Ladies Night Art Crawl

Fall is my favorite time of year for several reason;, scarves, foliage, spiced cider, but most of all craft fairs.

My pumpkin spice fiance and I decided to enjoy the newly crisp fall air by moseying through the Ladies Night Art Crawl.  The event consisted of a string of predominantly female owned studio spaces opening their doors to the public to come look, touch, and buy made in Philly art.

Scrawled below is the map distributed by the vendors, the starting point being The Common Room , a creative space to curate woman created art.

There I came across two new artists to follow.  The first being Sadie Francis of Only in the Forest.  Francis has worked in the environmental field for 15 years, in doing so she carried her hobby over to shareable wearable art.  The flowers she encases in resin are found during long daily walks through Philadelphia’s expansive park system. I’ve seen this type of jewelry before, so what really makes these pieces poignant is knowing they’re local and made by someone who deeply cares about sustaining nature.  They’re not just flowers, they’re flowers from our community.

The second artist I came across was MEO-C.28  who created an exciting take on the necklace bib. She paints exaggerated baubles onto re-purposed fabric to create the look of a bib without the heft of it.  Light weight and handcrafted, these works give new life to a tired trend.

Last but not least is always a favorite of mine, Forge and Finish.  A trio of Temple ladies working together to handcraft jeweled treasures.  My current favorite collection is Talo, jeweled with a tasty bluish green tourmaline.  Forge and Finish does an excellent job of echoing shape between collections allowing a wearer to mix and match between collections. Each piece is a work of art with a slight edge that sets it aside from it’s peers. Very wearable while still making a statement.

 

Pyle on the Jewels

Fresh off the heels of New York Fashion Week a hunger was stoked for new fall style and it can be satiated by the independent artists featured at The Pool Trade Show this weekend taking place at the Jacob Javits Center in NYC.

One jewelry artist, Amy C Pyles, has an edgier collection perfect to invigorate anyone’s wardrobe that is really looking to bolden their style.

There is a strong energy in her jewelry that is brought to life with a repeating line motif found intermittent with leather and gem elements to create a striking visual palette.

Contemporary in foundation, Pyles incorporates non-traditional items like found vintage objects as a focal points and elevates their purpose by integrating them with various types of chain, her specialty.

I always love coming across work like Pyles’ because you can invest in one piece and it will serve you all season.  With this much versatility, you can easily style a new necklace or bracelet into your current outfit favorites to freshen them for fall.

If you’re in the NYC area this weekend be sure to check it out:

http://www.amycpyles.com/

http://www.pooltradeshowbrandbook.com/

Favorite Jewels at NY Fashion Week

This past week the style savvy lurked online seeing the new trends to look for to reign in fall and spring.  Glossing over cold shoulder blouses, velvet dresses, suede skirts, and mixed patterns galore.  But no outfit is complete without the perfect accessories to compliment the style story being created. Taking a look at what was accessorizing the runway, I picked a few of my favorites.

First up is Tory Burch accessorizing skeletal fish pieces.  Whimsical, fun, but not distracting.  In fact the bronze earring was a great bold shape complementing the model’s hair and face, but the neutral color blended into the look instead of taking away from it.

Next Altuzarra smartly utilized boldly colored hoops to emphasize their pieces.  The design is simple, a large twisted hoop that was used throughout the entirety of the show. The size was perfect, not large enough to distract but large enough to give a pop of color from a distance and really round a look.

Tibi went with emphasis on one ear, creating a torqued of kilter energy to the models walk.  Having the earring dangle on a thin wire gave the illusion an amorphous metallic shape floating above the model’s shoulder.  It was an interesting decision to add heaviness to that area of the body, but one that really worked. The earring really elevated the looks of the show by subtly setting a mood. The earring itself appears to be fold formed metal which gives off a feel of liquid metal, setting the tone for the model’s walk, fluid and with intention.

Rodarte styled beaded headpieces to complement lace looks. Once again there was a lot of emphasis on one side of the head but this this time beaded strands strung along below the chin to connect to the other ear.  The draped strands swayed rhythmically to the models walk feeding into the energy of the show.  The headpiece created a regal look reminiscent of Hindu wedding jewelry making it by far one of the more romantic jewelry choices used this year.

Source:

http://www.elle.com/fashion/trend-reports/g28724/spring-2017-jewelry-trends/?slide=2

Jewelry of the DNC

The Democratic National Convention is not the first place you would think to see remarkable jewelry, but this year had a tremendous amount of feminism was personified via wardrobe.

Katy Perry dazzled in her patriotic ensemble as she belted out her empowering anthems “Roar” and “Rise”.  The usually outlandishly dressed star had a more subdued look Thursday evening, wearing a sparkling neutral pencil dress by Michael Kors. She did opt to add a little of her famous pizzaz by donning 1970 vintage Bulgari. The neck-piece was from Bulgari’s 1973 “Stars and Stripes” collection, originally donned by that decade’s superstar Cher to commemorate the opening of Bulgari’s New York boutique.

