Archive for April 17th, 2006
Designer’s live jewelry a curiosity
By DEBBIE HUMMEL - Associated Press Writer - 04/16/06
Helena Independent Record
SALT LAKE CITY — Designing for his first fashion show, Jared Gold understood that a unique piece of jewelry could draw a lot of attention to both his work and the wearer.
His eye-catching creations are alive. And they’re cockroaches — 3-inch-long Madagascar hissing cockroaches bejeweled with Swarovski crystals and attached by a chain to a pin.
The ‘‘roach brooches’’ are free to crawl around on a blouse or jacket, attached to a limiting lead. They hiss when upset and, unless the wearer is careful about the roach’s feeding schedule, they can soil your couture clothing.
A curiosity for sure, but when Gold revived the idea this year for his Salt Lake City boutique even he was a little surprised by the result. He can’t keep them in stock.
‘‘Oh, there they are,’’ exclaimed Linda Sanders, who teaches fourth graders at Lehi Elementary School, as she gently picked up a roach. Sanders had made the nearly hour-long drive from her home in Orem to see the brooches at Gold’s Salt Lake City store.
‘‘I love all animals,’’ Sanders said, as a roach climbed all over her denim jacket. ‘‘The teachers would hate me.’’
But within 10 minutes, Sanders was signing a receipt for the purchase of her roach, attached to a chain and pinned to her lapel.
‘‘The kids will love it,’’ said Sanders, who has a tarantula and two chinchillas in her classroom.
On a busy Friday evening, many of those visiting the Black Chandelier clothing store were there to see the roaches.
LeAnn Kay, of Salt Lake City, saw a story about the brooches on television and came to see them for herself. Gold and his cockroaches also were recently featured on an episode of the reality show ‘‘America’s Next Top Model’’ on the UPN network.
‘‘Initially I was taken aback, and I was appalled. The more I looked at it, the more interesting the idea became. You know, art for art’s sake. It’s a very intriguing idea,’’ Kay said.
Taking the mundane or grotesque and making it pretty or taking something pretty and making it slightly disturbing, is what Gold says interests him as a designer.
It takes about an hour to decorate a cockroach. Gold’s head seamstress, Aja Davis, is the design studio’s ‘‘roach wrangler.’’
‘‘We have our secret way that we prep them. They excrete this wax that no adhesives will stick to,’’ Gold said. ‘‘After months of trial and error, we finally figured out how to get jewels to stick to them.’’
The jewels and clasp are attached to the roach’s hood, or carapace, a hard shell that covers its head. Gold says they are all very gentle with the roaches, and he doesn’t even like to make them hiss.
The roaches’ hissing is a defense mechanism, a noise they make when they feel threatened. Touched or pushed along unexpectedly, they sound like snakes.
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals finds the roach brooches an inappropriate form of human decoration.
‘‘It gives a new, sad meaning to the term ‘fashion victim,’ ’’ said PETA spokesman Michael McGraw. ‘‘Roaches will inherit the Earth, and if it’s between the desperate people who wear them and the roaches, our money’s on the roaches.’’
‘‘These roaches may not be as cute and cuddly as puppies, but they have the same ability to feel pain and suffer,’’ he said.
Gold says he hasn’t heard any complaints from animal rights activists. The roaches are treated well and sold more as a pet than jewelry, he said.
‘‘They’re your friend, and they’re a pet,’’ Gold said. ‘‘And they’re also really beautiful and fascinating.’’
Gold only uses male roaches — females bite — which he gets from a Los Angeles breeder.
The roaches are fairly hardy and can live up to four days without food or water, Gold said. He recommends giving them a nice dark place to live when they’re not being worn. They eat fresh fruit, bananas are a favorite, and they drink water from a saturated paper towel or cotton ball. The most common cause of death is dehydration, Gold said.
If well cared for, the roaches can live for up to a year. However, they do molt, and it’s possible you could end up with a plain old hissing cockroach after it’s shed its shell.
Gold recommends against feeding the roach a day before wearing it — to avoid any unwanted excretions.
The roaches sell for about $40 in the Salt Lake City store or $80 on the Internet, including overnight shipping, for other parts of the United States. Gold doesn’t ship them overseas.
A native of Idaho Falls, Idaho, Gold traces his interest in design to a fascination with pop artist Andy Warhol in high school. He started by making patterns for clothing from thrift store fabric. After moving to Utah in 1994, he made party dresses for ‘‘proms and drag queens’’ in a makeshift basement studio.
Gold moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to attend Otis College of Art and Design on a scholarship. He had his first full collection in 1998. After years in Los Angeles and New York, Gold returned to Utah in the intermountain West, where he says he feels more inspired, calm and relaxed.
