Cool Hunting

Made using strands of her own hair, Melanie Bilenker creates brooches, pendants and rings featuring delicately-rendered everyday scenes. A graduate of Philadelphia's University of the Arts, Bilenker's work is inspired by the Victorian tradition of keeping lockets of hair or miniature portraits painted with ground hair and pigment to commemorate the memory of a lost love. Her use of physical remnants evokes an intimate connection with the mundane domestic scenes portrayed, like the Drawing A Bath brooch (pictured) which captures the subtle beauty of a quiet moment. See more images here.