Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1547305
P resley Oldham learned early that making could be both a family language and a way of life. Born and raised in Dallas, he grew up around the factory operated by his uncle, fashion designer Todd Oldham, where his grandmother, aunts, and other relatives helped turn exuberant ideas into clothes, jewelry, and buttons. His father was a sculptor; his grandmother Linda Oldham was a fine artist and jewelry maker. Summers with her in New Mexico became informal artist residencies. It was a childhood that taught him not only how to make, but how to look. Oldham's first formal path, however, was performance. After studying at Dallas' Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, he attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and spent his last year of college in Berlin. He moved to Los Angeles at 24. There, he worked in television, commercials, production, and costuming while pursuing acting. Writing and directing offered another form of construction: building a world, sculpting a message, and evoking a feeling. When entertainment work evaporated during the pandemic, Oldham returned to jewelry. In May 2020, at the age of 25, he introduced his first collection — necklaces assembled from deadstock opera- length pearl strands, flea-market finds, and hand-me-down materials. He connected the beads with an old wire-wrapping method he had learned from his grandmother and from antique jewelry pieces like rosaries, loosened into tactile, genderless art. Pearls remain Oldham's signature precisely for their baggage. In Texas, a pearl strand telegraphs a very specific kind of femininity — polished, familiar, a little starchy. Oldham understood that to create a foil to an icon, Writing and directing offered another form of construction: building a world, sculpting a message, and evoking a feeling. Wisp Pearl crown. Twig hoop earrings, $890. Compost bracelet in multi pearl, $850. Right: Pro ring. Wings necklace, $1,290. Pearl hand-knit tank. Worry Stone necklace in amethyst and crystal quartz, $900. Twig ring, $950. 47