A local jewelry artist is making their name in the underground scene of all things macabre, dark and creepy.

Marius Teles-O’Donoghue, an artist and fashion designer, has operated the sister businesses Count Marius Studios and Misfit Menagerie for nearly five years in Fort Collins. 

A Colorado native, O’Donoghue was born in Boulder, raised in Loveland and has lived in Fort Collins for the past 15 years. Although they’re well-established in the area, their work hasn’t always been readily accepted. 

“It’s been a slow growth,” O’Donoghue expressed regarding the difficulties in “trying to find the right places that I can vend with my main business because I do secular, pagan (and) satanic rosaries and different things.”

O’Donoghue discussed how it’s taken a lot of careful curation to find events that welcome and embrace their goth, queer and pagan artistic style. Once uncovered, however, this niche underworld has bloomed for O’Donoghue and their business. On the weekend of Sept. 18-20, they ran their booth at the Colorado Festival of Horror in Denver, which featured discussion panels, student film showcases, trivia contests, a scavenger hunt and more. 

Other horror conventions, the annual Arcane Vampire Ball, the Rocky Mountain Vampire Family and the Creepatorium Alternative Vendor Market are a few of the communities that make up the thriving undercurrent of alternative art in Colorado’s Front Range,where Count Marius Studios operates. 

“You see everything in the light; it’s always exposed to you,” O’Donoghue said, explaining their draw to morbidness in fashion. “But in the darkness, the dark is deeper than everything. It’s not just black — it’s purple, it’s blue, it’s a reflection of your soul.”

O’Donoghue noted how expression through clothing and jewelry help alternative people find community and shelter in a world that can feel judgmental and exclusive at times.

“It’s like my shield,” O’Donoghue said. “I’m very compassionate (and) empathetic. I love everyone I care about a lot. I don’t like the world at the same time; it doesn’t agree with me and I don’t agree with it. So it’s kind of, like, my way of putting up my shield and flag at the same time.”

O’Donoghue works with stainless steel and titanium, using bespoke charms and stones sourced from local shops and Etsy sellers. They said the process of creating art has always been sacred to them and allows both them and the wearer to carry a special sense of identity.

“I want each piece to have a kind of personality, so when the right person picks it up, it’s their necklace,” O’Donoghue said.

Although their niche is the macabre and gothic, Count Marius Studios endeavors to help all people feel “fancy,” O’Donoghue said, and to give them an occasion to dress up and experiment with fashion. 

“I like selling to whoever wants to wear my stuff and be fancy because not all my stuff is just with symbols,” O’Donoghue said. “I do make ones that are ornate with beautiful center charms and other things like that.”

Count Marius Studios’ sister company, Misfit Menagerie, broadens O’Donoghue’s artist range to topics like the Pokémon universe and often vends at card and collectible shows, like NoCo Collector Con in early September.

Misfit Menagerie has been a key business choice in allowing O’Donoghue to get a foot in the door at local events — this way, they can still sell their products at places that may not fit with the aesthetic of the pagan and satanic imagery of Count Marius Studios.

“That way I can kind of keep them separate at certain events,” O’Donoghue said. “I know I can always bring Pokémon in wherever I’m doing my other stuff.” 

O’Donoghue crafts with nickel-free and nontarnishable materials in their pieces and said they hope to soon branch out into the craft of pewter and silver-smithing, eventually expanding into surgical-grade metals for body piercing jewelry as well. 

Jewelrymaking is relatively new territory for O’Donoghue, but art has always been a part of their life in one way or another, they said.

“It gives me a sense of something to keep my mind from going too crazy in this world,” O’Donoghue said. “I’ve always been creative in different ways, and this has kind of been the longest one that’s blossomed into different things that I’m creating from it.” 

O’Donoghue discussed how they view everything they create as an extension of themselves and how art evolves just like life, influenced by those who come and go as time passes. As their art evolves, they said they have found an audience that embraces their alternative style.

“I’ve found all the right people that like that kind of weird stuff,” O’Donoghue said. 

Reach Kooper Hahn Shagena at entertainment@collegian.com or on social media @RMCollegian.