Ladilola earrings in black patent leather in a geometric, pointy shape.

Ladilola earrings in grape purple patent leather stamped with an alligator pattern cut to a geometric, teardrop shape.

Right now the shop looks a bit hodgepodge as a result of this experimenting. Soon a style will emerge and the shop will fill up.

Towards the end of my year in France (2008), my friend Nada who makes goregeous leather bags in Paris took me to a small warehouse in the Paris suburbs. In a corner I found a box of post-industry scraps of genuine crocodile leather and patent leather stamped with a croc pattern. I was on my way from France to India, and the leather travelled around with me for four months (yes, I know, crazy) until I was finally inspired in the cooler weather of Nepal to start designing and cutting. And that is how the eco luxury Crocodile Tears Earrings collection came to be.

Here are some of the items now in the shop:

View from the hotel where I stayed in April 2008.

How lovely death can be, and how much more interesting than birth.

Red earth road under construction. Auroville, India.

The natural colours in south India were just fantastic. This red earth in Auroville was used directly to stucco walls, resulting in buildings that perfectly matched their surroundings.

View from the bed from a room in the guesthouse. The mosquito screening pixellates the green of the trees and the orange-red of the roof overhang that has been plastered with the earth that the guesthouse sits on.

Red orange colour palette.