One of the things I love most about meeting with designers and interviewing them, is hearing the designer's stories. I love knowing why they started their brand, what the inspiration is behind their collections and hearing the personal story of what got them to where they are today. It deepens not only my understanding of their brand, but really adds layers of meaning to the pieces they've created. It's really a privilege to have these artists share their stories with me and this was especially true when I met Jennifer Fleites of Ptera Jewelry, whose story touched and moved me in a way I hadn't expected and stayed with me long after I'd left the city.
I was in Flying Solo in New York the day I interviewed Fleites on zoom. I’d been interviewing a series of designers in store that day as it was shortly after New York Fashion week and a collection of designers were still in the City. Fleites had already left but her pieces were downstairs in the showroom as they are available in Flying Solo for shoots.
Her pieces were beautiful, delicate, timeless. And Fleites story, her personal outlook and the true resilience she possesses was so inspiring, so much so that when I was interviewing her and listening to her experiences, losing both her parents at a young age, I was momentarily lost for words.
As soon as we sat down to meet, virtually, via zoom even through the screen, her personality and the richness of the meaning behind her pieces came through.
Fleites is a second-generation Cuban, she wasn’t born when her parents arrived in the United States, but after they arrived in New Jersey, she tells me, “It’s been really awesome seeing my parents really work for everything that they had. That’s always been in the back of my head, wanting to live by them. Live by their example.”
Fleites, sadly lost her mom when she was in high school and it was this that really set her on the path of wanting to begin her own jewelry line. A tribute to her mom, a legacy that she could pass on to those she loves. Fleites says, “Since then, when I received (my mom’s) jewelry pieces, that’s always been something that’s kept me close to her so that’s something I’ve kept close to me when I’m designing jewelry. I always have that type of style in mind. That elegant old timely, very feminine type of girly look. That’s just what speaks to me and I hope to speak to other girls and other women in that same way.”
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Having had her own mother’s pieces passed down to her, she has wanted to create heirloom pieces that other people can keep in their family and continue passing down through the generations, “I’m starting to design some solid gold pieces. I’m hoping to dive deep into that heirloom type of world where people can pass that down. Their heirloom pieces, to their little girls. That to me is a big part of what I do, is being able to have that nostalgia feeling to it. The pieces that I love designing are the pieces that remind me of that type of feeling. Of being young and looking at my mom’s jewelry and playing dress up and feeling like a princess.”
However Fleites hasn’t always felt so comfortable expressing this type of femininity, she says, “As I grew older, I don’t know why but I had it in my head that being feminine and girly was bad and I had to be the tomboy for people to like me. So I always put that down inside of me. So growing up and maturing there’s no need to do that. I am who I am and if I like that girly thing then why not dive into that part of myself?”
However Fleites hasn’t always felt so comfortable expressing this type of femininity, she says, “As I grew older, I don’t know why but I had it in my head that being feminine and girly was bad and I had to be the tomboy for people to like me. So I always put that down inside of me. So growing up and maturing there’s no need to do that. I am who I am and if I like that girly thing then why not dive into that part of myself?”
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With her collection Fleites is embracing that side of herself and in doing so hoping to encourage others to do the same, “I feel like a lot of other women feel like that. Society has that pressure of, you need to be a specific person, like if it’s just one extreme or the other. My jewelry serves to remind people that they don’t have to look like everyone else. They don’t have to have the jewelry that everyone else has. If they like flowers I have jewelry with flowers and if they want to feel girly when they’re wearing their pieces I can do that for them too. It’s always really nice to see people reacting to my pieces. I can see how it brightens their day. I’ve always wanted jewelry that’s made me feel that way. Every time I’ve looked at jewelry in the past, it was always just jewelry, kind of plain, it’s just an adornment. But now designing jewelry and have it be an extension of myself and my personality, it helps me dive deep into jewelry as an art form, as a way of expression and personality rather than just an adornment, so for me that’s always big seeing how other people can relate to my personality also.”
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Fleites latest collection is now inspired by not only her mother who she lost when she was 16 but now also her father who also just recently passed away.
Fleites tells me, “These past few weeks I was at NYFW with Flying Solo which was super exciting and I got to show my new collection which is called ‘Dust Till Dawn’ and this one is more relating to the night and day. That one is inspired by, you know how I told you I lost my mom when I was in high school? well I also lost my dad during covid and that became a very dark time for me, because that for me, in my head that was like, that’s never going to happen because I’ve already lost my mom. Losing my mom, I learned so much in that. I would go to my dad so much. I did a lot to make him know that I loved him. But I wasn’t prepared for that. That for me became a really dark part of my life where I didn’t see the good in anything and it felt like I was in the dark and slowly I started coming out of that. And during that time I met, my now fiancé and he was there for me a lot and he became that light for me and really made me see the good in everything. Sometimes I feel like my dad and God sent him my way. God was getting ready to send him to me when I needed him most.”
