reminds you that you don't need permission to be yourself. Maybe it simply makes you feel a little mischievous.
I believe all jewelry can be a kind of talisman. We give these objects meaning, carry them against our bodies and allow them to become part of our stories.
I hope mine help you feel powerful in whatever way you need them to.
And perhaps they offer the comfort of knowing there are other strange people out there too.
There always have been.
And some of us are making it in gold.
We invite you to visit our atelier in Denver's LoHi neighborhood to see the collection in person, or explore it online anytime.
Universal Deco is an independent fine jewelry house and atelier in Denver, Colorado, creating handcrafted jewelry for collectors drawn to symbolism, storytelling and the beautifully unexpected.
