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Custom Jewelry Designs

  • Jane’s Tanzanite “Princess Diana” Ring

  • Spring “Must Haves” 2011

    Spring has sprung. Flowers are flowering and birds are…birding. Let’s celebrate!

    Here’s a quick peak at some simply “must haves” for this season of bloom and brightness from the lovely ladies at Refinery 29:

    christene-spring-editor-picks-1

    Above, from left:

    Stella McCartney Floral Dress, $4,095, available at Net-a-Porter, image via Style.com. “I always gravitate to this type of flowing floral dress…but this one’s the pinnacle.”

    Petite Bateau Bralette, $35, available at Petit Bateau; Petit Bateau Boy Shorts, $28, available at Petit Bateau. “Every spring I like to ditch all of last season’s unmentionables and start fresh. And this sweet little top and bottom is precisely the reason why.”

    Nars Lipstick in Funny Face, $24, available at Sephora. “Come spring, I love switching my red lip in for the most intense shade of hot pink (it always reminds me of big beautiful camelia flowers!). Julie Hewett makes a great one called Scarlett, and Nars’ shade of Funny Face is equally divine.”

    christene-spring-editor-picks-2

    Above, from left:

    Rachel Comey Bobcat Top, $255, available at Bird; Rachel Comey Shore Pants, $345, available at P.45. This silhouette pairing is kind of my uniform all year round, but it seems particularly perfect now in Rachel’s signature offbeat color combo.

    Kenzo Metallic Jacket, image via Style.com. “Being from Long Island, I will always have a weakness for some flash, and this gorgeous metallic blazer could easily become my summertime staple.”

    Acqua Di Parma Colonia, $98, available at Neiman Marcus. “This classic citrusy scent just smells like spring and summer. Plus the splash bottle really lets me overdo it, which I am sadly known for.”

    Cartier Entrelaces Ring in Yellow Gold, $850, by Cartier. “Absolutely perfect in every way…a great piece on its own or layered with some of my other crazy rings.”

    Keds Champion white canvas sneaker, $35, available at Keds. “These are probably the only kind of shoes both my mom and I swear by. The classic plimsole kick only gets chicer with age.”

  • Spring Jewelry…Is it here Yet?

    As a major weather system moves across the country this week, I wanted to offer a peek at Spring jewelry via a video I discovered to brighten your day. Stella and Dot offers up some fashion pointers that brighten up your outfit during the Spring as well as some classics anytime:

    Remember, if there’s a piece you like here, we can re-create it for a fraction of the price, using gems such as moissanite or recycled metals, along with a myriad of affordable and fashionable options.
  • Strange and Unusual Jewelry

    Adornment has been used since the beginning of time. But that doesn’t mean that it all works! Some forms of jewelry have worked for a time (mood ring, anyone?). Some pieces are classic and always retain their grace and style, like a pearl necklace. These pieces…well, you decide for yourself. Thanks Trendhunter.com!

    Spock Ear Jewelry

    Face chains - for the overly talkative girlfriend

    Jewelry made from Potatoes

    Mini-sculputure rings - with a LIVE princess inside!

    Bobby Pin Jewelry

    Bonsai Tree Ring

    Industrial Material Bracelet (Oil Filter and Electrical Cable)

    Laser Cut Wooden Bracelet

    Personalized Audio Waveform Ring...wow.

    Molecular Structure Jewelry - This necklace accurately depicts the molecular structure of human beta-endorphin.

    Recycled Camera Bracelet - Say cheese!

  • From The Archives: Men’s Rings

    Scanned these from a book we used to use in my Dad’s store. I grew up with this catalog, and several others like it. There are some 800 pages of Fabulous designs here with just this single company! Wild stuff, from broaches to cuff links to charms, etc., styles you won’t find anywhere today!

  • Custom Tanzanite Halo Engagement Ring

    This is one of the prettiest tanzanites we’ve seen in a long time!

    We started with our style 10208 and tried a couple of different shank styles (see the Photoshoped images above) before ending with what you see in the finished piece.

    The inspiration

  • Luxury Items – In or Out?

    12992407Much has been said over the last year regarding a shift in mentality when it comes to luxury items. As the economy turned, most of us realized that cutting back was a most. The first to go? The bling that you don’t really need. But interestingly, economically challenging times can often have a reverse effect; people need those luxury items – at least occasionally – as a much-needed treat for their efforts at making it through. Also, according to Scott Galloway, media expert, we need to recognize the shift from traditional purchasing to buying online:

    “The death of luxury has been vastly overstated,” Galloway said. “There’s talk about how the next generation doesn’t like to spend money on bling—it’s total rubbish.”

    Galloway, a clinical associate professor of marketing at NYU and founder of digital marketing research firm L2, explained that luxury sales were up 10 percent last year and marketing tools transitioning online.

    “It seems like corporations are lagging the consumer in terms of marketing spent,” he said. His presentation included information gathered by L2’s Digital IQ Index of the luxury market.

    According to the report, 26 percent of media consumption is now on the Internet. “If you’re targeting tomorrow’s consumer and targeting tomorrow’s wealthy consumer, if you’re not on the Internet, you’re missing half of all media consumption.”

