I have really enjoyed working with the team at Of A Kind. The process of creating a one-of-a-kind edition is really fun. It gives me an opportunity to play with some of the ideas that haven't come to life in the collection. It helps that their team is super open to seeing all of my crazy prototypes (one of which they compared to the Nickelodeon logo... oops!). 

I really love how the Omar earrings turned out. The design falls somewhere between our popular Ilhan and Ruby earrings.  A little more playful than the Ruby. And less of a statement than the Ilhan.

 ** All of these photos are provided by and property of Of A Kind **

What about the name? 

Well, let me tell you. The Ilhan earrings were originally part of the Witness collection. A series that was created and launched during the time that 45 was being elected and sworn in. I was so exhausted of hearing news that had me screaming "NO!" Every time I would hear one of their names, my whole body just had this NO, NO, NO feeling.  In protest of this feeling, I decided to give all of the pieces in the collection YES names. These names belong to women I admire, women that author and initiate change. Women I see as YES people. That way every time we said the name of that style in the studio, we could feel a little bit of that YES. 

The Ilhan earrings (and now the Omar version for Of A Kind) are named after Ilhan Omar, the first Somali-American Muslim legislator in the United States. She was elected to the Minnesota House of Representatives in 2016. 

Let's be clear though. I don't think that these earrings are worthy of her name. I just want the constant reminder here at Seaworthy of the good things that we are capable of. And just a little more yes.  Yes, yes, yes!