Jewelry Business Guru by Cindy Edelstein

Couture Design Awards 2009 - Great jewelry designs and designers celebrated

Couture Design Award winners really enjoyed their evening! So many great winning pieces -- and designers -- you can see them all at http://www.couturedesignawards.com/winners2009.shtml

Seen here are gold category winner Barbara Heinrich dancing with Atelier Zobel's owner Peter Schmid, who won for the pearl category (and was a finalist in the silver category, as well).

Also having a great evening was bridal category winner (and gold category finalist) Pamela Froman with this year's MC, uber-stylist Rachel Zoe.

And who would have expected a kickline to form with the ASPECTS designer group members and friends: Seen dancing were Jose Hess, Susan Sadler, Peter Schmid, Bernd Munsteiner, Tom Munsteiner, Petra Class and Couture newcomer awardee Elena Votsi.

 

Loree Rodkin Looking to Sell -- Being Known as Michelle Obama's Jewelry of Choice Should be Lucrative

The Wall Street Journal reports that Loree Rodkin "has been telling friends that she would be willing to sell her company," Well-connected in Hollywood and rocker circles, she has jetted to widespread fame as a jewelry designer since becoming Michelle Obama's go-to jeweler. Now, Ms. Rodkin is ready to cash in, says the article.

"Recession or no, the dream of selling one's brand lives on in the luxury business. Investors can offer designers the joys of creativity without the headaches of operations and can bankroll global expansions. Louis Vuitton made luggage and ran his company until his death in 1892, when he passed it on to his son George. But these days, who wants to labor as an artisan into old age?"

... read the whole article at wsj.com

Artistic Entrepreneurship considered now viable career path, said New York Times

“I am committed to destroying the myth of the starving artist,” stated Larry Thompson president of Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., in a New York Times article recently. Thanks to Connie Mettler's blog, www.artfairinsiders.com,  that alerted me to this article.

Students at this school can now major or minor in a program called “The Business of Art and Design.”  Thompson, the school’s president, said he was inspired to create the program when he read about Dan Pink’s book, “A Whole New Mind,” which popularized the notion that artists, especially those who can marry left and right brain skills, the analytical and the creative, will be in high demand in the coming years.

Rather than seeing art as something to pursue in the hours when they are not earning a living, these artists are developing businesses around their talents. These artists are part of a growing movement that has caught the attention of business experts and is being nudged along by both art and business schools.

Living in the Internet era has certainly helped. Read more of the article here...

jewelry_cycle exhibition: Artists Discover Hidden Sparkle in the Discarded

Holy Mother Board, Batman... it's jewelry!

Jewelry_cycle is an educational showcase of wearable treasures made from re-cycled circuit boards on exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design until January 4, 2009.

Circuit boards contain precious metals, such as copper, silver and gold, which add a precious element to what would otherwise be considered e-waste. The curators, Christine Dhein and Christophe Koch, along with invited artists Shana Astrachan, David Casella, Reed Easley, Aimee Golant, Kelly Nederman and emiko oye discover the hidden potential and transform these materials to create brilliant, sparkling jewels.

Christine hopes that this recycled jewelry collection will “inspire visitors to appreciate the potential value of discarded objects in a new way.”

The details of the exhibition design received as much attention from the curators as the jewelry. Koch believes that “contemporary jewelry should be presented in a modern way that leaves a lasting impression.” Dhein focuses on the way jewelry is brought to life when it is worn. Using these ideas and inspiration from “La Belle et la Bete” a movie by French director, Jean Cocteau, the curators collected used and borrowed mannequin parts to create a surrealist environment that showcases the jewelry in a way that visitors will remember.

The co-curators each bring a unique perspective on Green Design --- Dhein is a jewelry designer who has been using recycled materials for over 10 years, as well as an educator at the forefront of the Green Jewelry Movement. Koch, an eco designer trained in France and the USA, pushes the envelope of green industrial design and packaging. For over a year, the pair has worked together on green jewelry.

When they happened upon a lot of small, discarded circuit boards, they agreed that these materials would be the perfect starting point to create jewelry that raises awareness about the problems in the mining industry, as well as with e-waste and over-consumption.

With the idea of the exhibition in mind, the curators invited members of Metal Arts Critique Collective, a group of metal artists that Dhein co-founded eleven years ago, to create wearable pieces from small, discarded circuit boards. Participating artists were also asked to write about and photograph their process. Koch complied the results into a book, which is part of the exhibition, and demonstrates that all of the artists found inspiration in the materials and felt good about creating something beautiful from trash.
 
~ Kelp Necklace, 2008, by Shana Astrachan, re-purposed circuit boards, sterling silver, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ Geek Bling, 2008, by Kelly Nedderman, re-purposed circuit boards, brass, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ 21st Century Breastplate, 2008, by Christine Dhein, re-purposed circuit boards, brass, rubber, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein
~ Link Necklace, 2008, by Aimee Golant, re-purposed circuit boards, sterling silver, Photo Credit: Christine Dhein

Erica Courtney, Kwiat, Neil Lane and others Rock the Emmys

The Primetime Emmy Awards were fun to watch this year (what to say about Jennifer Love Hewitt's look?)

