For artist and founder Christy Lucius, it all started with a vision: to travel and to create. As cliché as it seems, there truly is nothing as inspiring as getting out of your comfort zone and going on an adventure. Christy and her husband Kevin have been all over the world together, filling countless sketchbooks along the way. Willow + Wanderlust was created from those pages, each piece from various collections is like an artifact from those travels.

The vision for Willow + Wanderlust really came together on a 20 hour flight to Cape Town. “Willow is the culmination of what I’ve been learning on my travels,” Christy says. “I’ve been a metalsmith for over 10 years, and it was my sole focus for so long. I realized I can’t be content with just one medium. I love metalsmithing so much, and it has been wonderful to do other things along with it. I’ve revisited all of my passions, including painting and fiber art, and adding new ones with my love of fragrance and candle making. Travel was the impetus for it all. Even though we have been all over and I absolutely love going abroad, I don’t think travel needs to be far or exotic to be inspiring. A recent trip to Sedona rekindled my love of turquoise. I saw a void in the market for modern gold designs and I have been creating some of my favorite one-of-a-kind pieces because of it.”

Christy creates all of her works in her Chicago, IL studio. She lives in Naperville with her husband Kevin, her son Elliot, and her fluffy orange cat Tango.