Adorned: Chelsea Macalino

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Jewelry designer and brand creator of Wyphys, Chelsea Macalino-Calalay exudes fierceness, but also serenity. Rocking bleached brows that match her shag-mullet, a crystal blue gem on her canine tooth, delicate rings, and a gold heart pendant choker, that was inherited from her auntie, Macalino-Calalay’s style is all encompassing. If her style and brand aesthetic was personified in a doll, it’d be more akin to Bratz then Barbie, because her custom jewelry pieces are about making statements, not meant to take the backseat to the wardrobe.

Macalino-Calalay cites her strong sense of style to her fashion-forward family. She tells me that her grandparents who migrated from the Philippines to San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood in the 1970s, are some of the flyest dressers she knows. “My grandpa was like jerry-curled out with matching suits. My grandma was in platforms and baby doll dresses on the weekends.”

Wearing their flyest threads, Macalino-Calalay’s grandparents, aunties, and parents would go all out for church— and the afterparties that would go down in the basement of St. Patricks. (The church has been a stronghold for the Filipino community in SOMA). There, the DJ would regularly blast popular songs from the Philippines.

Maintaining a relationship to the homeland is also a big part of Macalino-Calalay’s craft and reflected in her Wyphys jewelry. Take her recent collection, Palengke, named after the wet markets in the Philippines. The beaded earrings and charm necklaces pay tribute to the ingredients and foods she’d see while visiting. One pair of dangly earrings is made up of peach quartz, a green glass bead, and dalmatian jasper to replicate the layered, multicolored rice cake snack sapin-sapin.

Macalino-Calalay’s gold plated Wyphys jewelry is colorful, spunky, and perfectly suited for all the occasions — stunting at the workplace, hanging with the homies, even hittin’ up the skateparks. Macalino-Calalay actually beta tests the durability of her bling by roller skating with it because as she says, she makes accessories for the “sweaty girlies” and “active people” who don’t sacrifice comfort for fashion.

On this week’s episode of Rightnowish, Chelsea Macalino-Calalay talks about adornment with custom bling, the historical significance of gold for Pinoy folks, and how her Wyphys creations are a celebration of friendship, queerness and the hyphy state of mind.

[sounds of sorting through beads and charms]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay, Guest: Jewelry making to me is like playtime. My studio’s the one place where I’m like, Don’t talk to me. Don’t call me. My phone’s on DND for the next 7 hours. I have to, like, focus and really, like, hone in all the artistry that’s calling to me right now and get it out of my body before I forget it.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena, Host: Hey Rightnowish listeners, welcome to another episode of our “Adorned” series. Today, we’re getting blinged out with Bay Area jewelry designer Chelsea Macalino Calalay. Her jewelry line, Wyphys, features gold plated chain necklaces and bracelets with bright whimsical beads and charms. These adornments are cheeky, bold, and hella cute! And also deeply inspired by her Filipino heritage.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I think the part of what makes you like a good jewelry designer, though, is having a strong design aesthetic. So anyone can do what I do. But I feel like not everyone can design from the same place as I do. And I take a lot of pride in that.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: As a proud queer Filipina-American who grew up in San Francisco’s SOMA neighborhood, Chelsea is making waves in the accessories world with her custom jewelry.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: In this episode, Chelsea talks to me about the historical significance of gold in her community, how our jewelry can act as armor and why sometimes, you just gotta have pearls!

I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena. Stay with us.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Well we’re going to be talking about jewelry, so why don’t we start with how you’re adorning yourself today. You’re got these fly rings, necklaces… jewelry. Let’s talk about it.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Thank you. So, today I’m wearing a lot of heirloom jewelry on my hands. All of the jewelry on my hands is actually given to me by my grandparents or my parents. I’m wearing my mom’s wedding band when my parents were still married. It’s flashy, it’s cute. My bangles are heirlooms from my grandpa. My necklace is from my Auntie Leah. And then I got these earrings from a local market here. I just put a charm on it from a local maker, too.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: And what about the waist beads you’re wearing?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Oh! My waist chain I made, actually. I made it out of freshwater pearls and some biwa pearls that are from the Philippines. I also put a bunch of vintage beads on it. Some of them are like glass beads. Some of them are just local charms that I bought from the Mission.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: It’s like you still got to have the bling be the main thing.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah. I think also because I grew up a little bit more on like the tomboyish side. I mean, I never compromise like the femme side of me, but I definitely find that the most comfortable versions of myself is the girl in the baggy clothes and cargos and like, sneakers. But I still want to feel cute. I still want, like, my jewelry to speak for me. And I feel like when I design, I really try to pull from that version of myself, that space in my inner child wonder and stuff.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: I feel like for me, stepping out, the house is like a lot. You’re kind of stepping into a lot of energy and so, like, putting on earrings is kind of like my armor. Like I’m kind of bracing myself with this form of protection. Does it feel similar to you when you put on jewelry?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Oh, yeah. I always find that the jewelry aspect actually takes me about 10 minutes to, like, put on because I’m sorting through different layers. But I am mostly a gold girl, and gold makes me feel powerful. Also the Philippines, like we’re really good craftsmen when it comes to gold. [Music]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I know that I absorb a lot of energy, so the jewelry makes me feel protected, safe and grounded. Um, and I try to wear, like, jewelry that reminds me of my grandma. So that always makes me feel like there’s an extra layer of protection with me. Yeah. So it makes me feel prepared for the day.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Like for me, I put the earrings on after I pick out what I wear because it’s like, complementing, but because you’re a jewelry maker is jewelry the first thing and then you put your clothes on around that?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: It depends but sometimes when I’m super excited about something I make, I will base my entire outfit on the jewelry I just made. It’s also a way for me to beta test the design too. I’ll make, like, a pair of statement earrings based on that color palette. I’ll pull clothes from that, and then…

