Mara Colecchia, artistically known as Maracole Bijoux, was born in Italy in the mid seventies, and since an early age was encouraged to experiment with various artistic disciplines. She continued her creative journey in Rome, designing characters for animation and children entertainment; this explains why her jewelry design carries a distinctive whimsical and playful look. 

Half nerd, half unicorn, Maracole flew to Los Angeles in 2009 to fulfil her dream to become a pop surreal artist.

After pursuing various artistic ambitions, and having her work exhibited at art galleries in Los Angeles, she discovered bead-weaving, just in the midst of the Thomas Fire. The spark hit the mark! Maracole has been working with seed beads and repurposed vintage beads ever since, experimenting with up-cycled leather from used baseballs, silly straws and balloons. Her work has been exhibited at international art fairs such as Joya, Artistar Jewels, Autor Contemporary.

"I am sensitive to environmental issues and I am determined to create exclusively eco-friendly fashion accessories. I naturally developed my unique way to apply embroidery to up-cycling, by repurposing leather from used baseballs, and lucite beads from used vintage jewellery. For this reason I place my line in the realm of ethical fashion and eco-sustainable design.

Working with minuscule seed beads forces a weaver to be methodical and attentive, as a small mistake on a large piece can turn into a serious complication. This technique is extremely time consuming, and necessitates the creation of a meditative state of mind.

When I begin a new project and start to deal with this peculiar quality of bead-weaving, I find that the practice is also the message. The values I stick with and uphold in my practice are those of labor through intense artisanal skill, the quality of the work, and the enduring nature of a piece of jewellery." - Mara Colecchia AKA Maracole Bijoux