Marla Aaron Unlocks with New Box Collection

New York--Marla Aaron is a designer who understands the importance of maintaining a strong design signature.

She launched her eponymous fine jewelry collection in 2013 with a single concept: Make a functional piece of hardware--specifically, a lock--into a luxurious piece of fine jewelry by rendering it in 18-karat gold and sterling silver.

Three years and many locks later, Aaron has garnered a cult following of lock devotees, with some of her clients accruing pieces in the dozens, often purchasing them to mark special occasions.

So it’s with a distinct sense of deliberateness that, along the way, Aaron has carefully incorporated a couple of new design elements into her brand, maintaining the highly personal and sentimental ethos of her jewelry while continuing to experiment with and expand upon her original lock design.

“Every time we add something to the collection, I think a lot about whether or not we are saying something new,” said Aaron. “We discard many more ideas than we actually produce.”

This fall, Aaron took a leap with the debut of her Charmed Box collection. It encompasses three separate charms. Each is an 18-karat gold box the size of a sugar cube that, like Aaron’s locks, are functional and actually open and close--a Marla Aaron version of a locket.

The trifecta consists of a yellow gold, rose gold and white gold version, the latter adorned with a square-cut rubellite, the pavilion of which is exposed when the box is opened.

“I am fascinated by American charm manufacturing from the 1950s and 1960s,” Aaron explained of the inspiration behind her concept. “There are many really fun examples of box charms with a purpose.”

Specifically, Aaron cited mid-century “mad money” charm boxes, which were intended to hold a dollar to be used in case of emergency.



Aaron’s charm boxes are meant “to keep whatever you’d like in it,” she said, “to engrave it and, in some versions, to have a stone pierce the top of the box and be completely laid bare within the box like a hidden secret. (It’s) a way to capture and keep beauty safe.”

Like her locks, Aaron’s new collection lends itself well to customization.

“I am thrilled with how people are already personalizing them,” she said. “We have made one with a black diamond in the top, we made another for a lost first tooth and we are completing one right now that