In early March 2017, this author had the pleasure of watching professional photographer Joel Levy shoot some breathtakingly beautiful photos of the interior of On the Other Hand Jewellery in Leslieville.
This store is the brainchild of Karen MacRae, a semi famous Canadian jewellery designer that up until this point had always made stuff to sell in other shops. Last fall however she teamed up with Sabrina Melendez, a master goldsmith of some renown, and opened this cute little shop at 1015 Queen St, (just east of Pape)
As you can see in the photos below the store’s interior has lovely wood flooring and beautiful Victorian wood trim which has just been completely made-over. The shop features numerous display cases with a multitude of gorgeous handmade and ready to wear jewellery collections that Karen and Sabrina have made as well as the works of other notable designers and friends.
This is how things are done in the jewellery business and On the Other Hand Jewellery was born after years of creating attractive pieces of high fashion wearable art for other people’s collections. Karen MacRae made her name working for other online galleries and retail stores in diverse markets across Canada. Now its time to showcase her art in her own gallery.
The photos Joel snapped that day were well used in many subsequent publications, not the least of which was Joel’s own Toronto interior photography blog,
And for those readers who don’t know, Joel (Steady) Levy is also the editor of Toronto Guardian, and so it came to pass that many of the photos he snapped that day appeared later in an article called
Jewellery Artist Karen MacRae, Custom Engagement Rings in Leslieville
Ken Bryan a notable club promoter and influencer also used some of these snaps in his Kulture blog about Karen MacRae’s custom engagement rings. Ken has known this artist for years and his post shows the banana leaf sketch that became the custom wedding bands she wears and shares with her own husband.
Karen’s partner, Sabrina Melendez is a master goldsmith and in addition to being an informal partner and tireless supporter of the new venture, she’s also new mom. Sabrina graduated from Ecoles des Arts Appliques de Geneve Tech in 2009 and is very talented goldsmith a jewellery design artist that combines gold and silver with wood – more on that to come.
Together, Karen and Sabrina are the perfect artistic co-conspirators who combine their aesthetic sensibilities and feed ideas to one another in a very symbiotic style merger. With a focus on ethically sourced and recycled materials, every ring, (necklace or bracelet) made at On the Other Hand Jewellery is produced from solid gold or silver with a focus on simplicity and elegance.
