Cuffing Season: Getting Cozy with Jen Cogliantry’s Woven Cuffs
So here we find ourselves, transitioning from fall to winter, the season of barren trees, thick coats, and the search for someone to lock down for winter. The desire to find a cold-weather mate is part of what’s called cuffing season, and being “cuffed” (aka having a season-specific lover) is actually a pretty common thing due to our need to stay warm and cozy at this time of year. But don’t feel obliged to settle for a person to keep your body temperature high; maybe you don’t want to be in love? Or even “in love“?
Lucky for you, we’ve got something to tell you about that can imitate the warm embrace of a significant other—or at least of a body pillow—and possesses the softness of a cashmere sweater. Meet Jen Cogliantry, whose line of woven jewelry will give you that cozy feeling you’re looking for all season.
The line is a mixture of cuffs, necklaces, and bangles, each made with a blend of different fibers, knots, and dyes. But the woven wrist cuff is the original piece from which everything else evolved, and is the bulky and warm version of the sailor bracelets Cogliantry use to wear during the summer when she was growing up. Her cuffs are made with 22 yards of hand-woven alpaca, angora, cashmere, or merino wool that is woven into a Turks Turban-style design and finished with a gold-plated brass finding.
“They’re closer to a piece of clothing than a piece of fine jewelry,” Cogliantry says. “It’s a certain aesthetic: It’s minimal, soft, [and] fuzzy. I make things that I would wear. And I hope that appeals to people too. I feel cozy. I want you to feel cozy. I want you to feel warm.”
All of Cogliantry’s pieces are homemade and fiber-based, with touches of leather or brass here and there to give them more of a high-quality edge. And while it might seem like color is absent from her color palette, the choice to create an almost neutral line with basic earth tone colors was strategically done by Cogliantry.
“I want them to be subtle but their structure [still] makes them stand out. These are pieces that are wearable [and] approachable. You can wear it with black, white, a blouse, a t-shirt, or whatever,” she says. “They’re not hidden little things. They’re statements but they’re not shouting.”
Though Cogliantry has only been on the market for less than a couple years now–she started in December around peak-cuffing season–her pieces have reached beyond Brooklyn, and can be found in markets in London and, soon, San Fransisco thanks to her participation with the Renegade Craft Fair. But for Cogliantry, the line has less to do with making money and more about making people feel at home and comfy.
“There’s something nice about playing with this thing. This past weekend I sold all these tassels and people were like, ‘I just want to sit and play with [them].’ It’s just a funny human thing, we want to be cozy [and to] feel comfort,” she says. “And it’s pretty infectious to interact with someone who is wearing something of yours. It’s a really nice feeling, like you have this relationship.”