An Interview with Lucis Collection
The longboard dancing community is full of great skaters who have amazing skills also off the board. One of them is my dear friend Anne who’s passionate about both longboarding and creating jewelry. And that’s why she runs Lucis Collection – a skate related jewelry brand based in Lyon. Lucis combines skating and stylish aesthetics, so if you’ve ever wanted to show your affection to boardsports in an elegant way you may want to hear more about what Lucis Collection has got to offer!
Questions for Lucis Collection
Let’s start it short and sweet: Summarize Lucis in one sentence!
LC: Lucis is a young jewelry brand that wants to create a unique, contemporary and sensible way to combine skateboarding and jewelry.
It says that Lucis is a skate-related jewelry brand – what does it mean actually? And how is Lucis connected to longboarding?
LC: In fact, my longboard story and brand story are closely intertwined.
I worked in the fine jewelry for several years and the luxury industry is just another world. It felt that I was losing the essence of my craft profession. I was losing my soul to a productive and quantitative way of seeing things.
Meanwhile, I was finding myself in longboarding. It was filling my personal life with positive vibes, inspiration and amazing people.
I just wanted to find a way to bring all that energy from longboarding to my professional life and put it in my work.
People’s general idea of skateboarding is a teenager making noise and ruining the urban property but we all know that the skateboarding culture is way more than that. Its values have a universal scope.
For me, the famous “skate, sleep and repeat” means determination, perseverance, inspiration, support for your peers and fellowship.
(We all know the drill <3)
Skateboarders use boards as a medium (way) of expression like dancers use theirs bodies to express themselves. Skateboarders do their tricks over and over and they take their need of perfection so far that their board can’t handle it and will break eventually. And this is when a broken board becomes my own medium and I mix it with precious metal and stones. In fact, for me it becomes a precious material.
I use small slices of skateboard in the Sandwich collection. It is called like this because the accumulation of the seven layers of wood that make a skateboard is called a sandwich. It is the aesthetic of the colored layering that I wanted to put forward with my jewels.
For me this particular collection carries the vision of Lucis.
A Sandwich jewel carries a little piece of somebody’s story and life. It is a strong emblem of will, pursuit for perfection and achievement.
Skateboarding has taught me one of the biggest lessons you can learn: success is built on failure.
Anne / Lucis Collection
When a rider wants to learn a new trick, they automatically accept that they will have to fail in order to succeed at some point. In skate like in life, you build success over failures if you accept to see them as lessons.
Those broken boards talk about resilience. That’s why I would also like to work with the underside of the broken boards in my next collection. I want to magnify the traces of use. To sublime those imperfections by using them as a pattern.
What is your longboard story, by the way?
LC: Since I was a child, I’ve always been attracted by boardsports. But as a girl and an African descent from a modest background, I was convinced at that time that they weren’t for me. The cliché of a white blonde girl was even stronger back then.
It is clear that even if I was living on an island the stereotypes and the lack of role models kept me powerless. I secretly dreamed of being a surfer or skateboarder but I never felt confident enough or legitimate to try.
Anne / Lucis Collection
I tried longboarding only decades later.
After a hard break up I needed a big change in my life. I already had short hair at that time so it couldn’t be a new haircut, haha! So I went for something that attracted and scared me at the same time.
Now skating is a big part of my identity and my life. I live with a skater so it doesn’t help much, haha, our flat is full of boards!
We are part of the executive team of Boards of Mangroove in Lyon (a French longboard association) and try to be involved as much as possible for the community. I found a second family there.
Tell us more about being conscious that is mentioned at your Instagram bio.
(LD.World loves everything related to skating and sustainability!)
LC: One day I’d like to to be able to say that Lucis is completely sustainable so the goal is to push things to that direction. To be as ethical as possible. The jewelry industry works like a secret society, so it is not very well known and people don’t know how jewels are made. I would like to make it more transparent and raise awareness about what are the environmental, human and economic costs of a jewel so that people could choose what type of jewelry they want to favor.
