Cosmic inspiration

>> Montreal takes pride in Lydia Lukidis's out-there jewellery

By SIOBHAN O'CONNOR

Spacey, bold and unusual, but also kinda delicate and girly, Cosmic Angels jewellery is hard to pin down. It straddles the great divide between everyday accessory and haute couture art, which is exactly the way 25-year-old Lydia Lukidis, designer and founder of the Montreal-based company, likes it.

"I am not trying to dictate trends," says Lukidis. "I'm just making jewellery that you wouldn't immediately recognize as a necklace or a ring." And that she does. While some of her necklaces hang gently against the clavicle, others have silver tendrils that appear to be climbing up the neck--one of her rings even looks a little like a bonsai tree.

"I used to use words to express myself but I found that limiting," she says. "Now it's jewellery." Lukidis's shift just less than a year ago to a more immediate, decorative medium has proven a successful choice. What started as a pilot project--making custom jewellery out of her home for friends and acquaintances--has snowballed in the last six months, landing Cosmic Angels a spotlight on MusiquePlus and in several runway shows, where she collaborated with local designers Luc LaRoche and Claudella Gilles. She's also been approached by the artistic director of a major Eddie Murphy film, Pluto Nash, coming out next year who wants to put her jewellery on the big screen. As well, her necklaces will be used in the posters for Divers/Cite's Pride 2000 campaign.

For Lukidis, who hand-sculpts each one of the 300 existing Cosmic Angel designs, compromise has always been a concern. "I know my stuff isn't for everybody, but one thing I will never do is completely compromise the fashion side for the function side. There are designers who go the functional route and there are those who are totally out there, doing art for art's sake. I'm somewhere in between. The biggest challenge for me right now is finding the balance between what I, as an artist, want to make and what girls want to wear."

While Cosmic Angels isn't geared specifically toward the club scene, that's definitely where the company has seen the most success. Careful not to pigeonhole themselves, though, Cosmic Angels now have three main lines: Heavenly Angels, a delicate, pearly, girly line; Daring Diva, a bolder, more clubby line; and the Pride line featuring--what else?--rainbow colour-schemes and outrageous designs.

Lukidis credits her success in part to Montreal's growing prominence in the design industry, and thriving local designers like Luscious, Fidel and Body Bag. "There are a lot of talented young designers doing it for themselves here and we feed off each other's work. We inspire each other."

Bucking current trends like arm-bands, feathers and Indian-style accessories, Lukidis says her jewellery works best with the clothing already coming out of Montreal. "I look at clothing for inspiration," she says. "I'm not really interested in what other jewellers are doing. I do my own thing and it seems to be working well. You know what they say: if it ain't broke..." lll

Cosmic Angels is available at Juan & Juanita (Les Cours Mont-Royal), Junior Juan (2039 St-Denis), Aritmetik (3688 St-Laurent), Cruella (63 Mont-Royal E.)