Loriann Jewelry Archives

101 places to buy jewelry on Small Business Saturday.

November 24, 2017

It’s officially shopping season, my darlings, so I want to be sure that you all have a nice, long list of places you can go to buy all the best bling for all the loved ones on your list (and don’t forget to treat yourself).

I’m a little biased because I’m a small business owner myself, but I love love love to support small businesses – especially when we’re talking about a product as special as jewelry.

When you buy a piece of jewelry, would you rather have something cranked out in an assembly line situation, one pieces of hundreds or thousands, or a unique treasure specially crafted or selected by someone who cares about that piece of jewelry with their whole heart?

Check out the Black Friday deals if you want to, but trust me that you’ll be happier with what you get if you take a Small Business Saturday approach instead – in terms of where you shop, I mean. The day of the week doesn’t matter.

To prove to you that there is no reason to ever go to Jared (or its equivalents), here are 101 small jewelry businesses that I personally recommend.

Happy shopping!!! I’d love to see your scores – if you Instagram your loot, tag my account in a comment and I’ll be sure to check it out!

Please note: some of these businesses are friends and/or advertisers, but nobody paid to be in this post (or even knew about it in advance). I wouldn’t recommend any of these small businesses to you if I didn’t believe in them wholeheartedly.

All images are c/o the Small Business Saturday picks on this list. If anything in the pictures catches your eye, let me know and I’ll make sure you know which business it is!

Loriann Jewelry’s irresistible, elemental elegance.

September 7, 2017

Good morning, my darlings! I’m so excited this day is finally here: I can’t wait to tell you all about Loriann Jewelry. The jewels are amazing, the designer is a delight…there’s nothing not glorious here.

Lori Ann Friedman isn’t new to the jewelry design game – her designs have been sold in the Mitchells family of stores for more than 14 years – but she says this new collection marks a major step forward for the brand in both scale and cohesive artistic vision. And they are gorgeous!

I had so much fun taking these pictures!

It happened in NYC a few weeks ago and it involved me, the lovely designer Lori, and her fabulous assistant for the day, Phoebe, in a hotel room full of jewelry. We talked about everything, from the intricacies of the designs to our love lives. We began with three bottles of rosé, involved piles of jewels, and ended in lots of Italian food.

Is the fact that Lori is a warm, loving, generous-hearted person with great taste in rosé strictly relevant to the appreciation of her jewelry? No. But isn’t it nice to know that the lady behind the designs is someone you’d want to be friends with?

Loriann Jewelry nails that difficult-to-achieve sweet spot between casual and formal: these designs, while often quite sizable, feel equally appropriate with jeans or a gown. They’re luxurious, but utterly unfussy. It’s an irresistible combination.

I’ve been looking forward to sharing these pieces with you since the very first time I saw a piece from Loriann Jewelry’s new collection, and I’m not the only one getting excited: Loriann Jewelry was recently chosen for the JANY Show’s coveted Mort Abelson New Designer of the Year award.

Here’s an opal ring from the same collection as the earrings I’m wearing in the photos above. Look at that luscious, glowing opal pebble!

Metal and Smith: the January edit.

January 16, 2017

Remember a few months ago when we talked about Metal and Smith, the ultra-cool new fine jewelry buying event that launched in September? Well, the event just had its second iteration, and it was even more fabulous than the first.

The clean white walls and bright windows filled with streaming sunlight that I loved so much from the September event remained the same, and I was glad of it. Few things make a blogger happier than an event with natural lighting.

Metal and Smith’s January edit featured a selection of returning designers from the first event, as well as quite a few new additions. One of the new designers was Gigi Ferrante, the brand responsible for the colorful masterpiece above. The designer herself is just as lovely as this particular design: she’s endlessly bubbly and warm and I could happy have talked to her for the entire event.

This gorgeous thing is from Gigi Ferrante’s new Regalo collection, which is resplendent with diamonds, pink sapphires, and pink tourmalines in rose gold. It also matched my nails perfectly.

Eden Presley was another Metal and Smith newcomer – it’s her stunning gemstone rings I’m wearing over the cupcake tray in the photo above. I’ve admired Eden Presley’s work for years, but I’d never seen it or met her in person before.

Which reminds me of another improvement I enjoyed at the January event: I think there were more frequent champagne and cupcake trays circulating. Either that, or I accidentally befriended one of the waiters and he took excellent care of me.

The Metal and Smith January edit brought vintage and antique brands into the mix for the first time!

Obviously this delighted me, especially because it meant I was reunited with one of my very favorite jewelry people, Grace of Jewels by Grace. We sipped champagne and talked about things that had to be deleted from the audio of the videos I was taking (due to severe inappropriateness) and I piled on as many of her earrings as I physically could.

The stud at the top is my own, because it’s a newish piercing and I can’t take it out yet. I think this is its blog debut, actually. Surprise!

Here’s another killer piece from Jewels by Grace: an antique diamond ring with an emerald halo.

This ring…it speaks to me. It sings to me. I look forward to dreaming about it.

The biggest improvement between the September Metal and Smith event and the January Metal and Smith is one you won’t be able to see from this blog post: the January event had more space. The previously one-room #notatradeshow expanded into a second space for January, making it even easier for buyers, stylists, editors, and other guests of the show to work their way between the fascinating array of designers’ display tables.

I, personally, enjoyed having ample room in which to swan around with borrowed jewels, endlessly seeking the best pockets of lighting in front of neutral walls.

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