For my part, a strong and resistant jewel is the most important statement of sustainability. I want my jewelry to be worn for decades.
When it comes to choosing suppliers and materials, I am very conscientious: I mostly work with local suppliers and always try to have as much information as possible about the sources of their products.
When it comes to stones it is not always easy to know where they are from and if the extraction is respectful of the local population and the earth. That’s why it is important to work with the suppliers you trust.
I also try to be careful with all the small everyday actions, like using a skateboard or bike to go to my suppliers and rendez-vous, favor second hand tools, avoiding plastic tools as much as possible, using green energy and, replacing synthetic chemicals by natural products.
Who or what inspires you? Both in designing and skating?
LC: I am a very curious person so that is a difficult question, haha!
Theo my boyfriend is my everyday life inspiration. We are really different but complementary. So I am always amazed by his passion and dedication for the things he likes. He is also an incredible human being. Always kind and patient.
There are many famous riders with incredible style and skills who I follow on social media.
But for many reasons I find it more stimulating and inspiring to see someone challenge themselves every day. I’ve seen Theo growing and thriving for three years now. He has progressed so much here just right before me, witnessing that is priceless.
Regarding design, I am more interested in non-jeweler people. Oddly.
Kim Jung Gi is a comics artist I love. His drawing skills are just unbelievable. I also love Marc Silvestri’s work.
And when I need to stimulate my imagination and creativity I watch a movie from the Ghibli studio. Of course I have my favorites but I am never tired of their rich and poetic universe.
Also, I assiduously watch Woby Design videos on Youtube. A maker who works with broken skateboards in a pretty cool workshop.
What’d be your dream come true regarding Lucis?
LC: Wow, what a question!
Just to live from my passion, I think. To be able to continue exploring new aesthetic approaches and to experiment. I would really love to know that people wear my jewelry as totems and jewels they would treasure all their life. That’s why I crave for designing and making engagement or wedding rings (especially for people in the community), such powerful symbolic carriers.
I like to compare myself to one of the broken boards that I use in my work. I was broken and now I am reshaping myself to fit into my new life. To give meaning to my life, to my work.
It made me realize that for me, success is more about finding balance between personal and professional life.
I love those skateboarding metaphors, haha! So that would be my dream, finding balance by doing what I love and being surrounding by people I care about.
Which sustainable jewelry brands you’d like to share with us?
LC: K/LLER collection is an eco-friendly brand based in New York. I discovered them in 2013 and worked like crazy to be able to do an internship there. I did it in 2014 and it was a journey that changed my life. An amazing experience. The kind of experience that developed my personality and identity. I will always be grateful to the two creators, Michael and Katie.
Soko is a Californian brand that works with Kenyan artisans who use locally sourced materials, such as recycled brass and reclaimed cow-horn and bone. There is something about reclaiming the resources and skills that I really like about that approach.
What’s the main message you want to send out there to the longboarders around the world?
LC: I’d say stay as you are!
I have met amazing people out there. And all of them are the one that inspires me daily. I don’t know if Lucis would exist if I wasn’t part of that incredible community.
All in all, I will just take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the people that have crossed my way during these two years of longboarding. I have always strongly believed that some meetings could influence or change a life. And meeting some of you has had a significant and positive impact on mine. I can’t name you all because I don’t want to take the risk to forget someone 😉
Just want to say that I love you guys <3
To wrap it up…
Lucis Collection is an example of how we can enjoy beautiful things while being environmentally-friendly and supporting socially sustainable practices. Personally, I’m in love with Anne’s creations, and I’m amazed how old boards can be turned into such stunning pieces.
I want to thank Anne for spreading the word about conscious jewelry and providing skaters with an ethical and elegant way to show their love for the sport <3 Longboarddancing.world wishes all the best for Lucis Collection and we are stoked to see what you’ll create next!
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