The best gift Ashley Park ever received was from her parents. She was a teenager and she’d just gone into remission from acute myeloid leukaemia, which she was diagnosed with at the age of 15. After harrowing, and expensive months of treatment, she returned home to find her parents had bought her a baby grand piano. “It was my dream”, she says today, reminiscing on the bittersweet end of that difficult period of her adolescence. Perhaps unsurprisingly, gift giving subsequently became her love language.
So it makes sense that Ashley has teamed up with Pandora to become the brand’s newest ambassador, just in time for the jewellery company’s “Loves, unboxed” collection. Fittingly, the collection is a celebration of exactly that: gifting loved ones meaningful jewellery pieces they can cherish not just for the holiday season, but far beyond that too. The Emily in Paris star now hordes and hides away special tokens – mainly crystals or pieces of jewellery – for her friends and loved ones, waiting for the next time she sees them to surprise them with a little reminder that they are loved. “Even if it’s not their birthday, or a holiday or anything, I’ll just get it. And so I have like a whole stash.”
Of course, they might not get them for months at a time. As an actor Ashley travels all over the world; although we probably see her most regularly in Paris, where she plays Mindy Chen opposite Lily Collins’s eponymous Emily (Lily gets the trinkets too, obvi). “One of the reasons I was excited to work with Pandora is that I love giving thoughtful jewellery,” she says. “Coming from a theatre background I love big statement pieces and because I travel so much, with basically one jewellery box, I think it was a really good match.”
To celebrate that really good match, Ashley chatted to i-D about some of Pandora’s most iconic and newest releases. “I’ve known Pandora my whole life, like a lot of us have”, she tells i-D. “I mean it’s all over the world, like 100 countries I think, which is weird because I always thought of it as an American brand!” It is, in fact, Danish. The more you know! “It’s been fun to travel the world and really see it everywhere,” Ashley adds. “When I started middle school and my sister was in elementary, I remember my dad giving us Pandora bracelets and going to the mall to get the charms. I love any company that feels nostalgic.”
Pandora’s “Loves, unboxed” collection is rooted partially in that nostalgia, offering an updated, unique take on classic jewellery motifs like precious hearts, celestial symbols and festive characters. The charms most of us associate with Pandora are here too, but elevated to new levels; in sparkling pavé lined with cubic zirconia, available in 14k gold plating, 14k rose gold plating and sterling silver finishes, to be exact. Other pieces take inspiration from winter skies, like the celestial Sparkling Moon & Star necklace and earrings.
Love is at the heart of it all, though, with triple stone designs featuring heart-shaped, triple stone settings, and pear shaped cut rings from Pandora Timeless. “The new designs channel that feeling of connection to the ones we love and the memories we share together, adding a heartfelt layer of richness and meaning to the season”, say Pandora’s Creative Directors A. Filippo Ficarelli and Francesco Terzo.
But it’s not just the brand’s nostalgia that drew Ashley to her role as brand ambassador. It’s Pandora’s green credentials too. “I think that’s so unique, especially for a company that’s the largest jewellery brand in the world. By 2030 they want to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by half across their entire value chain, they prioritise recycled metals.” And, let’s be honest, it’s also the jewellery itself. Ashley points to Pandora’s pave and asymmetrical herbarium ring, that she wore on the shoot, as recent faves. “I love having asymmetry,” she says. “So finding a yin and yang of balance in the jewellery I’m wearing every day is something I really like.”
One thing is for certain: Ashley Park’s friends’ gifts are going to be jewellery heavy from here on out. What, it’s her love language!
Credits
CREW CREDITS
Fashion Erin Walsh at A-Frame
Hair DJ Quintero at The Wall Group
Make-up Carolina Gonzalez at A-Frame
Nails Technician Mamie Onishi at See Management
Photography Assistance Allison Brooks and Isobel Rae
Digital Operator Nick Rapaz
Fashion Assistance Laynie Rouch and Devin Rohena
Retouching Touch Digital
Senior Account Director Kayleigh Gray-Layton
Senior Creative Yara Heine
Executive Producer Elise Lebrun
Senior Producer Agustina Gaviola
Production Assistance Ryan Kjolberg, Corey Meade, Julia Carrizosa
All jewellery (worn throughout) Pandora