Todd Reed

Todd Reed, Boulder, Colorado

Lariat

As many a man before him, Todd Reed has often found inspiration in the sea for his work, including this lariat necklace. Because lariats convey a sense of motion through their flowy nature, they are “fluid and feminine.” Reed designed the lariat to follow the body’s contour. “The Lariat cable chain undulates naturally against the form creating movement, but the weight of the stones grounds the motion,” he says. “The entire effect is sexy.” Reed says that he’s been “dialed into water lately: the energy, the mood—the flow.” To reflect the sea, he wrapped pearls in gold and flush-set brilliant diamonds for the stations—like a shell, the gold protects the pearls. Reed chose blues and greens because, in addition to mirroring the colors of the sea, in his eyes, those colors convey communication, and “relating interpersonally is very important” to him. “The emeralds and sapphires set into the contour of the gold speak of the essence of effective communication, but also of water as we see it in bright light—the colors flash across the surface in an instant.” Two teardrop tourmalines complete the look. Out of the hundreds of stones he looked at, they stood out to Reed right away. “You know there’s something to it when that happens,” he says.