American Craft Council show Archives

Granulation station: meeting Zaffiro jewelry.

October 19, 2015

Good morning, darlings!

I have to start out here with a confession: I’m embarrassed about the timing of this post. I saw and photographed the following jewels in early February, at Global Design. 8 months ago. This post is basically a one-month-early human child.

But Zaffiro jewelry is far too awesome for me to not share with you, so I had no choice but to get it together and show you their beautiful designs at long last anyway.

Jack Gualtieri, half of the brand’s husband and wife team, was manning the booth at Global Design and he was both friendly and welcoming – I had a nice long chat with him while photographing the many beautiful things you’re about to see.

A key part of Zaffiro jewelry’s signature style is the use of granulation, an design technique hearkening back to the ancient Etruscans. Granulation is what gives the metal on these pieces its wonderful texture.

The fabulous Nicholle of Jewelry Nerd was with me, and she and Jack had an extended conversation about granulation techniques that I did not retain because it was over my head but which I enjoyed listening to in an admiring manner. My takeaway: these people really know what they’re doing. No wonder it’s so pretty.

Here’s the quick-and-dirty explanation from Zaffiro Jewelry’s website:

“The technique, called granulation, is a decorative process that consists of applying miniature spheres of gold (or, in its modern adaptation, platinum) to a similar surface and then heating the entire piece to a temperature high enough to form a permanent bond between the surface and the spheres. If the spheres are over-fired they’ll melt onto the surface; if under-fired, they won’t adhere properly. “

Granulation appears on most Zaffiro pieces and adds an incredible depth and texture to every design it graces.

But that’s not the only thing that makes Zaffiro Jewelry unique. They have a passion for unusual stones and artifacts. I use the word “artifact” deliberately, due to the existence of this glorious thing:

This plaque is a remnant of an ancient Anglo-Saxon object – I believe Jack said he thought it had been part of some kind of decorative horse tack.

They thought it was beautiful and interesting, so they made it into a pendant. One that comes with some serious bragging rights.

“Oh this? It’s an ancient artifact. Yeah, I think it’s pretty too.”

And then there’s this lumpy beauty.

I think that this pendant looks like a magnificent fossilized caterpillar, which is definitely the strangest combination of words I’ve ever used to describe a thing that I love.

Now, wait until you see these opals.

Seriously, look at these. They’re insane. Like glorious outer space amoebas captured and attached to ear wires. I can’t get enough of them.

How amazing is the earth to have produced stones like these? It also blows my mind that Zaffiro Jewelry managed to get two such similar opals.

Zaffiro jewelry is also – if you haven’t picked up on this already – not afraid of color. Only fitting, since their name means “sapphire” in Italian. You know how I love brightly colored pieces.

Thanks to Zaffiro Jewelry for being so awesome, and particularly to Jack Gualtieri for being such an accommodating booth host and also for lending me an electrical outlet. You were all that stood between me and two hours in a Baltimore train station with nothing to read.

Photo recap: GlobalDESIGN 2015.

July 20, 2015

I promised you I’d have more goodies to share from GlobalDESIGN, didn’t I? It’s taken me a minute to get the post together, but – what can I say? – It’s been an exciting summer.

In my last GlobalDESIGN post I quickly realized that I had just so many Anthony Lent beauties to share with you that I was going to have to give the Lent pieces their very own feature. Today we’re going to dive into the many other beauties I discovered: mostly by designers I’d never had the pleasure of meeting before.

Have I mentioned how much I enjoyed GlobalDESIGN? I’m already planning on making sure I can attend two days next year, instead of just the paltry 7 hours or spent roaming one single aisle of the show this year.

One of my favorite new discoveries of 2015’s GlobalDESIGN was Amali jewelry. The earrings at the top and this row of boulder opal necklaces are both Amali. The glorious natural materials, perfectly accentuated by Amali jewelry’s deliciously textured settings. And get a load of these babies:

This woven gold chain design kills me – it’s so light and interesting, with an exotic, almost sensual feeling. The texture is rich and subtle and I would wear these every day.

This rainbow sapphire briolette necklace by Anne Sportun stopped me in my tracks when I was on my way back from the bathroom. Like literally stopped me in my tracks: I was walking, and then I saw it and I realized I had stopped walking. Look at those luscious, juicy little points of colored light shimmering on their delicate gold chain. So lovely.

These bamboo-inspired rings are the work of Aaron Henry, another new discovery for me. This designer’s work tended to be heavily nature-influenced and beautifully textured.

This horn bangle with its gold leaf was the show stealer at Aaron Henry. Isn’t it magnificent? And more comfortable to wear than you might expect based on its size.

I couldn’t resist trying on these tourmaline rings by Suzy Landa. The photograph doesn’t do the color of these beauties justice, but I had to try.

And now for something completely different: these asymmetrical earrings from Janis Kerman. Aren’t they cool? I love that each earrings manages to be totally unique and yet they’re clearly a pair.

I know Vicente Agor from social media, but I’d never had the pleasure of meeting this lovely man or his designs in person before GlobalDESIGN. I spent more than a few minutes chatting at this booth and would happily have lingered longer, if there wasn’t so much jewelry to admire.

The jaw-dropping rock crystal and paraiba tourmaline, and diamond ring above is from Vicente Agor’s Antarctica collection – inspired, as one might assume, by Antarctica. I don’t think I need to point out how the rock crystal’s structure perfectly mimics the great ice floes of that frozen continent. A fitting tribute of glacial magnificence.

