About Us

About The Designer

 

Nataly Castañeda has always had a love affair with fashion and jewelry, it is something that runs within the family for years; from her grandparent's fashion sense, intuitive pattern making, sewing skills, and screening techniques to her mom as well.

 

From her early teen years, Nataly started living abroad. Her first stop was Amsterdam, where she had her first close encounter with jewelry for a school project and was quite a success. Since then, she has been exposed to different cultures, has traveled quite extensively and lived in different cities around the globe such as; Milan, Barcelona, Bogota, Amsterdam, or Santo Domingo, strongly influencing the way she thinks, sees the world, and designs, whether it's jewelry, clothing or even styling for a certain client or photoshoot.

 

She majored in Fashion Design, focusing more on her fashion career, as well as coolhunting, and from time to time she would work on some jewelry pieces for each collection, yet they weren't the protagonist.

 

Tropical Serendipity then stroke, that would be the best way to describe her re-encounter with jewelry. It was pure magic eight years ago when she moved to the Caribbean waiting for her Master's Degree to start in Milan. A Short Jewelry design course from a Parsons affiliated school within the Caribbean, completely changed her life. She was completely mesmerized by jewelry and became so passionate about it that with a little push from her tutor, she thought about the possibility of creating a jewelry brand, which is now called "Ephemeral Opulence", and is one of the best gifts that The Dominican Republic has given her.

 

Did two Masters degrees from Istituto Marangoni, Milan: the first focused on Fashion & Styling, in which she always made jewelry pieces and added them on every single photoshoot that was styling, while she could fully focus on her jewelry line and her second collection, Lotus. While this second collection was on the making, she decided to start her second Master's degree: High Jewelry Design. In the beginning, her knowledge was almost null when it came to fine jewelry, yet she pushed herself to the limit and the results were amazing, to the point of designing jewelry collections for famous Italian jewelry brands such as Schreiber Gioielli and Damiani.

 

Nataly is a very creative yet perfectionist person, which have helped her follow her passion and goals throughout her life. Ever since 2016, she's been fully immersed in " Ephemeral Opulence" injecting all her passion, creativity, style, and perseverance on the brand, for it to skyrocket and embrace women to be different, daring to stand out from the crowd and embrace their differences and corkiness.

 

About Ephemeral Opulence

 

Ephemeral Opulence is a statement fashion jewelry brand created by Nataly Castañeda. The concept has always been mere opulence with a pinch of freshness and delicacy, creating the perfect combo for a daring woman that wants to stand out still being unique, yet as the years have gone by, its aesthetic has evolved and empowerment has taken a bigger role.

 

Just like its name, the brand is an ode to opulence, pomposity, whimsical atmospheres, turned into wearable pieces to enhance women’s confidence. Art takes a very special place in E.O's aesthetics, especially those periods in which gold and opulence were crucial, such as; The Baroque Period, The Spanish Golden Age or Rococo.

 

Ephemeral Opulence is based in two very different cities, Milan, Italy & Santo Domingo, The Dominican Republic, boosted by her Colombian charisma and mysticism being the essence of the Designer.

 

Empowering women is the main purpose, giving them that little push they need to embrace themselves, physically, and spiritually to go out and crush it. It all starts within, and how you see yourself and portray it to the world, therefore E.O's mission is to give you all the tools as well as the jewels to enhance that unique and amazing being that you are, one jewel at a time.

 

The designer puts her heart and soul on every single piece she designs and makes, all of them are part of a puzzle for women to feel empowered, beautiful, and embrace it. In this digital world, where everything can be bought, enhanced, and fixed there's definitely the need for authenticity and uniqueness, which is exactly what Nataly tries to do with every single one of her pieces, as well as taking a step further from the minimal trend, she is a true believer of maximalism and therefore of the "more is more".

 

"May The Opulence Be With You" is the main motto, making E.O stand out from the crowd not only with a different feel towards gold and opulence, but also with its contrasting and peculiar color combinations that make you feel unique, and empowered, trying to find the perfect balance between opulence, daringness, and freshness.