NEW YORK'S MAŔA PERALTA STUDIO DESIGNING TIMELESS, ANTI ESTABLISHMENT ESSENTIALS  

We have been itching to introduce you to Maŕa for the past few months now. Maŕa is the designer behind the eponymous Maŕa Peralta Studio. As we unfold into this conversation, she takes us through her journey as a jewelry designer and the symbolism behind each of her pieces, inspired by techno rave culture.

Maŕa Peralta Studio, based in New York, arguably the world's fashion capital, creates jewelry that is brimming with messages of unity, resistance, and confidence. The mission is clear: to challenge the status quo, as evidenced by her upbringing, which she fondly recalls. From Vivienne Westwood the punk icon queen and her catwalks turned into the ultimate dance floor, club culture and fashion have the perfect synergy in provoking emotion, scandal and unity between outcasts. Nightclubs aren’t only a space for you to let go of your quotidian anxieties, but where you expand into the vast possibilities of your persona. Maŕa Peralta Studio excels in bringing the last and essential addition to our raving outfits, her signature jewelry designs. Maŕa Peralta Studio is a jewelry label that blends the music underground and fashion communities together. Read our full conversation below👇

YUGEN: Hi Maŕa, it is a pleasure to meet you and learn more about your brand and your creative process as a designer! Could you describe the exact moment when you decided to launch Maŕa Peralta Studio and what led you there?

MAŔA: I moved to Brooklyn in 2013, the underground and creative industry inspired me and led me to start producing music events, underground parties, start DJing and producing. During that time I DJ’ed a lot and wanted to design my own accessories and jewelry pieces as well as skirts that were inspired by ‘Comme Des Garcon’ I would design these mini vinyl bags to fit my CDs and USBs I would attach chains as the handles. 
 
Between those years, I felt my studio work was an experiment into fashion and learning some technical skills curating pieces for the resistance, pieces that are timeless, functional, uniform, and evolve with you. 

I launched Maŕa Peralta Studio in 2019, and further launched the brand in 2020. During that time Maŕa Peralta Studio was an alternative project to to my music project, applying musical/conceptual intelligence to fertilize design, the jewelry label is the research into the human identity. I believe in the idea of breaking boundaries between different artistic domains, designing hybrid identities that evolves with time. The inspiration behind the pieces are colliding these interests of fashion, art and sound together to create timeless pieces.

YUGEN: I love the story about the mini vinyl skirts to fit in your CDs and USBs I think thats very inspiring regarding your connection to your brand and past as a DJ. I think it's very inspiring for designers to be multidisciplinary in their work in order to give it that individual and unique touch. So, how do the pieces and your brand relate to who you are as an individual?

MAŔA: As an artist I feel connected to the status quo as well as anti fashion, I feel those characteristic translate in my design, curating pieces for the resistance, pieces that are timeless, functionality, uniform, and evolve with you. 

YUGEN: I agree with you completely. In the moment of thinking about an audience, who do you design for/who is your customer?

MAŔA: Currently, I feel our customers are those who relate to our mission, who believe in our concept and are those of the creative industry - artists, writers, designers, musicians and creatives…

YUGEN: And following up from the previous question, what do you hope to inspire in those who wear Maŕa Peralta Studio?

MAŔA: I hope to inspire strength, when wearing MPS I want people to feel confident and courageous, to uplift here mind and spirits while wearing our studio. 

YUGEN: Talking about courage, it must've taken a lot of courage to start a jewelry brand in new York. Can you tell us more about the city that never sleeps and where everything is possible, what role does New York play in your brand identity and inspiration? 

MAŔA: Great question, yes, yes it does. Maŕa Peralta Studio is very much inspired by New York, it's one of my main inspirations, living in such a brutal city, where life sometimes doesn’t stop…. This has led me to think very much of the idea of something colliding in time with you, To sustain the New York lifestyle. 

Not only New York brutal mentally but the architecture here is very much an inspiration as well as the nightlife scene. Much is coming that I am excited to share with you, so stay tuned. 

YUGEN: We are very excited! You have given us a sneak peak about things to come, how about when you look back at your brand journey, what was the biggest lesson so far?

MAŔA: The biggest lesson for me is to always trust your intuition and if you want to do something, just do it. Even when you think it's impossible, and you have nothing, just do it. 

YUGEN: Great advice for future designers to follow, we sometimes get so stuck in self doubt and trying to perfect things, that some never even start. Is there any brand or artist that you would like to collaborate with in the future?

MAŔA: I would be interested to collaboration Comme De Garcon, I am obsessed with the design of Rei and would love to help uplift even more her mission. It would also be so excited to collide with their collaboration with Noir Kei Ninomiya. 

YUGEN: From all your pieces, which one has been your favorite to create and to wear?

MAŔA: That's a tough question, I really love them all, but the permanent collection has such a nice classic fit to it, and I am excited about the more extensive pieces to come out with our ‘experimental collection’ this collection will be a collision of a few things, creating pieces with other materials and our experimental chain mail pieces. 

YUGEN: You use stainless steel for your designs, what made you decide to base your brand on that metal instead of any other? What does it represent for you and your pieces?

MAŔA: The main reason we experiment with stainless steel is that we want these pieces to evolve and grow with you through time. All stainless steel metals do not rust or tarnish and are hypoallergenic, so they are good to your skin and body. And most importantly, stainless steel is the most recycled material on the planet, steel will be and can be reused and recycled.

YUGEN: We love a brand that has a sustainable conscience behind the art work at play. This interview unfortunately is arriving to its end with our last question, and probably the toughest. What are your goals for your brand in the future, where would you like to see your brand in 5 years time?

MAŔA: I am interested in collaborating  with a local influential brand,  to design accessories and jewelry pieces for their upcoming ready-to-wear collection, but most importantly to me is to keep making people feel strong and to inspire other artist and designers with my collections.

YUGEN: Thank you Maŕa for this enlightening conversation on your brand and the creative process you went through as a multidisciplinary designer. Our curiosity is only building up and we will be here cheering for your upcoming drops!

Maŕa Peralta Studio is empowering through its simplicity. Her timeless, statement chain pieces illustrate the durable resistance of the designer and her audience, small bags to be held by a chain, or  a dull pair of jeans being accentuated by the stainless steel that asserts the confident and fearless person you are. The concept behind her brand is built to be ready and functional, waiting to complete any look. Every detail traveling back to the ethos of Maŕa, including the material itself, stainless steel. Which is used as the company brands itself as sustainable and lifelong. Maŕa's brand lives, breathes and works around the message she wants to project to her audience, her reasons for becoming a designer are just what you want from a brand and the concept her jewels represent exactly what you've been looking for your outfit to scream on a night out: I am confident, courageous and the world is mine.

Check out Maŕa Peralta Studio collection available on YUGEN