Craft show season is now in full swing and – no surprise – most of the jewelry we’re seeing this summer is made from silver. Even the gold accents are diminishing as gold hits record highs. What do you do when silver (or even recycled aluminum) is all you or your customers can afford?...
I admit it. I’m obsessed with jewelry boxes. This is partly because my own jewelry is overflowing my current jewelry box, stashed in various velvet boxes and satin bags and getting harder and harder to find. But I also love the idea of beautiful containers for beautiful ornaments. In a perfect world, I would...
UPDATE: Here it is at last, the Green Bay Packers’ Super Bowl championship ring, presented to the team at a Thursday night celebration in Lambeau Field Atrium. The Packers bucked the recent trend to go with a name-brand jewelry designer like Tiffany or an edgier up-and-coming designer for Super Bowl rings, sticking instead with...
Inspired by a Victorian bicycle brooch in an exhibit opening next month: a look back at the revolution in women's fashion brought about by the bicycle craze of the 1890s.
As the final wave engulfs the brilliant career of Ralph Esmerian, the last of his treasures are being sold off to cover his debts. While the former owner of Fred Leighton awaits sentencing for bankruptcy fraud on July 22, most of what remains of the famous collection he pledged (or double-pledged) as collateral is...
Andrea Rosenfeld designs what she calls “healing jewelry,” using stones known for their healing powers and the technique of Reiki. She started designing jewelry fairly recently but brings a wealth of experience and skills to her creations – loom weaving, silk screening, photography, garment design, drawing, painting, ceramics, and wood-working – not to mention...
Barbara Bayne’s jewelry is often dark and organic, like something dug from the earth. Perhaps this has something to do with her years of living and designing in the Berkshire Mountains of western Massachusetts, where she got her inspiration on daily strolls through the woods with her yellow Lab. Bayne relocated to Havre de...
Not all designers work individually with couples to customize wedding rings, but sometimes galleries that represent those designers will serve as liaison. This allows designers who prefer to work independently to benefit from the demand for customized wedding rings and for couples to end up with a favorite designer’s work as a wedding ring,...
Boston is shining the spotlight this summer on a pioneer of American studio jewelry: Margret Craver. If you’re a collector of Modernist jewelry, you may have heard some important pieces by her are coming up for auction at Skinner on June 14. Having lived to the age of 103 – she passed away only...
As you might expect from a goldsmith trained in Germany but living in California, Birgit Kupke-Peyla makes jewelry that blends the exquisite craftsmanship of her homeland with the multicultural influences of her adopted home.