The necklace was borrowed from Carlo Eleuteri’s personal collection, the bold piece glossed in red and blue enameling, accented by diamond detail to create a star spangled statement piece. The piece is fun,eclectic, and was the perfect addition to style Perry’s DNC look.

As gorgeous as Katy Perry looked, the real talk of the night was Madeleine Albright’s flawless “Shattered Glass Ceiling” brooch.  A very powerful piece worn by the first woman to become Secretary of State, worn as a symbol to continue to push social boundaries for the female gender.  Hillary Clinton is the first female presidential nominee for a major U.S. party, following in the steps of Victoria Woodhull who dared to run for president in the far less progressive time of 1872.  Albright acknowledges this by wearing a simple gold bar accompanied by crushed glass that glittered to catch every eye at the convention.  A very poetic piece exemplifying the pride Albright has for the women that keep us dreaming big and do not take no for an answer.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/madeleine-albright-brooch-glass-ceiling-pin_us_579aa5d0e4b0e2e15eb5476a

http://blog.hmns.org/tag/stars-and-stripes-collection/

http://theadventurine.com/culture/celebrity/katy-perry-shines-in-red-white-and-blue-jewelry/

A look at Heritage in Bloom

   Pictured above "Heritage Flower Gaze"

Chinese jewelry retailer, Chow Tai Fook, purchased the Cullian Heritage rough diamond in 2010 at 35.3 million dollars.  Weighing in at an astounding 507.55 carats, artist Wallace Chan undertook the task to cut this miraculously (D) in color, near flawless diamond into several smaller counterparts in the journey to create his masterpiece, “A Heritage in Bloom”




47,000 hours of manipulation to yield the gorgeous and innovative neckpiece that can be worn 27 different ways.  Adorning the very center is a 104 ct Forever Mark inscribed diamond cut from the Cullian Heritage.  It is set in a layered seat to create dimension and to keep continuity of the piece, the eye completely remains undistracted by the setting and can focus on the form of the piece.  This centerpiece is echoed by its smaller cut brethren descending from the same Cullian Heritage diamond creating a sense if unity and completeness.  Historically we rarely see a cohesive plan for a high grade diamond, typically it gets passed around and cut down several times , so it’s truly beautiful to have it cut and set altogether in one place, one story from beginning to end.


Incorporated into the necklace are winged bats, a symbol of good fortune in the Chinese culture.This iconography is coupled with diamond and jade encrusted butterflies, a symbol of eternal love.

                                                  "Heritage Bright Day"


This neckpiece has an optimistic undertone of love and fortune apparent in the symbolism described above, but the mood is well executed in the utilization so soft pink diamonds and light shades of jade.  It portrays a soft tone of innocence and delicateness that we associate with love.  The sharpest edge in the piece is that of the bat wings that rest upon ones shoulder, even that has a sensual curve that we would not find in the bat anatomy in nature.

                                                    "Heritage Ethereal"

In past decades, even centuries, a piece as ornate as this would be created to showcase the wealth and power of the commissioner.  Here in the modern era we are treated in the delight to marvel it as a spectacular piece of museum quality art.  A means to push our ideas of how we can create something beautiful from something rough and amorphous, and have the end game be something to be admired for years to come.



Sources:

Artist's Site: http://www.chowtaifook.com/en/node/30685

Pictures: http://www.nationaljeweler.com/galleries/editorial/A-Heritage-in-Bloom-10004.shtml#4

Information: http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonydemarco/2015/09/03/wallace-chan-creates-statement-necklace-from-507-carat-diamond/#5edce2ae7629

http://www.barrons.com/articles/200-million-masterpiece-lifts-luxury-to-new-heights-1441335925

Laser Cut Statement Necklace

In Philadelphia we have a tradition called First Friday in which the galleries downtown turnover to new exhibitions.  This draws in flocks of creative talents and observers to partake in sipping wine while listening to hipsters have a jam session on the crowded sidewalk that is lined with artists, elbow to elbow, hovering over makeshift displays of their works.  A wide variety of work is on display from paintings, prints, ceramics, jewelry; any sort of imaginable aesthetic is available to your service.

This particular month I wandered into a gallery I have never been in before.  I’m not particularly a fan of carpentry but my boyfriend wanted to take a walk through The Center for Art and Wood.  Here we were entranced by the fine craftsmanship on display, the ingenuity of taking and ancient craft, and spinning a modern twist on the art, creating conceptual sculptures relevant to our modern day queries.

However what caught my eye in this wonderland of wood knots and wood grain was of course, a piece of jewelry.  I happened across a stack of laser cut balsa wood necklaces.  Ordinarily this would not catch my interest, but what did spark my inner child was that these pieces were interactive.  Each necklace was a different color scheme and shape, but all were completely comprised of gears riveted together.  When you spun one gear, all of them begin to spin.  It was a delightful work of modern art that is toy-like and playful.  And the burning of the wood from the laser gives the grain a nice shading to invoke a nice steam punk quality to the piece.

Overall this necklace was a delight to find in that it’s a piece of jewelry that is impressive artistically and conceptually but still just plain old fun.  Below I linked the website of the creators of the piece, Green Tree Jewelry. Enjoy!

                                                 http://www.greentreejewelry.com