Ruby Robin: Wearable keepsakes from nature
Hello! My name is Khrystyna and I’m the designer-dreamer behind the Irish botanical jewellery brand Ruby Robin. I specialize in making enchanting miniature naturescapes and plant talismans for my fellow stargazers and daydreamers.
Since founding Ruby Robin in 2012 I’ve had many studios and even some employees, but these days you’ll find me quietly working the land and creating my talismans from my home on the Mizen peninsula, here in West Cork. I spend my days in the company of my garden, cats and a miniature dachshund called Heidi where I’m free to roam the mountains and meadows gathering wild foods and flowers for my work. I tend my gardens, make medicine and teach myself the old ways with the slow turning of the seasons. I gather my plants with intention and loving care, often from my garden where the wildflowers are prized as highly as any rose.
My little studio is now homed in a room overlooking a salt marsh rippling with the song of curlews. Here is where I press and dry my plant pickings to ensure they’re vibrant and fully preserved. Only then can I encapsulate them in into wearable microcosms of the land in which they grow, be it forest, meadow or mountain. It’s my hope that these little objects may reveal an opportunity for connection with our plant allies, which so many of us seem to crave in this fast moving human-centric world.
I take such pride in my craftsmanship, especially in he attention to detail I pour into each step of my process; from the selection of individual flowers to the hand-wrapping of each and every order. I truly hope that this care and the spirit of the plants will be felt by whoever treasures one of my pieces.
Each of the pieces here at Ruby Robin are crafted in small, seasonal batches with a strong sense of responsibility to the land and plants around me instilled in every step of the process. I am fully committed to creating a sustainable business with a minimal earth impact and am always looking for ways to minimize my footprint.
In this spirit, I work only with plants from my own organic garden or local eco-systems with which I am very familiar. I pick plants only in small quantities and only those which I know to be common and abundant.
The resin I use is known as bio or eco-resin which is derived from recycled plant material. This is a non-toxic, renewable and sustainable alternative to more traditional and toxic petroleum based epoxy resins which create significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions.
My gift boxes are plastic-free, fully recyclable and made from a minimum of 40% recycled materials. The mailers I use are designed to be easily separated into individual parts for recycling.
I am an advocate for organic and restorative gardening, much of my garden is returned to nature where the weeds and wildflowers are free to flourish. I also cultivate many native wildflower species from seed to grow in any nook or cranny I can find among the raucous abundancy of wild things that I share my garden with.
As seen in Skona Hem, Cloth, Lost at E minor, The Dainty Squid, Catraca Livre, El Republica, Bored Panda and the Irish Examiner!
'The mountains are calling and I must go.'
- John Muir
