Creative Direction • Design • Production
Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons
“The things that Derrick Cruz creates look like they come from some magical old-world place… his vision always clearing space for others to expand theirs.”
— Susan Cianciolo, Artforum
ROLE
Concept, identity, creative direction, jewelry and object design, product development, packaging, copywriting, art direction, production, and retail direction.
CONTEXT
Lower East Side, New York City
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons was an independent luxury jewelry and objects brand built around personal narrative, cultural mythology, and material transformation.
The name was inspired by Anatole Broyard’s Kafka Was the Rage and its paradox of black sheep and prodigal sons—people who came to New York after shunning, or being shunned by, family.
Each collection began with research and a story, then unfolded across object, material, packaging, imagery, and presentation. Salvaged piano keys, horsehair, honeycomb, cast anatomical forms, precious metals, and woolly mammoth ivory became jewelry, sculpture, and ritual objects balancing beauty and unease.
CREATIVE DIRECTION
I developed the brand as a complete narrative world rather than a sequence of isolated products. Packaging, photography, copy, and display were treated as extensions of each object and its meaning.
Some pieces invited participation through opening, breaking, burning, wearing, or preserving—making ownership part of the story.
RETAIL & PRESS
The work was carried by Barneys New York, Nom de Guerre, Earnest Sewn, United Arrows, BBlessing, In God We Trust, and select high-fashion and avant-garde retailers in Japan, Paris, Melbourne, and other international markets.
Black Sheep & Prodigal Sons was featured by W, Time, Wallpaper, Visionaire, Surface, Refinery29 and other publications.
