Sexy Beast

Cadavers have always fascinated Pamela Love. The daughter of an orthopedic surgeon and the granddaughter of a dentist, the jewelry designer's bizarre childhood fixations—"I've always loved bones and teeth"—seem inevitable. Today, Love has parlayed her forensic interests (which, beyond the skeletal, include the zodiac and taro) into an eponymous jewelry line that fuses the whimsical with the raw. Love admits to also drawing heavily from the great outdoors. "I'm obsessed with nature and science," she says. As a result, the line is filled with wildlife references: a raven skull necklace, a fanciful talon cuff, and a bejeweled crab claw ring are among Love's favorite designs. "I like pieces that are both rock-and-roll but still earthy," she says.

Working in a number of materials from brass to 14-karat gold, Love's visual style was honed in part by her time as a filmmaker at NYU, where the precocious student was introduced to the moody aesthetic of surrealist cinematographer Alejandro Jodoworsky, who still informs her work today. Love's many artistic pursuits, (she's also a painter and spends her days assisting artist Franciso Clemente), eventually spawned jewelry making as an accidental hobby. But the accident has since flourished into a full-blown business. "I still paint," Love says. "But there is something about creating jewelry that is so personal to me."

A new jewelry line gets wild by nature.