My early training as a jewelry designer focused on hand wax carving and becoming a bench jeweler. As a student I co-produced a ring that won a design contest at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Presentations were made to Saks 5th Ave and a business was started. In 1988 I received the prestigious World Gold Council's Designers Award, and a couple of years later I was discovered and nationally distributed by Neiman Marcus for my bold collections of costume jewelry. The unique mix of faux metals, mesh, leathers and crystals became the number one fashion jewelry accessory in 1993-94. Among the stores that carried my costume jewelry were Saks 5th Ave., Henri Bendel, Nordstom and Isetan of Japan.
I rode this wave of success, until the tides of fashion changed my course, which then returned me to the roots of fine jewelry, where, by the way, I began as a teenage apprentice at my uncle's jewelry store. Now it's the year 2000. Scouting for fresh talent is the QVC television network, which contracts me to design a collection of 18karat gold jewelry to be produced in the deserts of Peru. I would travel to teach Aztec artisans the techniques of my craft to be sold on TV.
The events of 911 gave me cause to evaluate my life, and I opened a retail boutique in the bohemian town of Sea Cliff, New York, where I live with my family. Here I am creating one of a kind jewelry for private clients on the Gold Coast of Long Island. In late 2006 we moved the factory and boutique to a high profile location a few miles away in East Hills Long Island where my studio is presently located.
Today I must be a performance artist, as my world of jewelry has many stages of which it engages and entertains. I have always manufactured my own collections and I just love the process of owning machinery and nurturing and training craftsmen. Today the arsenal of equipment includes machines that mill and actually grow prototype models, which are built in three dimensional, architecturally based software. Organically, my designs develop through the hand sketched, hand wrought and computer aided process.
At our retail store we absolutely trump the competition when it comes to custom design, as we are so ahead of the curve we can actually create anything the mind can see. We have developed a process that brings the client clearly into the procedure of making a custom piece of jewelry. In house we also develop signature collections that identify our brand and provide uniquely different, yet classic jewelry.
My value as an artist is cultivated from the riches of my life, the variety of my techniques, and the gusto put forth in developing new concepts. My value to my customers is my passion for beauty and balance, and a respect for reputation and history. Enter my doors and enter into the ambient warmth where Art meets craft for the conception of Original ideas.
