TDR Interviews: Mila Sai by Micaela Lucas

Photography by Mila Sai

“For me, a jewel is not merely a beautiful piece that completes an outfit” Lucas reflects. “It’s something that accompanies you through every version of yourself you wish to explore, and in those special moments you want to preserve”. Mila Sai produces limited series that honor time, detail, and the poetry of imperfection. Each piece surprises even the artist, an organic form shaped with intent, a fragment of art that invites stillness, reflection, and reverence. The atelier’s creative direction is supported by Andrés Reisinger, contributing to the brand’s overall vision while preserving Lucas’s singular artistic voice. In a world of mass production, Mila Sai stands as an ode to craft and grace — a place where jewelry becomes ritual, where the wearer and the object converge into a shared story of beauty, intention, and light.

We were intrigued — so we leaned in to listen. Read on as Micaela Lucas shares the soul behind Mila Sai, the meaning woven into her creations, and the quiet philosophy that guides her art of making…

Photography by Mila Sai

The Design Release: You describe your pieces as talismans — could you share a moment in your own life when a piece of jewelry carried that kind of significance for you?

Micaela Lucas: When I say that a lasting piece of jewelry is a talisman, I mean it's not just an ornament, but something that can represent an intention, a memory that accompanies you, or an important connection to a stage of life, to a person, or to a belief. I remember as a child searching through my grandmother's room, inside her jewelry box, trying on all her pieces. They weren't just jewelry — they were part of her essence, and I always felt that by wearing one of them, I carried something of that essence with me.

TDR: Your background in classical painting clearly informs your approach to jewelry. How does this visual language translate from canvas to wax and metal?

ML: On canvas, I learned to understand light, volume, composition... and all of that translates naturally when I work with wax or metal. Each piece of jewelry is, in a way, a small sculpture: it has rhythm, balance, and emotion. Just as in painting you mix colors to create an atmosphere, in jewelry I combine textures and forms to tell a story. For me, it's the same process, just in another language, with different materials and on a different scale. That's why I don't miss painting — I've simply moved the emotion to a different place.

Photography by Mila Sai

TDR: You mention that some forms "surprise even the artist" — what role does spontaneity play in your design process?

ML: Generally, when I'm about to create a piece, it happens very spontaneously, in my head as fully formed images of something I'd like to create. It usually happens in moments when I'm not doing any particular activity, but I've already been researching or reflecting on a theme I want to explore.

Then I make sketches on paper, but other times I go directly to working in wax, with no prior sketch, guided only by what I see in my head. What I end up achieving isn't exactly what I imagined at the beginning, and for me, that's the most fun part of the creative process: the surprise.

I don't consider this an error, but rather a possibility. If I executed it exactly as planned from the start, there would be no variations or opportunities to expand the original idea. The variations allow me to discover new forms, and often they even enrich the entire collection.

Photography by Mila Sai

TDR: Mila Sai defines itself as a practice of conscious luxury. How do you balance artistic freedom with the responsibilities of sustainability and ethical production?

ML: There are times when I'd like to do things in certain ways, but I think about whether they respect my ethical values. So I always ask myself: what alternatives do I have to achieve what I want using conscious tools? From there, it's always a problem to solve, and that's what motivates me: finding creative solutions within those limits.

My freedom isn't in doing whatever I feel like, but in being true to my values and those of the brand. For example, I use beeswax that comes from places where beekeeping is in harmony with nature. That wax isn't rigid like conventional wax — it has limitations when working with it, but also advantages: it allows me to explore a material that others might not use as much and open new paths in my designs.

TDR: Which part of your process brings you the most joy — and where have you felt the greatest challenge in turning vision into form?

ML: What I enjoy and motivates me most is the moment when something seems to make sense. That is, when all the pieces of the creative process come together and generate something that gives me peace, something I feel is right both visually and emotionally.

The greatest challenge appears when I try to translate that idea into metal. Often, the form that works in wax doesn't translate the same way to silver, and that can result in lost pieces or failed attempts. Another challenge is that, with our metals like gold and silver, some very complex ideas can be very expensive to produce, which can significantly raise the selling prices. And curiously, it's precisely those more elaborate ideas that attract and inspire me the most.

TDR: You call your pieces "fragments of art" and "relics of intention" — how do you hope a wearer will feel when they interact with a Mila Sai piece — not just when they wear it, but over time?

ML: What interests me most is that people perceive the jewelry as pieces crafted with intention. That when wearing them, they can feel the process: that in their lines and forms they find attention to detail, and that they enjoy the organic construction of an emotion, or of an expression inspired by the beauty of the universe.

Photography by Mila Sai

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