Meet Teresa our in-house jeweler!
Meet our in-house jeweler Teresa Kahres. She joined us in November of 2019 as we settled into our new location and has been creating with the Moon + Arrow team since then.Teresa’s work is heavily inspired by the places she's lived and traveled to, whether it's the mountains and oceans abroad or NYC’s skyline.
Moon + Arrow is reintroducing our in-house made jewelry line to our customers, friends, and neighbors. We wanted to remind our incredibly supportive community that we are a brick and mortar. We are continuing to produce a collection of carefully crafted, thoughtfully designed pieces. All of our Moon + Arrow Jewelry is designed by Chelsea Pearce and Teresa Kahres at Moon + Arrow, cast and forged locally in Philadelphia from recycled metals. Learn more about Teresa below!
Q: How did you make your way to Moon + Arrow?
I made my way to M+A bc when I moved to Philly. I did my research and found stores related to me so that I could create a sense of familiarity like I had In Brooklyn. In my search, both Moon and Arrow and at the time Little Moon showed up. I have a small child, so I frequented Little Moon with her, and that's where I met Bridget. One time she spent a few hours hanging and entertaining my daughter. I met Chelsea Pearce a few times at both stores, and one Friday night, A good friend asked me to go to a first Friday at M +A with her, and again I found myself at Moon and Arrow. It was subtle, but I kept finding my way there, and it wasn’t until a job for a jeweler had opened up that I thought it would be great to work there. The store is beautiful, with great vibes and a creative atmosphere.
Q: You’re originally from New York, what brought you to Philly, and what are the biggest differences between the two cities in your opinion? We moved to Philly to still be in a city with lots of art and creatives but with a less intense pace, more space, and to buy a home. Biggest differences; way more small-town feeling, less intense, to be friendlier and a little less glamorous, lots of art, artists and it’s tough which I like.
Q: Can you explain the process of making our new jewelry? Tell us more about the lost wax casting process?
First, we create a sample model that may be in metal or wax or directly from an object, i.e., shell, pine cone, small doll part, twig, etc. Either way, the process starts that a silicone mold gets made from the sample, then once the mold is made around the sample, you have created a negative space inside the mold. After that, the wax will get shot into the mold’s negative spaces to create wax models of the pieces you just made. Once those are created, these waxes get put onto a tree by way of spru (a type of attachment) in preparation for another mold to be made. This mold is made by pouring investment (plaster like material) into a vat with the tree of waxes you just created inside and forming a mold around it. Next, the burnout process starts, which means that all the wax gets burned out of the investment mold, and negative spaces are formed again. At this time, you are preparing your metal to pour into the investment mold’s negative spaces and hope that all the spaces are filled in with the metal so you can have your pieces all cast perfectly. And then you have a metal tree of whatever you cast! YAY, so satisfying but an extremely long process. Each process except the metal pouring takes a long time.
Q: How did you start making Jewelry? What does your artistic process look like, how is it different from your artistic process here at Moon + Arrow?
After college, I started making jewelry, and I moved to Brooklyn and shared a studio space with a good friend who was making jewelry and selling it. She encouraged me to create a line, and that’s how I started. My artistic process is quite similar to M+A’s when we are creating jewelry for M+A. We are creating collections, pieces that all relate to one another, have consistency, and a flow. Each piece is made by hand, we start out with a sample either in wax or metal and Chelsea and I go over it, make changes and usually get into a conversation about life or something of that sort which then makes our pieces more special.
Q: What is your favorite piece from Moon + Arrow’s Jewelry Collection?
The reflection earrings!
Q: What’s your favorite thing about working as an artist here in Philadelphia?
My favorite thing about working here is that I get to work out of the awesome BOK building where creative people and businesses are all in one place. It helps that the owner is super rad and is creative herself. I can bike all over the city, and that makes me super happy.
