Archive for March 20th, 2006
Vintage costume jewelry: Timeless bright, bold fashion statements
Belleville News-Democrat
By Marta Salij
Detroit Free Press
Can a woman ever have too many fabulous jewels?
This is a question we put to Carole Tanenbaum, collector extraordinaire of antique and vintage costume jewelry.
Too many? Consider: She has more than 3,500 pieces in her personal collection and more than 8,000 in her retail Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection. (Ogle them at www.truefaux.com.)
Fabulous? Oh, yes. She has a particular love for bold, colorful jewelry from the 1950s, the sort of statement-making pieces that take a strong personality to carry off.
Which Tanenbaum cheerfully agrees she has. “I love the ‘wow’ factor of ’50s jewelry,” she says by phone from her home in Toronto. “Like my personality is kind of bigger than life, so is my jewelry. I’m a very small person — I’m 5 feet — but I wouldn’t think twice about wearing three pins at one time or multiple necklaces.
“I love the rhinestones, I love the color that was used and I love the scale of the ’50s.”
Now, Tanenbaum is sharing her love of jewelry from all eras in a book, “Fabulous Fakes: A Passion for Vintage Costume Jewelry,” and a bookstore tour.
“It’s a passion that I’ve had for more than 20 years,” she says. ” I’ve worked very hard at trying to find the special pieces … really art pieces, objects of art rather than jewelry, in many cases.”
“Fabulous Fakes” offers hundreds of mouth-watering, full-color photos of jewelry from the late Victorian period through today, bracketed by Tanenbaum’s stories of how history and personalities became reflected in jewelry.
Queen Victoria, for one.
“Really, all of the Victorian era was influenced … all of the jewelry that was made was influenced by what Queen Victoria did,” she says.
Take the jet mourning jewelry that came into vogue then or the jewelry woven from the hair of a loved one, which seems a little morbid to modern eyes. We have Victoria’s protracted mourning of Prince Albert to thank for that, Tanenbaum says. Victoria’s influence continues today, she says, “like when you have a baby and you cut off the baby’s first locks and keep them,” she says.
The photos and histories in ” Fabulous Fakes” are fun, but many readers will want to know how to start a collection themselves.
Tanenbaum herself buys with an eye to condition first, and that’s her advice for new collectors. Look for pieces in excellent, original condition and pass by pieces that have been remade or renovated.
“If I needed a piece to fill in a certain area in my collection, and the condition is not great, I would buy it until I found another one to substitute it out when I find one in great condition,” she says.
Another question: What’s the difference between costume and fine jewelry?
Today, she says, the line is well-drawn: Fine jewelry has precious stones and is set in gold or platinum. Most everything else is costume.
But in earlier eras, some semi precious stones figured in what would today be collected as fine antique jewelry.
Other pieces, such as the Scottish plaid pins she shows in her book, are carved from agate, malachite, bloodstone and even granite — no sparkly gemstones at all. Nonetheless, they are highly collectible.
As for eBay and Web sites such as www.rubylane.com and www.trocadero, among many others, Tanenbaum thinks they’re a boon to collectors — if buyers approach them with proper care.
“When they go to an antique show, or when they go to the store, they can see eye-to-eye the person who is selling it to them,” she says. “They can examine the piece, they can ask questions about the piece, etc. Online, you know, it’s ‘buyer beware.’”
March 20th, 2006
Book is guide to costume jewelry
By Marta Salij
Detroit Free Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.18.2006
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Can a woman ever have too many fabulous jewels? This is a question we put to Carole Tanenbaum, collector extraordinaire of antique and vintage costume jewelry.
Too many? Consider: She has more than 3,500 pieces in her personal collection and more than 8,000 in her retail Carole Tanenbaum Vintage Collection. (Ogle them at www.truefaux.com)
Fabulous? Oh, yes. She has a particular love for bold, colorful jewelry from the 1950s, the sort of statement-making pieces that take a strong personality to carry off.
Which Tanenbaum cheerfully agrees she has.
“I love the ‘wow’ factor of ’50s jewelry,” she said by phone from her home in Toronto. “Like my personality is kind of bigger than life, so is my jewelry. I’m a very small person — I’m 5 feet — but I wouldn’t think twice about wearing three pins at one time or multiple necklaces.”
Now, Tanenbaum is sharing her love of jewelry from all eras in a book, “Fabulous Fakes: A Passion for Vintage Costume Jewelry” (Artisan, $35) and a bookstore tour.
“Fabulous Fakes” offers hundreds of mouth-watering, full-color photos of jewelry from the late Victorian period through today, bracketed by Tanenbaum’s stories of how history and personalities became reflected in jewelry.
