About

New York-based Jewelry designer Neeka Gilardian brings her unique perspective of the world to jewelry. Neeka’s yearning for dimension, color, and texture has much to do with the fact that she has a neurological condition known as Synesthesia. Her subconscious ability to see numbers and letters in color has propelled Neeka to approach art and jewelry in a bold, original, and distinct way. Her condition allows her to give life to flat letters and numbers in a book, and she realized that metal could be the material needed to bring life to her imagination.

Just as mundane black letters typed on a page are gifted with arrays of colors in Neeka’s mind, metal is transformed through vibrant powder coats layered over a sheet of patinated silver. Metal becomes the canvas for her Synesthesia. By bringing her mental synesthetic experiences to life, Neeka welcomes the viewer into her mind, offering new perspectives, ultimately creating a unique and exciting visual display of color. Neeka gives popular icons a new and refreshing twist by incorporating her unique perspective, integrating non-traditional colors and textures into her pieces. Because each letter of the alphabet possesses a different color in Neeka’s mind, her translation of words transforms her perspective of objects. Her pieces imply codes through color, spelling out the names of objects through the colors she associates to the complimentary letter. Although the word Banana is associated with the color yellow, Neeka applies the colors she associates with the word banana with the object, resulting in the creation of a powder coated array of dark blue (B), light blue (A), and red (N) layers. Ultimately, she embraces the layers of color flooding her mind on a daily basis and uses it as a tool to bring life and vibrancy into her work. Her work consists mainly of brooches, as she feels they provide the canvas necessary to express her ideas. They can stand alone as objects, or take on a different role when on the body. The freedom of expression that powder coating provides entices her to explore further, work harder, and gain a better understanding of her condition. Jewelry enables Neeka to share her personal experiences with Synesthesia with the world, providing her with a foundation of media and techniques that entice and incubate her imagination.