    Galloway said the study found that 80 percent of people under the age of 30 that make $100,000 a year are on Facebook every day and 40 percent watch TV every day. “Your influence is twice as likely to be on Facebook than on television. It’s dramatic.”

    L2’s research indicated that the watch and jewelry business had the lowest digital IQ score. Swarovski, Tiffany, Tag Heuer, Longines, and Hublot scored the highest digital IQs among watches and jewelry by utilizing e-commerce, social networking sites, and an increase in digital brand building.

    Rolex, Chopard, and Cartier were ranked the lowest in digital marketing due to lack of social media presence.

    “People aren’t spending as much time on RalphLauren.com as they are on Ralph Lauren’s Facebook page,” said Galloway.

    Source: JCK

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H2-2LrGasw

  • Fashion Don’ts of 2010

    I often find it easier to make a fashion resolution than one I bound not to keep (dieting, exercise more, etc.)

    Let’s review some of the worst fashion choices of the last year as a reminder of what not to do!

    The retro hippie pile-on look - just say no!

    Skintight leopard...only works on rock stars. And even that's debateable.

    Don't be a high-heeled furball. And really...who wears fur anymore? It's cool to be concerned.

    The boots and socks thing...nope.

    Dresses in the daytime - and various-size and age models being shown in big magazines like Glamour! Finally.

    High-waisted jeans...egad. They've been a "no" for a long time.

    Sweats with heels and...well, you decide!

    Source: Glamour Magazine

  • The Legacy of High Jewelry Making

    We can often feel like a dying breed – jewelers who genuinely care about our product and who believe deeply in the artisanship behind our work. So when I read this piece in the New York Times, it really resonated: Who are the jewelry makers of today? Can the same artistry exist as it did in my father’s generation? We think so.

    PARIS — It is taken as gospel that the king of 20th century jewelry makers was Peter Carl Fabergé, the inimitable jeweler to the czars. Question: 100 years from now, who among the makers of today will be in the running to assume a similar title for this century?

    “The first name — and I’m bored myself with saying it — is JAR,” said François Curiel, Christie’s chief jewelry specialist, referring to Joel Arthur Rosenthal, the enigmatic U.S.-born artist whose Parisian atelier turns out pieces that regularly earn two to three times their auction estimates.

    “He is a jeweler in constant evolution but whose style is instantly recognizable by the members of his virtual international club.”

    For most of history, collectibility was beside the point. Jewels doubled as currency because they had an intrinsic value that allowed them to be dismantled and traded.

    But in the 33 years since JAR founded his company, a booming estate jewelry market has fueled collector interest in signed works; and especially over the past decade, a renaissance in high jewelry making — among independent designers as well as the traditional French houses — has revived the conversation about the next generation of work that deserves to remain intact.

    It may be too soon to bracket the current period within discrete dates and describe its characteristics — as diamonds and clean, geometric lines defined the Art Deco movement of the 1920s and 30s — but most experts agree that a willingness to embrace unconventional, even common, materials is a mark of the 21st century jeweler.

    An example is Michele della Valle, a jeweler based in Rome: “Recently, I used carbon fiber in an unusual way to mimic the feather-like details found around the pistils of anemone flowers,” Mr. della Valle said, taking pains to emphasize that he never experimented with materials gratuitously but used them for specific properties. “Those times where I still use titanium or zirconium, I do so strictly when required to give lightness to a piece — and mostly in conjunction with gold,” he said.

    Mr. della Valle shares his appreciation for light metals with a trio of well-regarded designers in Hong Kong: Michelle Ong of Carnet, known for her fanciful, lace-inspired diamond cuffs and brooches; Edmund Chin of Etcetera, whose expert stone-setting has earned acclaim; and Wallace Chan, a gem carver with an alchemist’s knack for manipulating titanium.

    Decades from now, desirability will, of course, be determined by as-yet-unforeseen market forces, though it is safe to say that a rare and beautiful jewel exhibiting a singularity and soulfulness that identifies its maker will stand the test of time — and all the more so when the personality behind the work remains elusive.

    Mr. Rosenthal, for example, politely declined via e-mail a request to discuss his jewelry: “Alas, I am not for words about what I do,” he said, “believing that an artist should artiste and shut up.”

    A PINK SAPPHIRE NECKLACE, BY MICHELE DELLA VALLE

    Colored diamond “bonnet” ring by JAR Set with a pear-shaped light brown-pink diamond, weighing approximately 2.94 carats, within a pavé-set diamond oval plaque, to the diamond-set hoop, mounted in platinum and 18k gold. Estimate: $70,000-$100,000

    “I am not arbitrary. If you happen to have ideas and defend them, people make you into a dragon. If someone walks in and says, ah, I love that necklace and I say, but it doesn’t suit you and it is part of my job to make sure you don’t get something that doesn’t suit you, people may not be happy. “Getting the right things on the right people is part of making those things. I can’t do it three generations from now but I can do it now and I have to do it now.”

    – Joel Arthur Rosenthal