[sounds of traffic]

[Music]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: if it’s like a nice sunny day in Oakland, I’ll take the bus downtown and just walk around, say hi to a bunch of people. Occasionally I will skate with them to see how durable they really are.

Marisol: I love this image of you skating as a beta test, like you’re making jewelry for the active girlies.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Mhmm! The sweaty girlies. The active girlies because I’m that person. I, I don’t drive, so I tend to like BMW everywhere. Bart Muni Walk.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: [laughs]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: That’s like the running joke for Frisco kids like yeah I got a Beemer, a BMW I Bart, Muni, walked here. But yeah, I make it for the active girlies. The active people. The people who want to not compromise comfort for fashion. I love seeing people like that. It just makes me feel good.

And it’s also just… I’m like, collecting pieces for inspiration. So when I see other femmes or other folks that that look like that and that embody that kind of energy, it gets me all boosted and ready to like, design some more. That’s the part that I feel like heals a part of me when I’m not feeling like myself. Just being out in community and like doing my best to show up as the best version of myself in that moment and in that space. Good community will always take you as you are, though.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Although Chelsea was born here in San Francisco, she spent a good portion of her youth with her grandmother back in the Philippines. And coincidentally in a town also called San Francisco, located just outside of Metro Manila. It was there that she absorbed the culture that is reflected in her jewelry work today.

I noticed on your website where you sell a lot of your jewelry you have different collections and one is called the Palengke Collection. And in Tagalog, that means marketplace.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah, “wet market.” So my recent collection is all about, like, wet markets. My love letter to wet markets. The one thing that we did regularly with my grandmother was go to the wet market, which we call Palengke.

[sounds of wet markets, people talking, farm animals, traffic]

But other than buying, like, your fresh food, your vegetables, all that stuff for the day at the wet market, you can also buy clothes. You can buy anything there…buy anything. And I even made some earrings that remind me of like, the cleaning materials you’d find in the Philippines. So we have what we call walis tingting and walis tambo. One is made out of like a bunch of sticks that you tie together. It’s more of like an outdoor broom. And then the other one is like an indoor broom that’s made with like coconut husk, I think, and like palm dry palm branches that are tied together.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: What material did you use to replicate that?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: So for the actual pile of sticks, I just took pin needles and I would arrange different colored beads and then I tied them together so that they would look like a little broomstick. And I’d hung them as a drop earring. And then for the walis tambo, I took a bunch of different beads that were semi-precious stones, everything from like aventurine to like amethyst. I linked them together and on the bottom I added a pom pom for the little brush part. So yeah, they were really fun. They’re very statement, they’re long, they’re big and they’re colorful.

[sounds of traffic, car horn, distant chatter]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I did a few different like designs. I did some that were like charm necklaces. And that one is mostly based on the color palette of what I see when you walk into the wet market, especially the areas where you’d buy agar agar, which is super common in the Philippines. We make a lot of our drinks with agar agar. We make like this sweet drink called sago’t gulaman. I actually made a necklace called Sago’t Gulaman, that was based on that drink. It’s like cola colored and it has tapioca, agar agar and brown sugar. It’s really just a sugar drink with gelatin in it.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: So was the necklace like brown, shades of brown?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah, like Tiger’s Eye with a bunch of pearls to signify the tapioca that’s made of agar um and a few little charms thrown in there just for some flair and it was really cute. It was super fun. Being able to make charms, charm necklaces and being able to make them one of one is part of what keeps me being able to make more designs too.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: It’s also interesting to think about, like, this jewelry as a means of sharing that history of the Philippines. Like, I had no idea gold was so present and important. And so just like that information, learning through this piece of jewelry, like who would have thought.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: A lot of colonizers, pillagers would come to the Philippines to actually take gold. To occupy, and to essentially ravage a place because we were a society that really was abundant with gold. So everyone from the datus, the kings and the queens would wear gold. Countrymen would wear gold. Soldiers wore gold, even slaves and serfs wore gold. It just was a normal thing to have, and it was a way to adorn yourself.

