Our new L.A.-inspired City of Angels Rosary launches later this month! Read on to hear from owner Jonathan Conrad for the full story behind this special design.
Do you have any personal connections to California?
The biggest personal connection I have is from when I was a kid and we’d go visit my uncle who lived there. He was a surfer and I have this one vivid memory of standing on his surfboard as a little boy. My uncle held onto the board the whole time and we were in still water but that short moment in the ocean left an impression.
Besides that, ever since I fell in love with cars as a kid, I’ve always dreamed of driving Highway 1 in a convertible. California is such a beautiful state—with the ocean, the mountains, the desert, and forest and lakes too. There isn’t any other state quite like it from that perspective and I think that’s part of what makes it such an American treasure.
So why make a rosary for the people of Los Angeles?
It really goes back to the idea of home and the need for community. I’m from Indiana and I’ve lived here since the fourth grade. This place is my home. It’s part of my identity and that identity matters.
And I know the same holds true for the millions of people who live in and love L.A. We wanted to create a rosary for the community of Catholics living there who have no intention of leaving, who don’t want this place to “fall off the map,” and who want to pray for their home.
From a historical perspective, we also wanted to create a rosary that honors California as one of the biggest Catholic heritage sites in the U.S. It was a no-brainer to spotlight L.A. in particular since it’s named the “City of Angels,” and even more so when we learned that its original name, El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles, directly honored Mary as the Queen of Angels.
How did you come up with the design for this special rosary?
We wanted this rosary to represent the Catholic heritage of L.A. and decided to put both the Archangels and Mary, the Queen of Angels, on the centerpiece to make that connection. Because of that, most of the design efforts really centered around the creation of an original centerpiece. We commissioned Chris Lewis of Baritus Catholic to do the artwork for the centerpiece and, like everything he does, it really turned out amazing.
As for the rest of the design, the color palette and beads are going to be the same as those on our Defender Rosary. But instead of our Sword and Spirit Crucifix, the City of Angels Rosary will feature our premium Pardon Crucifix.
What was the process for bringing this rosary to life from start to finish?
First, we reached out to Chris at Baritus Catholic to put together some ideas and sketches for the centerpiece. Once that was finalized, the artwork was converted into a 3D model and then 3D printed using a highly detailed resin printer. After that, a master mold was made, which was then used for production of each hand-finished piece. That whole process was done in the U.S.
At that point, we decided which combination of beads, paracord, and crucifix we’d be using. Then, once we received the finished centerpieces, our team packaged all the materials and sent them out to our rosary makers.
Like the vast majority of our collection, every City of Angels Rosary is handmade in the U.S. by our team of 30+ rosary makers here in the Indianapolis metro area.
Why did you decide to work with Chris from Baritus Catholic for this project?
Chris is one of the best artists that I know and his style of artwork was fitting for this particular task. If you think about it, when you’re trying to convert artwork down to a little one-inch centerpiece square, you actually can’t have a ton of detail because most of it gets lost when you scale it down. But with Chris’s illustrative style, he doesn’t use shading. Every shape is one color in his artwork and that makes his style of artwork really well-suited for creating small jewelry pieces.
On top of that, we have a great working relationship with Chris, one that we’ve developed over the last 7 years. So that combined with knowing the caliber of his artwork made it a really easy decision.
Tell us more about the centerpiece.
One side of the centerpiece has the three Archangels on it—Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael—with the words “City of Angels” around them. On the other side there’s the Crown of Mary along with the words “Our Lady of Angels, Pray for Us.”
Like many of our other rosary centerpieces, this one is in the shape of a shield. And that’s a very intentional detail on our part. We believe spiritual warfare is a real thing and that the rosary is a real weapon, a real shield, against the devil.
Can we expect to see an exclusive design for any other region in the future?
We kicked around a couple other possibilities before deciding to make the City of Angels Rosary, one of which was a design featuring Our Lady of Champion in Wisconsin. We’d love to be able to make more of these regional designs in the future if there’s interest. If you have a suggestion, message us here and we’ll keep it in mind!
Launching Soon!
Whether you call L.A. home or it's just close to your heart, we can’t wait for you to pray with this rosary soon! We’ll be launching it in the store later this month—so keep an eye out for the official announcement via email and social. And if you haven’t already, subscribe to our email list so you’re the first to know about new products and our latest deals.
