Jewelry designer Kristen Levy, now based in Echo Park in Los Angeles, began to cultivate her passion for design at the age of 10, when she learned the art of Native American beadwork. As her interest grew, she started reworking the broken jewelry of her mother and grandmother into new pieces for herself. Her passion grew as she did until she began her own unique jewelry collection, Kristen Elspeth, in 2005. Inspired by indigenous cultures and materials, especially the African and North American porcupine, Kristen uses found, natural materials to create her signature pieces. Along with porcupine quills, Kristen also uses silver, gold, silk, gemstones, and diamonds in her designs.
Porcupine quills are said to be symbols of trust, innocence, invincibility, intelligence and to represent protection from dark spirits.