Fleites tells me, “These past few weeks I was at NYFW with Flying Solo which was super exciting and I got to show my new collection which is called ‘Dust Till Dawn’ and this one is more relating to the night and day. That one is inspired by, you know how I told you I lost my mom when I was in high school? well I also lost my dad during covid and that became a very dark time for me, because that for me, in my head that was like, that’s never going to happen because I’ve already lost my mom. Losing my mom, I learned so much in that. I would go to my dad so much. I did a lot to make him know that I loved him. But I wasn’t prepared for that. That for me became a really dark part of my life where I didn’t see the good in anything and it felt like I was in the dark and slowly I started coming out of that. And during that time I met, my now fiancé and he was there for me a lot and he became that light for me and really made me see the good in everything. Sometimes I feel like my dad and God sent him my way. God was getting ready to send him to me when I needed him most.”
Fleites continues, “This new collection serves to embody that in the night and day. The day has a lot of vibrant hues, like the red and orange and then the night still embodies a beauty too. Because even in those dark times there’s always going to be a light there to guide you. Whether it be stars or you know sometimes when it’s cloudy and you can’t see the stars knowing that they’re still there and the moon helps illuminate your path as well. And so the collection really serves to embody that sense of home. That there’s always going to be light at the end of your dark path.”
With Fleites losing both her parents at a young age it’s incredible to hear her so resolute in seeing the light even in the darkest of times. She tells me, “There is always a reason, it’s always depressing hearing it when it happens but there really always is a reason things happen and you really just have to go through it and see what you’re supposed to learn.”
Fleites has always felt creative and everything she has gone through has only pushed her creativity further, “I’ve always been creative. Always the one who was painting and doing friendship bracelets and making little things with sand. Always loved doing arts and crafts and making things. When I was growing up though I always felt like I needed to lean away from doing anything artsy, and do something practical so being able to get into jewelry and make this my life is really important to me because I really love design and I love creating things and seeing how people respond to them. I told myself if when I was little this is what I’d be doing, I know my mom would be so, so excited. I know she’d want to help me, she’d have a bunch of ideas, “let’s use this stone, let’s do this.” To me it’s making that inner girl happy.”
Fleites collection is certainly a tribute to her mother and largely influenced by her mother’s aesthetic. “My mom’s style of jewelry was more of that timeless, antique, very elegant, daintier type of jewelry. I know right now that big chunky pieces are really in, but that’s never been my style. My design as always been to my preference and I know a lot of women generally prefer more of the smaller pieces, day to day.” I tell Fleites that I love that her pieces really enables the customer to make them their own, easily stackable and you can layer them and interpret how you want them to be.
“Exactly!” Jennifer agrees, “If you want to do a little bit more one day you can stack them, you can play around with other pieces you have in your collection.”
Fleites has always felt creative and everything she has gone through has only pushed her creativity further, “I’ve always been creative. Always the one who was painting and doing friendship bracelets and making little things with sand. Always loved doing arts and crafts and making things. When I was growing up though I always felt like I needed to lean away from doing anything artsy, and do something practical so being able to get into jewelry and make this my life is really important to me because I really love design and I love creating things and seeing how people respond to them. I told myself if when I was little this is what I’d be doing, I know my mom would be so, so excited. I know she’d want to help me, she’d have a bunch of ideas, “let’s use this stone, let’s do this.” To me it’s making that inner girl happy.”
Fleites collection is certainly a tribute to her mother and largely influenced by her mother’s aesthetic. “My mom’s style of jewelry was more of that timeless, antique, very elegant, daintier type of jewelry. I know right now that big chunky pieces are really in, but that’s never been my style. My design as always been to my preference and I know a lot of women generally prefer more of the smaller pieces, day to day.” I tell Fleites that I love that her pieces really enables the customer to make them their own, easily stackable and you can layer them and interpret how you want them to be.
“Exactly!” Jennifer agrees, “If you want to do a little bit more one day you can stack them, you can play around with other pieces you have in your collection.”
It’s not only Fleites personality and optimism that impresses me but her background as well. Seeing her parents struggle to create a new world for themselves, and that strong work ethic and wanting to continue that on for them. To honour them. To carry on their legacy.
I ask her where she learnt to make jewelry, “I took some courses on jewelry making on learn, through a British academy. I went to school for engineering and architecture. So my first year I had started in architecture so I started more in that kind of design, creating space. But then I decided I didn’t want to do architecture so I decided to do engineering. And through engineering I learnt how to do more of that 3D modeling. That’s a lot of what I do now is sketching things out and then creating a 3D model of it, that gets printed in a castable 3d resin. And then the pieces are then cast and finished and then the stones are set in them. Those two first years of architecture and engineering have really helped me in the creative space, because I’m able to visualize that 3D approach and I’m really able to step outside and think about things differently. In regards to interweaving the real world with design. Putting those concepts together is really from architecture and engineering. Obviously there’s a lot more I learnt in engineering that I’m not using now.” She laughs.
Fleires gold pieces are made of vermeil that consists of sterling silver base, plated with a heavy layer of 18K carat genuine gold, “So all my pieces are silver and gold, there’s no base metals like copper or brass or anything like that.”
Fleires price point is $40-400 and her solid gold pieces that are separate to that are average around $3,000.
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