Lena Echelle

Lena Echelle is a contemporary jewelry artist whose one-of-a-kind pieces blend natural materials, sculptural design, and ecological storytelling. 

Raised between the worlds of ranching and conservation biology, she developed an artistic language deeply rooted in the natural world. Her earliest memories were shaped by the red dirt landscapes of Oklahoma and a lifelong instinct to create with her hands.

After studying fine art at Oklahoma State University, Lena launched her studio jewelry practice in 2001. In 2009, she relocated from Dallas to a small farming community in the mountains of western Argentina: a move that profoundly transformed her artistic practice. Living closely with the land inspired a shift away from traditional precious-metal jewelry toward a more experimental and concept-driven body of work centered on natural and found materials.

Today, Lena’s pieces are recognized for their striking balance of rawness, symbolism, and craftsmanship. Her work often incorporates rawhide, bone, silk, botanical elements, and reclaimed materials. Through these materials, she explores the themes of ecology, identity, gender, consumption, and humanity’s relationship with nature.

Each piece is entirely unique: handmade in her rural Argentine studio using thoughtfully sourced materials, often processed by the artist herself.

The rawhide she uses comes from free-range animals slaughtered for local consumption, reinforcing her commitment to material honesty, locality, and conscious making.