I like to design, like, almost like, in a, like, nerdy way. Like, I love to think about design concepts based around, like, history and mythology, historical events. And also just from, like, my own family and my own personal experience. I find that my peoples, my diasporic peoples, a lot of us struggle with connecting to our roots. Making jewelry has been a way for me to, like, really reconnect with that and also find a way to connect my community together.

Being that I am Filipino. I also understand that, like, not a lot of us see eye to eye. You know, a lot of us, like, have very different opinions, have very different upbringings. And that also spills towards like my own design too. My parents come from like two neighboring tribes that don’t like each other. But my parents loved each other at one point.

I even made a piece all about that, like all about how my mom comes from Pampanga. My dad is a Manilueño, but is ethnically Ilocano and historically they don’t like each other. It’s almost like forbidden love. I did it like half and half. One was like representing my dad and one was representing my mom. And in the middle there was a rose and how they come together. It was really cute. So being able to geek out and design from like that personal experience has been really cool too.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: You actually started jewelry making as a young person, beading specifically because that was their way of disciplining you.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Talk to me about that.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: So arts and crafts has always been a part of our home but you know when my mom would get sick of me and my sister fighting, she would just sit down and make us craft together, be like, Here you go. Here is yellows and whites. You’re going to make like 17 daisy chains. And before you can get up, I need to see 17 or else you can’t go and watch TV.

When I was young and like, looking for different outlets to explore crafting and jewelry making and stuff like that, I recall a lot on the daisy chains. But really, I just I like to pull from all the tools that my parents were able to like, provide for me when I was young, just allowing me to explore and play when they were together and, you know, when I had time with them.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: This activity that really started as something to kind of teach you to calm down and patience… now is your business

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: And the name of your business is Wyphys. Talk to me about the name and why that is the brand of your creations.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: So I’ve been going under the moniker Hyphy Wyphy since I think I was like freshly 22 years old. I was going through a lot during that age and I just wanted to, like, rebrand. Like I, I knew that I wanted to make art for the rest of my life and I want to continue working retail.

But I also felt such ownership to the Bay Area. I felt such ownership to like San Francisco and the culture that like raised me. So when I started my business, I really wanted a way to tie it back to the moniker that really made me and my online presence who I am, but also pay tribute to my friends and my community that really shaped that that version of me. [Music]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: So the W in wyphy stands for the word wifeys, but it also stands for like community, friendship. Because my friends are the backbone of my business. I am like a one woman business. But if it weren’t for my friends that showed up to my pop ups, that pull me out of bed for those days, that like check in on me to ask me about, like, what I’m doing today, I wouldn’t have the brand that I have. So yeah, we’re hyphy. It’s all about the Bay Area. It’s all about like, community and diaspora. But it’s a big thank you to my family and my friends. That’s why the name Wyphys is still intact and it just sounds cute. It’s like it’s cute, but it’s like spelled like wifey. Like you’re my girl. But also, I know you’re hyphy.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: And talk to me about what the aesthetic of your line is.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: My jewelry really embodies that spirit of community and fun and loudness. I want it to not only compliment me, but for it to be the thing that introduces me to people. You know, I want it to be a conversation. So when I design, I design thinking for the person who, like, wants to be that and they don’t have to be like that all the time, but when you put it on, like it makes you feel that way. That to me is like, I know I’ve done my job, I’m doing it right.

So my design aesthetic, I would say, is playful. It’s fun, it’s unique and one of a kind, which is why I only like to design one of one pieces too. And honestly, it makes you feel at home. I think that’s what it is for me. Like it makes you feel like this body is mine, this autonomy is mine, and the way I want to be perceived as all under my control.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: It sounds like you get a lot of pleasure and joy, satisfaction out of like seeing folks adorn themselves with… with your with your custom jewelry.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah. It’s like my life is one big art show. You know, like, I get to walk down the street and see all these people who I think are so cool, who I admire and who I respect, and they’re wearing my stuff. It’s like, I don’t know, I get a little… I get a little, like, butterflies in my stomach every time I see it. It makes me feel good. Um, yeah. It’s a simple pleasure. Honestly. It makes me feel like I’m doing my job. I’m doing what my ancestors want me to do. [Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Do you have any advice for how I can think about jewelry as a way to, like, tap into that self-love or call in energy that just will help me feel kind of more confident?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I honestly, I struggle with those feelings, too. And on the days when I don’t feel like myself, I do find myself reverting to the ancestral jewelry that I have and the heirlooms that I have. However, on the days where I just feel like I need a little bit more, I just look for the lightest piece that I can move around and dance a little bit, you know, get all that funky energy out. But also the most obnoxiously, like, loud piece I have too, and I put it on.

