The team behind Of Rare Origin: Leslie Tcheyan (center) with her daughters, Octavia (left) and Thea
Three years ago Leslie Tcheyan, a longtime high-end jewelry consultant, tried her hand at her own designs and created a few whimsical birdcage earrings. She told her daughters, Octavia and Thea Giovannini-Torelli, to wear them around New York and see what happened. Shortly thereafter, with only three pairs of earrings clutched in their palms, Leslie and Octavia were introduced to an editor at W magazine. The editor told the mother-daughter duo to make a collection and come back, and she’d publish them in a month. “So I literally went home and Googled ‘What is a collection? What is a line sheet?’” laughs Octavia.
The company, Of Rare Origin, launched in 2016 and has been charming and surprising customers ever since. Working with small family workshops in Italy, Leslie, Octavia, and Thea (who joined the business in 2017) create jewelry that reinterprets historical pieces in fresh, contemporary ways. Their collections include fanciful birds, delicate flowers, and winks of whimsy, like cupid’s arrows. Says Octavia, “In our pieces, there’s always a little something that makes you look again. I think that’s the conversation starter. Ultimately we hope to make you feel beautiful, but we also want to create that spark of connection.” ofrareorigin.com
Of Rare Origin Power Pearl Baroque pearl necklace in Raspberry ($1,200; 15–16 inches)
Of Rare Origin Flower Whirl earrings in Lapis ($1,100)
Photography courtesy of Of Rare Origin
