Using rescued pieces of graffiti from across the city, Rebel Nell founders Amy Peterson and Diana Russell turn the castoff fragments into wearable art, while empowering homeless women in the process.
Jerome Espy, on Detroit Unspun, writes that the pair finds graffiti pieces (up to several feet wide) that have fallen off of walls due to age or with a little help from Mother Nature. Once collected, the process of “uncovering the beauty,” as Peterson puts it, begins. Some sections are 12-16 layers thick with paint. “Sometimes we start working with a fragment we find and it’s amazing what can be created,” she added.
The finished items range in price from about $65 to $105 for a unique piece of Detroit, depending on what someone wants to get. Peterson, who is the designer and creative force of the two, will take special orders for a particular color scheme or shape. Of course, it all depends on what they are able to recover on their treks across the city.
Peterson and Russell are making the jewelry themselves, but plan to begin hiring homeless women to help design and produce the pieces in the coming months. They already have an agreement with the Coalition on Temporary Shelters (COTS) and are developing relationships with other organizations like Alternatives for Girls to provide women for the program and provide the much-needed additional support for mental health, shelter, clothing, etc.
The name?
It has nothing to do with Rebel Yell.
Espy reports the name is the founders' homage to Eleanor Roosevelt, who was nicknamed “Little Nell” by her father Elliot after the character in Charles Dickens’ "The Old Curiosity Shop."
