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The title “Twelve” holds plenty of which means to Haley Peacock. She was born on the twelfth, her half birthday is 12/12, the home she grew up in was quantity 12, and she or he lived at quantity 12 once more when learning overseas in Rome, the town the place she started to noticeably think about beginning a jewellery firm. So when it got here time to call her jewellery firm, it felt a bit like a no brainer.
“I see it as this quantity that connects me to every part,” Peacock says.
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The 25-year-old designer who studied on the College of Visible Arts based Twelve began in 2018 whereas she was learning overseas in Rome. Previous to that, she had taken a couple of fashion-related courses in class, however her jewelry-making was usually restricted to any free time she had and the occasional college task. In Rome each Sunday, the road exterior Peacock’s residence hosted a flea market the place she may comb by means of big bins of charms, necklace clasps, and extra. She’d purchase a handful for one euro every and begin creating items for herself and her pals utilizing a pair of nail clippers as pliers.
5 years later, Peacock’s ditched the nail clippers and graduated from scouring flea market bins to sourcing sculptors like her pal Korbyn Carleton to recreate her designs — though, she’ll nonetheless often scour for the distinctive classic pendant. Nowadays, Twelve has moved from a glimmer of an concept in a Roman residence to a profitable on-line jewellery firm promoting rings, earrings, and necklaces that exude a post-apocalyptic-meets-ethereal-Gothic aura that depends on considerably brutalist bone and tooth imagery. It boasts a considerable buyer base that features Halsey, Caroline Polachek, and Olivia Rodrigo.
[Photo by John Novotny]
Peacock lengthy aspired to be an artist and in highschool would loosely joke about turning into a jewellery designer — and although she doesn’t think about herself an particularly spiritual particular person, she does imagine divine intervention, or not less than destiny, performed a job within the genesis of Twelve.
Whereas Peacock was raised Catholic, she describes her relationship with the faith as one thing that by no means fairly match. Her soul wasn’t stirred by the texts, teachings, and psalms like the remainder of her household, however what did transfer it was the sweeping grandiosity of the church buildings, the iconography, the artwork, and the eerie Gothicism attribute of Catholicism.
“It touched me in a bizarre manner that I used to be confused about as a result of I didn’t actually establish with the faith itself that a lot,” Peacock says. “I believe that at all times kind of fascinated me.”
That fascination confused and typically annoyed her. She knew Catholicism wasn’t one thing she outright associated to, however she felt compelled to discover it extra. As Peacock grew up, she started wanting into different avenues of spirituality — turning into more and more intrigued by occultism. Over time, her relationship with faith general developed into one thing completely private to her.
Like many different Gen Zers, it’s one thing she’s come to outline and apply on her personal phrases. It’s knowledgeable by a mixture of non secular practices and distinctive encounters, and it presents her a information in life, particularly relating to Twelve. Beginning a enterprise can show an intimidating endeavor, however Peacock has discovered ample affirmation in her pursuits by means of varied “surreal experiences” and coincidences — like when she was listening to Maggie Rogers whereas strolling within the woods when she was staying at her dad or mum’s home throughout the 2020 quarantine, solely to obtain a DM from the artist not too lengthy after.
[Photo by John Novotny]
“I went by means of a lot of my life annoyed that I did not know what my function was — realizing that I had a lot I may contribute as an artist, however not realizing how to try this,” Peacock says. “As soon as I discovered my function, and it clicked on this manner that I actually could not describe, [it has] additional related me to a pressure exterior of myself. Exterior of what I can actually even comprehend […] I really feel like some pressure has bought my again.”
That private relationship with spirituality is one thing Peacock strives to seize in her designs and the advertising and marketing for Twelve. Although she states her inspirations for the corporate come from quite a lot of sources, lots of the items purpose to seize among the parts of Catholicism, occultism, and different types of worship which have impressed and resonated together with her — crosses seem often in her collections, a timeless nod to Christianity, in addition to bones and tooth from occultism.
Peacock likens what she desires to perform together with her jewellery to the work of revered British clothier, Vivienne Westwood. Westwood was the rationale Peacock began loving style within the first place, and her strategy is one thing Peacock seeks to emulate in her personal work.
“The best way that she flawlessly intertwined her private beliefs into what she made and who she was as an individual is the purpose and all I need to do,” Peacock says.
And it was essential to Peacock that jewellery be the automobile for that. To some, jewellery may really feel like an afterthought, however Peacock sees it as a lot extra. She began sporting plenty of rings in highschool after folks would make enjoyable of her massive arms and she or he wished to cover them, whereas earrings have been used to distract folks from her face.
“I discovered a lot consolation in [wearing jewelry] and that allowed me to really feel a bit safer,” Peacock says. “That gave me the boldness to be stronger and actually fall into this.”
[Photo by John Novotny]
However greater than her personal private reference to it, Peacock believes jewellery as a complete is “criminally misinterpreted” and seen as a luxurious good that’s unattainable to many. Peacock, then again, views jewellery as nearly sacred. In contrast to an article of clothes, Peacock factors out which you could put on a chunk of jewellery on daily basis, passing it down from era to era. Whether or not it’s rosary beads or a household ring, to Peacock, jewellery is timeless — each figuratively and actually.
“Jewellery has been worn and has been sacred for the reason that starting of instances,” Peacock says. “[It] is simply a lot greater than only a materials possession and it may well have so many alternative meanings.”
In a manner, she hopes her personal items maintain an analogous significance for folks. That perhaps, in sporting them, others may additionally begin down the trail of determining their place on this planet and their very own relationship with spirituality that she had.
“Step one to [finding your spirituality is] I actually suppose it’s important to begin with discovering your self. I believe the best option to experiment with who you actually are is freedom of expression,” Peacock says. “Creating assertion items is my purpose as a result of it’s so simple as sporting a white T-shirt and denims — however when you have a press release necklace on, it transforms the outfit.”
And it’s simply that little ounce of one thing distinct like a tooth necklace or a hoop made utilizing a lock that Peacock hopes may snowball right into a higher discovery for somebody.