One surprise in her research was to discover the extent of the feud between Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiaparelli in the first half of the 20th century. You know Chanel: the creator of slim, simple suits that begged for multiple costume jewels to adorn them.
As for “Schiap,” as she was called, she’s the designer who coined “shocking pink” as a name for her favorite color. She also dreamed up new ways for women to dress and adorn themselves with costume jewelry, but there the resemblance ends, Tanenbaum says.
Chanel’s designs were classic and elegant, she writes. Schiap’s were influenced by surrealism and were bolder and more daring, with unusual colors of crystals often used in pear and octagonal shapes in the same piece. Those are much-sought by collectors today, Tanenbaum says.
The photos and histories in “Fabulous Fakes” are fun, but many readers will want to know how to start a collection themselves.
Tanenbaum buys with an eye to condition first, and that’s her advice for new collectors. Look for pieces in excellent, original condition and pass by pieces that have been remade or renovated.
Another question: What’s the difference between costume and fine jewelry?
Today, she says, the line is well-drawn: Fine jewelry has precious stones and is set in gold or platinum. Most everything else is costume.
But in earlier eras, some semiprecious stones figured in what would today be collected as fine antique jewelry.
Other pieces, such as the Scottish plaid pins she shows in her book, are carved from agate, malachite, bloodstone and even granite — no sparkly gemstones at all. Nonetheless, they are highly collectible.
As for eBay and Web sites such as www.rubylane.com, Tanenbaum thinks they’re a boon to collectors — if buyers approach them with proper care.
To protect yourself, don’t even bid unless you have an assurance from sellers that they’ll take the piece back, should you discover it’s not what was advertised.
Tanenbaum has bought many pieces in her existing collection from online sellers, but she avoids the types of jewelry that counterfeiters seem to target — for instance, the much-collected midcentury jewelry of Miriam Haskell.
“I would never buy a Haskell on the Internet,” she says. “Eighty percent of those Haskells on the Internet are embellished ‘Haskells.’ ”
In January, Katie Hafner of the New York Times published a story about the growing discontent among jewelry collectors over fakes on eBay, such as fake Weiss Company brooches.
“That’s very discouraging because generally, when something is reproduced, it’s a high-end item, and people can get a lot of money for it,” Tanenbaum says. “But Weiss jewelry is generally not that expensive. The Weiss butterflies, the authentic Weiss butterflies, are not expensive. So it’s curious to me that anyone would reproduce them, when you can get the real thing for anywhere from $45 to $75.”
If you’re looking for an area to collect that hasn’t been picked over, Tanenbaum suggests you look at Bakelite dress clips — not the much-collected (and faked) Bakelite bangles.
Or consider wooden figural jewelry from between the world wars that was handmade, not mass-produced.
“It just hasn’t caught on yet,” she says. “I love the pieces, and I think that one day they’ll be popular.”
And if you have the money, buy present-day jewelry created for couture collections, such as Giorgio Armani or Miuccia Prada pieces. The jewelry is made in small quantities to create a fashion statement, so it’s often very original.
“Though it’s expensive today,” she says, “it’ll be the Mona Lisas of tomorrow.”
March 20th, 2006
ART A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR ORCHID GALLERY OWNER
Curry Coastal Pilot
Published: March 18, 2006
By Marjorie Woodfin
Pilot staff writer
Charles Lai, owner of the newly opened Orchid Gallery in Brookings, is a young man who makes up his mind in a hurry and doesn’t look back.
Lai stopped in Gold Beach a few months ago while looking for a place to open an art gallery. He was unable to find a suitable location in Gold Beach and decided to head back down to his home in the San Francisco Bay area
As he drove through Brookings, he happened to park on the highway in front of the building at 610 Chetco Ave. When he exited his vehicle he noticed a For Rent sign in the window, called the rental agent, explored the area and took a closer look at the store front, signed a lease, and headed home to pack up and move north.
“I rented it in about one-half hour,” Lai said.
Originally from Taiwan, Lai came to visit the United States in 1992, looked around and decided to stay to earn a masters degree in industrial engineering at LaMar University in Beaumont, Texas.
After earning the degree, Lai worked for the Motorola Co. for nine years in the San Francisco Bay area until the company decided to move that unit to China to reduce costs.
When faced with the move, “I elected to be laid off,” Lai said. “I had been in industrial management for nine years, and I was ready for a change. I had a high income and a good life, but it was not what I really like.”
Lai explained, “I was born into a family of artists, painters, poets and performing artists,” He laughed and reminisced, “When I was only 18 months old, my sister offered me to play the part of baby Jesus in a nativity play.”
Lai then decided this was his opportunity to change his life style and do something he really wanted to do. He said he has the support of his family, especially his sister and his niece.
