Black Panther 2

Jeweler Douriean Fletcher breaks down the touches that make meaning in 'Wakanda Forever,' from the undersea kingdom of Talokan to Queen Ramonda.

So the piece that I designed and created for the Ramonda flood scene, I intentionally, No. All around the entire piece, you see labradorite, there’s some ruby in there, some tiger’s eyes, some other stones that I intentionally put in there to just uplift this idea of the queen of Wakanda in her last moment. And I was able to do that and then allow the team to come in and build the pieces behind me. and seeing the labradorite that I chose to use, seeing how the light reflected on it when she would move in that power of the vibranium, seeing it all come together was beautiful and exciting, especially from where I started selling literally on the streets. So when I put that on, I incorporated that piece into the metal breastplate because that was my Easter egg showing that Ramonda was sitting on a legacy in her ancestry, which T'challa, he’s not her ancestor, but he has become an ancestor within this film. And it’s important to the story. It was amazing because I was able to talk to an anthropologist about the culture and the history of the Mayan people to be able to make pieces that were as realistic as possible. I wanted to put my aesthetic in it and lend to the story and the culture of Wakanda. So to be able to dig deep and discover other materials they wore and incorporate that was amazing. I wanted to put more of myself into it — the reason why I was brought onto the film. And then for building out the Mayan or Talokaneal pieces, there was so much that went into that. What was the atmosphere like in terms of creating for this film?