Vincent Master

24 / Jewelry Designer / West Philadelphia, PA

At what age did aesthetics first matter to you?

I think it was around 14? maybe 15? I used to think clothes were too expensive for me because I almost exclusively wore my school uniform aside from clothes that were given to me as a gift. It was the first time I went into a clothing store (Kohls) and saw the clearance section was full of super cheap clothes and got super excited. I was always pretty apathetic toward people's thoughts on my appearance, so it didn't take much for me to wear whatever I wanted. 

When did you start working with your hands?

I've always been interested in sculpture. I think my earliest memory was at age 7 when I started with Origami. After a while, I got to a point where I wasn't learning anything new and decided to try working with wax and clay which lead me to where I am today.

Have you left ceramics for jewelry completely?

As of now sort of. Since I've had trouble gaining access to equipment and facilities I need to continue creating clay work, jewelry started off as a placebo to temporally fill the hole in me of not being able to work with clay. Creating jewelry was surprisingly more accessible for me with 3D printing and cheap makeshift foundries, and the more I did jewelry the more I became attached to it. I miss ceramics a lot so I never want to leave it (and try to make at least one piece a year), but as of now I'm creating jewelry. 

Who are some of your favorite fashion designers?

I love Sruli Recht, the way his clothes look, his choices in materials, his outlook on making...it's all very interesting and so much fun! Other designers I like a lot include Carol Christian Poell, Boris Bidjan Saberi, Konstantin Kofta, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake, the list goes on and on. 

It's difficult for me to pin-point what it is exactly that I like about the designers I listed, and all other designers who I like as my go-to way of describing something I like/want to wear. For me, it's like, "That's cute, I want it on me," which isn't articulate at all [laughs].  

Do you see yourself living and working in NYC one day?

I feel like this is a really generic answer but if the opportunity presented itself for me to live there and still afford to create work and support myself, then I would love to... Especially if it involved me doing something creative, but that honestly goes for anywhere in the world.