Here’s something to warm you up after the frozen beauty above: I love this smoldering fire opal ring from Vicente Agor Precious Jewelry.

I loved the organic, oceanic feel of these two necklaces from Julie Cohn Design. They’re dainty, but the knobby tendrils and color contrast of the yellow gold and oxidized metal pack a visual punch.

Zaiken Jewelry was one of the designers whose pieces I was most looking forward to seeing at GlobalDESIGN – I’m a longtime admirer of the Throwing Stones collection in particular, which features small bezel-set gemstones atop larger gemstones, like the emerald rings you see above. Such a beautiful, interesting look.

This glorious fairy-princess of a thing is by Zaiken as well. I’ll give you a minute to pick your jaw up off the floor. Moonstone perfection, vividly accessorized with the perfectly juxtaposed colors of the gems sprinkled across its face. I held this one for a while before I could bring myself to hand it back.

Here’s another ring from Zaiken’s Throwing Stones collection. I just love the opportunities for color contrast that this line affords – you so rarely see colored stones combined this playfully in an elegant way.

Do you love these pieces as much as I do, my dears? Which is your favorite?

I want to give special thanks to all of the vendors who took the time to speak with me and let me photograph your wares, Nicholle Mogavero for being such a wonderful companion, and Cindy Edelstein for inviting us both to her fabulous event. I can’t wait to attend again next year.

Anthony Lent at GlobalDESIGN 2015.

June 19, 2015

Happy Friday, my dears!

My goodness – is it as aggressively summery where you are as it is in DC right now? It’s halfway through June and I already need a fan in my hand to survive my afternoon commute. Please excuse me while I move to somewhere with a pool. Or a better climate.

Today’s post takes us back to a day when it was actually snowing (wedding planning was fun but it didn’t do anything positive for blog turnover). Several months ago, I had the delightful pleasure of attending the GlobalDESIGN show in Baltimore. GlobalDESIGN is a small but dynamic jewelry show that happens alongside the trade-only days of the American Craft Council show.

I have rarely seen such a diverse and scintillating collection of designs in one place. My trade show date, the brilliant Nicholle of Jewelry Nerd, and I spent the entire day in one single row of booths – we were there for maybe 8 hours and didn’t see a single vendor of the ACC show. There was just too much goodness to look at in GlobalDESIGN! And such incredible variety: there is a particular joy in walking down a row of designers and getting to experience an array of drastically different, equally compelling styles.

I saw SO many amazing designs, in fact, that I’m going to need to split them up over a couple of posts. We’re going to start today with what I saw from a designer who you already know I admire: Anthony Lent jewelry.

I’ve seen Anthony Lent’s work before, which meant I had a chance to meet some new beauties and also had a second chance to try to take better photos of some previous favorites.

How great are these opal snake earrings? There were some rings in this design, too. Apparently the way that Lent gets this level of detail is to make a larger model snake first, do all the detailing at a larger scale, and then shrink it down. I couldn’t resist trying them on – I thought I rocked them pretty hard, if I do say so myself.

I’m trying to remember to take more photos of myself actually wearing the jewelry, both for scale and because it’s fun to have those photos later. Much easier when I’m rolling with a buddy, like I was at GlobalDESIGN, instead of solo. Thanks for the photo help, Nicholle!

Such a spectacular level of detail. Look at the snakes scales, its nostrils, the underlying musculature of its skull. It looks like a real snake that’s been frozen, wrapped around an opal, gilded, and hung from an ear wire.

I intended that to sound magical and cool but it turned out a bit creepy, I’m afraid. My point remains the same: the snakes on these earrings are as noteworthy as the opals, which is really saying something.

With diamond eyes and round diamond surmounts to top them off. Glorious.

This tree frog ring was another that caught my eye. I’ve seen Anthony Lent’s tree frog ring before, with a different stone (a chrysoprase?) but this fire opal blew me away. The stone looks like it’s literally filled with fire – can’t you see the roiling smoke?

And speaking of frogs…how great is this little golden guy, just chillin’ on his Uvaravite drusy lily pad with his snail friend? My favorite part of this piece (besides the richness of the colors and precision of the frog and snail) were the nearly-hidden embellishments on the side and back:

It would have been so easy not to include these side and back details – but there they are, and I think they take the piece to a whole new level. Why not be delightful from every angle instead of just one?

The bespoke Shoko earrings are another completely unique and utterly unforgettable piece that I had the pleasure of handling while at Anthony Lent. Each earring is composed of layers of delicately veined, precisely shaped rose gold, yellow gold, and platinum leaves; each with the haunting impression of a woman’s face.

The earring dangles a diamond teardrop and is topped by another diamond and a deep, beautiful rhodolite garnet.

Is she a tree nymph, sleeping peacefully? A prisoner? Why are there so many of her? Anthony Lent’s jewelry makes me want to write stories.

Here is Nicholle modeling the Shoko earrings.

I mentioned above that I also had the chance to see old favorites – I was specifically thinking of the Reach for the Stars brooch:

I’ve seen it before and I’ve even featured it before, but I’ve never before been able to take a decent photo of my favorite part: the fitting on the back of the brooch.

Isn’t it wonderful? Kind of scary, but beautiful and – above all else – unique and fascinating. Another one of those details that could easily have been left off, but whose inclusion makes all the difference.

I think that’s enough beauties for today. Stay tuned for more of the designers I saw at GlobalDESIGN – to be posted soon!

Special thanks to Team Anthony Lent for being as welcoming, entertaining, and patient with me as ever. You and your designs are a consistent delight.

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