Dopl World
Photography by Grace McCarthy
Models: Lauren Fern, Kimber Tai
Hair/Makeup: Rebeca Flores
Stylist: Selena Norman
Text by Designer, Selena Norman
Imagine a place outside the limits of time, a universe far beyond the reaches of our own. Enter Dopl World, an alternate reality uninhibited by the laws of physics, emerging from liminal space in brilliant candescent light.
Born from chaos, the inception of Dopl World was conceived as an involuntary escapist coping mechanism. Like a current, trauma can sweep you away from the shore, creating a distance between you and who you perceive yourself to be. Feeling that distance one seeks solace in the familiar.
Last year, in the blink of an eye, I found myself positioned in this riptide. Trauma clogs any passageway of convenience, thus I sought out a practice that could nurture my spirit as well as my creative process. Dopl World became that pocket universe to me, an entity that could not be adulterated, as I felt much had been at the time. I found that building Dopl World became an opposition, much like this issue of MERDE - a symbiosis of realism and anti realism; a raw contra.
Outerspace was a large part of my upbringing. Raised by an astrophysicist, I found myself staring into the stars, questioning our place in the vastness. Enveloped by time, I continue to find an odd comfort in our nebulous role as ‘intelligent life’ in this universe. The “beyond” yields lofty fantastical scenarios, which allowed for a playground of possibilities in my young mind that now informs my creative work.
The fantastical landscape of Dopl World is an Earthly tether, prompting controversy in this duality. Dopl World is an unapologetic celebration of indulgence, an interdimensional material culture combining retro futurism and Rococo art influences. Through these jewelry artifacts, I hope to coax out the alter ego of the wearer, as there is nothing more freeing than stepping out of yourself and into the unknown.
