Ilium Wing

Ilium Wing founder and designer, Ama McKinley, was introduced to waistbeads in college — an adornment art worn by women of African descent from Ancient Egypt to modern-day Atlanta. Traditionally made with glass beads and semi-precious gemstones, wasitbeads are most often worn underneath the clothes, serving as private talismans & symbols of femininity, fertility, protection, weight management, and more. Because waistbeads are often designed with beads of multiple mediums include semi-precious gemstones, Ama took up a deep interest in learning their historical and multicultural lore of gems from across the world. After several years of developing her unique artistic and spiritual craft of creating waistbeads, she was commissioned to make a strand dedicated to the West African goddess of the sea, Yemonja. The client wore the beads only once, and became pregnant that very night.  The jewelry’s traditional base of cotton thread leads to their inevitable break, but Ama believed that a practice so sacred deserved to have a higher, lasting artistic expression capable of becoming heirlooms. In 2019, she began searching for the best designs in the world, and could only find two…from the past — the girdles of Princess Sithathoryunet of the Egyptian Middle Kingdom, 12th dynasty (1887–1813 B.C.) made with gold, amethyst, carnelian and feldspar. She saw then that the jewelry she dreamed of was indeed regal but forgotten, and due for a comeback.  Ama was inspired to create the modern-day high expressions of this jewelry artform, inspired to use gold as thread. To build the practice, she spent a year as a jewelers apprentice learning fabrication, casting & diamond grading. From here Ilium Wing was born, named for the anatomical name for the hip bone. Her work is inspired by feminine reverence through the ages, and a dedication to elevate this ancient practice into high art.