Can something be calm and analytical, while also being dramatic? Can the meditative and the precise exist in the same space as the theatrical?
Christy Metz believes they not only can, but they must.
Many stories are happy and bright, but rarely are they without tension or complexity. Without resistance, there is nothing to transform; and without transformation, there is no story. This idea sits at the heart of Metz’s creative practice. Whether working with flowers or objects of adornment, she is drawn not to perfection but to process; what time leaves behind and what meaning accumulates through use, age and experience.
Grown Beautiful with Age
Metz built a following through her visual storytelling with botanicals. Through seasonal arrangements, tablescapes, and bouquets, she showcases blooms in every stage of life—fresh, fading, and fragile, honoring their full narrative rather than a single moment of perfection. Like Georgia O’Keeffe, Metz’s work transcends “pretty,” instead focusing on scale and context, forcing viewers to look again, revealing hidden beauty.
Metz is in the business of appreciating something in its entirety rather than consuming it at a glance. Such is the philosophy of her newest business endeavor, Patina.
The word patina itself reflects an ethos of an appearance grown beautiful with age or use; an aura derived from association, habit, or established character. It is not something applied, so much as it is something earned.
Her background in fashion and merchandising, working in design, styling and presentation for brands such as Neiman Marcus and Ralph Lauren in Chicago has trained her eye for balance, restraint and storytelling.
That same approach now guides her work with jewelry. Where jewelry is often treated as detail or embellishment, Metz is drawn to pieces that have history and a story.
“I vividly remember the jewelry my grandmothers wore everyday as well as the silver and turquoise pieces worn by my mother in the 1960s and ‘70s,” she recalls, “timeless jewelry that gets more beautiful with age.”
Unmistakably Artful
Through travel and research, Metz collects and curates vintage and heirloom jewelry. If a piece is signed, she researches the designer. If it shows wear, she reads it as history rather than flaw. She describes her pieces as “something old that somehow becomes current, even modern, and unexpected.”
Restoration, when needed, is done without erasing the journey the object has already taken. The process matters as much as the result: finding, learning, preserving, then presenting.
Presentation is where Patina becomes unmistakably artful. Metz displays pieces on pages of books by artists she admires, creating new conversations between mediums. On Blossfeldt’s pages, organic forms become architectural; symmetry, repetition and geometry revealed through close observation. Metal against botanical imagery mirrors age, weather and curiosity. McQueen’s pages tell another story: dark beauty, structured, emotional and timeless. Like Blossfeldt and McQueen, Metz does not copy nature or history, she translates them into form.
“My collection is as much about curating and styling as it is about each individual piece,” she says.
Favoring Timeless over Trends
Patina is about transcending trends in favor of the timeless.
“These are pieces that can be worn with a simple t-shirt and jeans or paired with Dolce & Gabbana,” Metz explains. “It’s every day, elevated.”
The goal is to express personal style while placing the wearer in conversation of art, history, and the natural world.
“It’s not just art, not just clothes; it’s a lifestyle,” she says.
We are given a finite number of days, and each becomes part of our story. To accessorize that story with a piece of history, one that can be passed down, reinterpreted, and lived with again, is both an intimate and enduring act.
Patina invites deep, focused looking. It reminds us that stillness can hold strength, beauty can be quiet, and what lasts is rarely untouched by time.
Come find the next piece of your story at her pop-up trunk show, hosted by Yobel on February 8.
Website: https://www.christymetzdesign.com/
Instagram: @ChristyMetzDesign