September 2024 News

Academy Alum’s Jewelry Appearing in Netflix Feature

Tuesday, September 10, 2024

A jewelry company founded by 1998 Academy graduate Duane McLemore and his partner Katherine Voorhies, has a pendant worn prominently by star Joey King in the Netflix feature Uglies (premiering Friday, September 13), where it is integral to the plot.

Xover0 is a two-person small business which got its start on McLemore and Voorhies’ kitchen table in Los Angeles, but has since grown (and moved) to having a full production studio in Mississippi, using advanced computation and fabrication alongside traditional craftsmanship to create novel and compelling heirloom jewelry exclusively from precious metals – all the way from idea to shipping.

“Our jewelry being featured like this is part of a wider arc of my career which wouldn’t have been possible without the Academy,” says McLemore. “The impact the Academy had on me as a person, scholar, and creator is immeasurable – the things it fostered in me have been integral to my success as an architect and professor, and ultimately in jewelry design, and I would love to share that – and my enthusiasm to be a Academy alumnus – with the world.”