I think that my design aesthetic and how I design, I pull a lot from like just everyday life too. So being out and like, sharing space with people who I know will like, cleanse my energy, but also like with whatever I have to give. It’ll be like… it’ll be reciprocated. That feels really good. And I feel like that always grounds me back to where I need to be. And the loud jewelry, like the funky jewelry just like helps with the “faking it until you make it” part.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: I know that making custom pieces is… is really big for your brand. And like, a lot of people reach out to you and you work with them and finding this, like, sweet spot of something that will, you know, celebrate themselves or fulfill their intentions. And I’m wondering if maybe we could do that together. Yeah. Knowing that, like, I’m trying to stand out and feel embodied!

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah, I love that. Can we make something that matches your outfit?

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Okay.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Yeah, I love that. Okay, let’s make some earrings.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Okay.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Okay.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Chelsea takes out her tools and two plastic containers full of organized beads and charms that she’s collected over the years. Together we look for beads to compliment my funky cropped sweater, which is fuschia with cherry and gold colored swirls.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: How do you feel about these?

[sounds of rustling through beads]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: These are vintage glass beads from Italy, I believe 1970. I bought them at the Alameda flea market. They’ve got flowers on them, too. It’s like a cute little floral motif.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Oooh.

[sounds of rustling through beads]

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: And then I’ve got these really cool peach agate stone beads. We can do, like, a drop down effect, you know?

Marisol:Yeah, I love that there like

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: It’s like a pumpkin.

Marisol: Like a pumpkin.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: They look like pumpkins to me, I love them.

Marisol: But like, soft pink pumpkin.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Mhm.

Marisol: Okay. I’m definitely liking that.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I also have pearls. Pearls are like the signature Wyphys thing, too. I have these really cool brown pearls that I feel like would complement this very well.

Marisol: Oh I love brown.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: It’s like bronzy Brown, you know? Yeah, very pretty. I have two of them.

…Okay. I think we’ve got all the pieces and now we can connect them.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Chelsea wraps each bead with wire and then connects all the pieces together into one dangly earring. Each bead really shimmers.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Here’s the first earring.

Marisol: Oh, my God! [Music]

Marisol: I love it. It’s like 5 beads!

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: They’re like chakras.

Marisol: A charm of a strawberry at the end. And like the shades go from, like, red to pink to bronze to moon white to like this glass clear bead. Aww… It’s fun.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: It’s cute. It’s unique to you too, and unique to your current outfit. Which is what makes this even more fun. I’m like, oh, it matches the outfit you’re wearing right now.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: How do I look?

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: It’s cute! And it goes with your sweater really well.

Marisol Medina-Cadena: I feel very hyphy wyphy with these on.

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: I’m glad…you feel like you?

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Yeah

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: That’s good.Marisol Medina-Cadena: Thank you so much

Chelsea Macalino-Calalay: Of course. I’m so happy.

[Music]

Marisol Medina-Cadena: Honestly I consider the jewelry I wear as protection pieces – something that helps makes me feel grounded and supported… Like Chelsea, my jewelry is also a way to honor my own cultural heritage. So, its dope and affirming to see the ways we women of color rep our lineage through jewelry.

I’m so stoked to now have these Wyphys originals in my regular earring rotation.

Huge thanks to Chelsea Macalino-Calalay for making me such beautiful bespoke earrings. Watching you work in person was incredibly fun and fascinating!

If you’d like your own custom bling, you can visit Chelsea’s brand on Instagram at Wyphys…spelled w-y-p-h-y-s or go to wyphys-dot-com. You can also catch her vending at the Sucka Flea Market in the Mission or purchase her bling at Mira Flores in Oakland’s Temescal neighborhood. Thanks again, Chelsea!

[Music]

Time to give credit to the whole squad that makes this podcast happen.

Xorje Olivares produced this episode. Chris Hambrick is our editor. Our engineer is Christopher Beale.

The Rightnowish team also includes Pendarvis Harshaw, Sheree Bishop, and Ryce Stoughtenborough. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Cesar Saldaña, and Holly Kernan.

I’m your host Marisol Medina-Cadena. Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed it, share the episode with a friend, word of mouth is the best way to help us.

Be easy y’all.

Rightnowish is a KQED production.

Rightnowish is an arts and culture podcast produced at KQED. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts or click the play button at the top of this page and subscribe to the show on NPR One, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.

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