Ariana Boussard-Reifel is an artist and jewelry designer known for her blend of artistry and craftsmanship. Inspired by indigenous cultures, her sculptural pieces are a favorite of celebrities from Beyoncé to Gigi Hadid and Michelle Obama. In 2021, she was named as one of the 50 designers changing fashion in America by Vogue. For Ariana Boussard-Reifel, jewelry has always been a way to express the intangible.

Ariana Boussard-Reifel grew up on a ranch in Montana with an artist mother and a furniture designer father, and a love of art runs in her blood, Boussard-Reifel went on to earn a B.A. in studio art from Carleton. Stephen Mohring, who has been a professor at Carleton since 1998, was one of Boussard-Reifel’s closest teachers. She appreciated how he and the rest of the art department allowed her to use any material to make art. That freedom resulted in her incorporating found objects such as plaster, hair and gold leaf into her work, which often centered around the contrast between body and armor, feminine appearance and protection.

The themes of armor and femininity that she explored through her art at Carleton are still present in Boussard-Reifel’s work today. As an artist, she strives to create jewelry pieces that both represent and protect the woman wearing them. Such an aspiration has resulted in a nonconformist style, but rather than faze Boussard-Reifel, this is an aspect of her work that she embraces.“My pieces don’t look or wear like traditional jewelry, and I’m very proud of that,” she said.

Through her consistent social media presence, Boussard-Reifel gives an intimate perspective of how she interacts with and views her own work and the sources of her inspiration. While her interests are rooted in ancient designs, Boussard-Reifel works to revitalize them for the contemporary jewelry-lover by applying a lens of sculptural modernism—though this is not her only goal. Boussard-Reifel is fueled not only with the intention of charming her modern audience, but also with empowering them, By combining tradition with exploration, Boussard-Reifel wants people to feel their strongest selves in jewelry.