Other members of his family have come to the U.S. to study, including his brother and niece, who both attended classes at Purdue University. His brother is now teaching at a university in Taiwan. His niece, who was studying design, cut her education short to return to Taiwan to marry and raise a family, but she also continues to design the jewelry Lai features in his gallery.
Most of the paintings, scrolls, jewelry, pottery, and poetry featured in Orchid Gallery are the works of family and friends in Taiwan. “My sister collects things for me on consignment,” Lai said
“I come from a creative family,” Lai explained. He said that although his father was in the military, all members of the family are creative in one art or another. His sister is currently teaching art classes for the army because the Taiwanese military wants its members to be well rounded in all areas of their lives.
Lai believes it was fate that brought him to Brookings. He said had decided that he wanted to explore Oregon because it is a beautiful state. A friend told him Salem was a lovely city. He headed up I-5, stopped at a Chinese restaurant in Roseburg where the proprietor, also from Taiwan, told him that he should check out Gold Beach, and that put him on the path to Brookings.
“Is this some kind of fate or something?” Lai asked. He added, “When I want to do something, I say to myself, ‘why not.’ So I do it. When I think about something, I go for it, so there won’t be any lost opportunities. If it’s wrong, I can recover. At least I will have no regrets about why I didn’t try something. If I try and fail, so what?”
Lai is excited about getting acquainted with Brookings residents and visitors. “This location is where I want to live and have my life here. I don’t want to get rich. I just like to communicate with people, not computers. I want a life with relationships.”
The Orchid Gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. However, since Lai operates the gallery alone, there may be times when it will be closed temporarily if he has business outside the shop.
Lai’s invitation is open for everyone to come into the gallery, to browse, enjoy the Chinese art, and to get acquainted with the owner.
March 20th, 2006
Tippecanoe Arts Federation to debut jewelry exhibit by Kirstin Eismin
Lafayette Journal and Courier
By Tim Brouk
tbrouk@journalandcourier.com
Kirstin Eismin wants her art to look good and feel good.
A jewelry artist from West Lafayette, Eismin goes to great lengths to make sure her necklaces, rings, cuffs and earrings are pleasing to the eye and skin.
“I have reservations putting these under glass. They are meant to be felt,” Eismin said. “I’d tell people these need to be touched. … If a piece is not appealing to the touch, I just let it sit.”
Currently an American studies graduate student at Purdue University, Eismin has been creating jewelry for only a little more than two years.
Her first solo exhibition, “Independent Beauty,” opens Friday and will continue through April 23 at Tippecanoe Arts Federation, 638 North St. An opening reception will be from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at TAF.
While aided by her artistic eye after excelling in art classes at Harrison High School and some classes during her undergraduate studies at Purdue, Eismin found that one necklace would take her weeks to finish at the beginning of her art career.
“I kept adding stuff to it. I told myself ‘You have to stop. No more will fit!’ ” Eismin said.
Eismin said her work is “fashion jewelry” not “fine jewelry.” She doesn’t have a soldering gun to set fine jewelry. She prefers using sterling silver wire and working with millions of beads in her home studio.
For Essence of Ocean & Earth, the necklace and bracelet set contains more than 1,000 beads, gems, silver leaves and real shells she picked up in Florida.
Eismin said she works from sketches. Sometimes she meticulously maps out where each tiny bead would go on a necklace. Other times, she goes with the flow and changes her pieces at will. This sometimes results in having to start some works over.
“I get pretty frustrated,” Eismin said. “I have some duds sitting in the back that didn’t make it. I couldn’t give them any more energy.”
Eismin prefers to use natural items in her jewelry. Several of her 15 sets that will appear in her show contain imported pieces of coral. The pieces are bright in color and have interesting shapes to provide weight and depth.
When making jewelry, Eismin only uses small jeweler’s pliers. She goes through yards of wire to hold her pieces together. The lattice work of the wire almost outshines her choice in beads and gems in some of the works. The silver eye pins, end caps and pearl clasps are necessary items in a necklace, but Eismin finds a way to make them become part of the jewelry’s aesthetic.
Cleopatra is a standout for Eismin. The fashionable cuff and necklace set contains a countless number of tiny, purple beads.
“It was just wrap, add beads, wrap … ,” said Eismin, whose favorite color is purple.
The Cleopatra necklace is form-fitting jewelry as it wraps around the neck and shoulders. It is the only one of its kind in Eismin’s portfolio.
“Independent Beauty” is a rare, all-jewelry exhibit at TAF. Eismin will feature most of her work on pedestals.
To fill those blank, white gallery walls, Eismin will hang pictures of influential women in her life. She believes the friends, family and colleagues are the real art, and the jewelry only accents them.
“Every woman is a new canvas for each piece,” Eismin said. “This is about the women wearing the jewelry, not the jewelry itself.”
March 20th, 2006
