Deadlines, a brief trip to Boston and events have been keeping me away from this blog of late, but I’m not complaining. Better to be busy these days then to find yourself with nothing to do. In any case, here...
Deadlines, a brief trip to Boston and events have been keeping me away from this blog of late, but I’m not complaining. Better to be busy these days then to find yourself with nothing to do.
In any case, here are a couple of highlights from the past few weeks:
—Last week, I made my first-ever trip to the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) here in Manhattan for the premiere of a documentary on Swiss goldsmith and jewelry designer Lucie Heskett-Brem, who is known as “the gold weaver” for the unique way she has with the metal.
The World Gold Council and New York’s jewelry-focused art gallery Aaron Faber organized this exclusive screening, marking the addition of one of Heskett-Brem’s signature spider-web designs to the museum’s collection.
The 40-minute film, simply called The Gold Weaver—Lucie Heskett-Brem, gave viewers insight into the artist’s personal and professional life.
When Heskett-Brem first started out, she really didn’t know exactly what she wanted to do with her life, a dilemma that I’m sure sounds familiar to many. The film shows that before she found her calling, she tried a veritable cornucopia of careers, including working as a typist at a newspaper where she took dictation over the phone from the international correspondent and attempted to bang out his stories on deadline.
Newspaper work wasn’t a fit for Heskett-Brem and neither were the next few jobs she tried.
She finally found her calling—jewelry design—at an evening workshop.
London jeweler Bentley and Skinner was the first to pick up her pieces, and Heskett-Brem’s career took off from there.
The movie gives an amazing glimpse into the life of a truly talented and unique individual who comes from an equally amazing family of artists.
You can view The Gold Weaver in its entirety and learn more about Heskett-Brem here.
—On Wednesday, I headed downtown to Greenwich Jewelers to finally meet face-to-face with a family of New York retailers with whom I’ve had an over-the-phone relationship for two years.
What I found out there (among other things, some of which will be included in an online article I’m working on) is that just this month, founders Carl and Milly Gandia officially handed the business over to their daughters Jennifer Gandia and Christina Gandia Gambale, who have been working alongside their parents for years.
are filled with great-looking, fashion-forward jewelry—pieces by Melissa Joy Manning (her bracelet is pictured to the left) and Jamie Joseph were among my favorites (Hi, Rob)—in price points that are applicable to these times.
I could easily see my friends and I spending a Saturday afternoon in Greenwich Jewelers picking out a few baubles,and having a great time doing it.
Now, how many jewelry stores do you think have women in their 20s and 30s saying that?
In addition to viewing The Gold Weaver and carving time out of my schedule to head downtown to Greenwich Jewelers, I’ve also been bombarded with event invitations as of late, as I mentioned earlier.
There were two last week, three this week and I’m sure there are a few more late-October invites floating around in my in-box that I haven’t even had the chance to put on the calendar.
I can’t go to all of them, nor are all of them blog-worthy, but I choose to look at events as a positive sign the economy is picking up or, at the very least, that people are more optimistic than they have been in a long time.
Michelle Graffis the editor-in-chief at National Jeweler, directing the publication’s coverage both online and in print.
