allyson bainbridge riccardi | strategist & creator
I first met Judi Powers at our initial photo shoot for the Hatch Jewelry website. Her bubbly personality and passion for her new career as a jewelry designer was infectious. Later, I visited her at her bench at Brooklyn Metal Works and we had a great interview, talking about everything leading up to her career change and lots more. Click here to read the full interview and you can find out more about her latest designs on her website.
I've yet to make it down to the annual SXSW festival, as it always seems to coincide with a vacation or a period when I have too much work. So I was psyched when Elizabeth Canon, founder of Fashion's Collective, organized a recap event, as I knew she'd be focusing on the highlights that were most relevant to what I do and am interested in. Here's an even more concise recap of the recap, from my perspective:
Read MoreIf you ever heard your grandmother use the term "paste jewelry," as I did, you probably didn't really understood what it meant, but you knew from her disdainful tone that it was derogatory, something not as good as the real thing. Until a few days ago, I never realized that the term comes from the French "pate de verre" which means glass paste, and has nothing to do with fake gems being pasted to metal, which is what I'd always assumed!
I was enlightened in more ways than one by a fascinating lecture hosted by the American Society of Jewelry Historians on March 27. The lovely Deanna Farneti Cera was our guide to a very specific period of history, 1930-1950 in Paris, when 2 formidable doyennes of fashion enjoyed a fierce rivalry. Back then, couture simply meant "made to measure" and fashion shows were merely défilés of ten or so girls parading around an atelier for a select group of well-to-do clients.
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I really loved writing this latest profile for TJB - I was captivated by her talent, her space, her team and her joie de vivre, so much fun! Click here to view the article, pp 46-48.
...My confirmation from ASJH included a note to bring a flashlight to the tour, which I found odd but understood immediately when we stepped into the exhibit space. It was dark, really dark, and the jewelry was lit dimly from above. I kind of felt like a voyeur, peeking into a forbidden window, and I have a feeling that's exactly what the curators were going for. The space is sort of a convex, egg-shape, with 2 main walls and a forest of 4-sided lightboxed pedestals set in between. Although over four hundred one-of-a-kind works were displayed, the layout allowed each piece to breathe and get noticed, which I really appreciated.
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