"What I do is to simplify the natural object," says designer Ted Muehling. "I make it easier to see the beauty of it, the soft, smooth shape of it."

This ethos runs through all of Muehling's work, from his signature sculptural earrings to his iconic (and much appropriated) "bird beak" hair clip to his coral-and seashell-inspired filigree-thin cups, translucent egg lanterns, and spiral bowls for Germany's legendary Porzellan-Manufaktur Nymphenburg.

Ted Muehling sees shapes and colors in shells and rocks and translates this into his work. His jewelry and decorative objects, whether fashioned from finely hammered metal or delicately fired porcelain, are informed not by their verisimilitude to nature but by the imaginative recasting of nature's beauty. Drawing inspiration from found objects, he combines the trenchant scavenging of Joseph Cornell with the elemental purity found in the Finnish design tradition.

After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1995 (where he dropped out of his sole jewelry class), Muehling's early work found a receptive audience at Henri Bendel and Bergdorf Goodman. He later designed accessories for Vivienne Westwood and Issey Miyake before establishing his own studio and jewel box-size shop in New York's SoHo. Ted Muehling's philosophy: "In this technological age, we can still be charmed and touched by the delicacy and grace of a cup."