I was going to blog about all the great jewels but... JCKstyle has beat me to it! They've collected most of the jewelry shots in their 60^th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards coverage!

Missing from those pages though are all the celebs dressed by the goddess Erica Courtney! So here you go... the endless list of stunning celebrities who wore Erica Courtney:

Jenna Fischer from “The Office”, Lisa Edelstein from “House”, Kathy Griffin from “My Life on the D- List”, Michael Emerson from “Lost”, Carrie Preston from “True Blood”, Kathy Joosten from “Desperate Housewives”, Katee Sackhoff from “Battlestar Galactica”, Lauren Velez from “Dexter”, Marin Hinkle from “Two and A Half Men”, Kate Flannery from “The Office”, Tricia Helfer from “Battlestar Galactica”, and Kristen Dos Santos “E! News red carpet host”

GIA NY Career Fair -- Designers Mentoring other Designers

Every summer I volunteer at GIA's Career Fair to mentor and lend advise to budding jewelry designers. It's always such a great day -- and this year was no exception. The room is always packed for my sessions because there's no better way to learn than from those who have walked the walk before you. And I always get such great volunteers!

This year's generous, informative panelists are seen below from left: Sandy Baker, Alex Woo and Joseph Murray. These designers have been running their own businesses for years and they shared sage advice, tips, tricks and wisdom with the crowd.

TIP: If you're in need of mentoring, advice or information on running a designer business you can always email me a question or two AND read the open pages on our website, www.jewelersresource.com.

And you can find more advice by joining your local chapter of the Women's Jewelry Association (www.womensjewelry.org), going to trade shows like MJSA Expo (www.mjsa.org) and finding business  support groups like the new Collective-E. These are all favorites!

from left: Sandy Baker, me, Alex Woo and Joseph Murray.

Trends from Couture designers -- #1 gem slices

Large, flat gemstones cut in slices was one of the most fun trends seen at this year's Couture. Designers set all kinds of stones from diamonds in an array of colors to colored stones both transparent and opaque.

Here's the first of probably many images...... Pippa Small's bracelet of brightly colored flat cut stones of  Carnelian and Pink Tourmaline.

And here's a set of diamond slice stacking rings by Melissa Joy Manning -- a huge hit at the show.

Handmade at NYGift Show - designer report

Traffic at the Handmade section of the NY Gift Show was slower than last year, said many, but the popular designer lines still had a good show.

And we had fun visiting with so many great friends.

Trends spotted at the show:

GREEN Jewelry is gaining a real toehold in our industry (see early post on Fair Jewelry Summit) and the latest to take the concept and run with it was Cynthia Gale of GeoArt. Her new Go Green campaign was attracting a lot of attention.
That's Cynthia on the right.                         

Another great green initiative is Julie Bergstein's (on the left) new locket collection for her eponymous line Just Jules. She combines vintage lockets, watch fobs and other trinkets with pearls and beads and chain to create contemporary keepsakes. She told us that she sold out by the second day -- she's on the hunt for more vintage lockets so if you see any/have any to sell -- email her from her website at www.justjules.com.

Stephen Estelle saw a great interest in his vermeil collection. His rationale? "They're simultaneously selling down with the economy (from the karat gold line) while feeling like you're keeping up because it's gold and not silver," said Stephen. Great understanding of the marketplace.

 

 

here's Suzanne Vaughan of Ann Sportun looking as cool and graceful as the jewels!

Can you see the size of those baroque pearls in front of her! To die for!

Over at Somer's Jewelry owner at Hilary Randolph told us that her gold WAS selling better than expected -- considering she's predominently a silver line this was surprising news indeed.

While at the Ann Sportun/Experimetal booth they were getting some traction for their diamond designs. These reports gave us hope that the year won't be as bad as we keep fearing it could be!

When will this Affect Jewelry Design Knockoffs?

U.S. Senators Introduce Bill to Nail Design Thiefs

by Renata Espinosa on www.fashionwiredaily.com
August 09th, 2007 @ 12:06 AM -
Not so fast, "fast" fashion – if a new design piracy bill that U.S. senators just introduced passes, companies hawking copies of an original design registered by a designer with the U.S. Copyright Office may find themselves dealing with a copyright infringement lawsuit. 

Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Herb Kohl (D-WI), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) introduced the bill in Washington D.C. last Thursday, August 2. 

Under the bill, called the Design Piracy Prohibition Act, designers would be protected for a period of up to three years against piracy. A similar bill was presented in the House of Representatives in April by Representatives Delahunt, Goodlatte, Maloney and Bono.

Such intellectual property protection is common in Europe for designers, and just recently the label Chloe successfully sued UK retailer Topshop for producing a near-identical yellow romper. But in the U.S., current laws namely deal with counterfeit goods (those infringing on a registered trademark that purports to be authentic) but doesn't protect the designers' ideas.

Narciso Rodriguez, Marc Bouwer, Nicole Miller, Jeffrey Banks, Yeohlee Tang, Richard Lambertson of Lamberston Truex and Dana Foley of Foley and Corrina were among the American designers present at a press conference today hosted by Senator Schumer at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York in support of the bill.