‘‘To try and insulate yourself from other design is very smart, and Utah really helped me do that,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s better for me personally. It’s definitely not as easy for the business to operate here.’’
Gold’s work is heavily influenced by Victorian designs so it’s not surprising that he came up with the idea of a roach as decoration. In the late 19th century bejeweled, taxidermied beetles were worn as brooches and women’s hats might have displayed a stuffed hummingbird on the brim.
Gold wants his stores to be styled as ‘‘curated centers for design.’’
‘‘It’s a little utopian, but it’s the idea of being able to provide these things for people that makes you feel creative that makes you want to be creative with other people,’’ he said.
‘‘(The roaches) fit because everything we make has this concept of being special and kind of different. And obviously people are buying them, which I shouldn’t say surprises me, but it kind of does sometimes.’’
On the Net:
Jared Gold Designs: http://www.blackchandelier.biz
April 17th, 2006
USA : Ross-Simons teams up with Lauren Koslow
April 15, 2006/Fibre2fashion.com, India
Leading luxury fashion brand and retailer of fine jewelry Ross-Simons is teaming up again with Lauren Koslow, the gorgeous and accomplished actress who plays Kate Roberts on Days of our Lives in a series of on-demand web videos.
Although Ms Koslow’s fans know her as the stunning Kate Roberts in Days of our Lives, she really is a ‘designing woman.’ Her interest in design and jewelry began when she was a theater art major at Virginia State University, where she doubled as an actor and a costume designer.
After college, she won a design award at the prestigious Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival in Washington, DC. Her roots are in New England, having been born in Boston and raised in the area, not far from Ross-Simons’ headquarters in Cranston, Rhode Island.
She said, “For many years, I’ve been a great admirer of Ross-Simons. In fact, I’ve bought some of my favorite pieces of jewelry through the catalog and the Web site.”
She continued, “I’m delighted to have an opportunity to share my passion for beautiful design and great value, especially in advance of Mother’s Day, with both my fans and with Ross-Simons’ customers.”
Ross-Simons is a leading luxury fashion brand and specialty retailer of fine jewelry, tabletop, gifts, collectibles and other home decorative merchandise. Founded in 1952, the company mails over 60 million catalogs annually and provides online shopping. In addition, it operates a total of fifteen stores in nine states.
Ross-Simons
April 17th, 2006
Friedman’s gets a fresh start
Washington Business Journal, DC
Big jewelry retailer relocating to Addison after emerging from bankruptcy
After more than 85 years in Savannah, Ga., Friedman’s Inc., the nation’s third-largest specialty jewelry retailer, is moving its corporate headquarters to Addison.
The company, which recently emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has signed a 10-year lease for 85,000 square feet at Addison II, a two-story, 180,000-square-foot building near the Dallas North Tollway and Addison Road.
About 100 employees will relocate to North Texas in June. Friedman’s plans to hire another 200 people in the immediate future.
Dallas real estate brokers and brothers Al Leon and Art Leon, along with Al’s son Trip Leon, represented the jeweler in the deal.
“These aren’t clerk jobs, but high-paying jobs,” Al Leon said. “Many of them will have salaries of $100,000 to $200,000 annually.”
Friedman’s, which caters mainly to younger, low- and middle-income buyers of diamonds and gold, has 450 stores in 20 Southeastern, Southwestern and Midwestern states. It has 38 locations in Texas, including seven in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Its first store opened in Savannah in 1920.
“Savannah is a nice place to retire to, but it’s not a major destination point if you have to travel on business a lot,” Al Leon said. “Friedman’s was having a hard timing keeping people and recruiting people.”
That wasn’t the company’s only problem, though.
The relocation to North Texas will give Friedman’s a fresh start after emerging from bankruptcy in December 2005.
Last year also saw the company hit with fraud allegations, executive turnover, earnings restatements and multiple lawsuits.
April 17th, 2006
Put jewelry where your mouth is
Wilmington Morning Star, NC
By Sam Scott
Staff Writer
sam.scott@starnewsonline.com
DaRon Baldwin, a.k.a KYD, could already turn heads with his mouth. The junior at New Hanover High School is a member of Young But Grindin’, a local rap group that has performed all over downtown.
But he has another lure now: a molded white gold mouthpiece that gives him the glinting grin that is much revered in today’s hip-hop fashion.
“Everybody keeps complimenting me on it,†said Baldwin, who limits wearing the jewelry to performances and other special occasions.
Metal and bejeweled “grills†have been around for years. But hyped by rappers like Nelly and Paul Wall, the snap-on jewelry has been a surging trend around the country – and by trickles in the Wilmington area.
“Everybody is asking about them, especially after that song from Nelly,†said Shan Ali, manager of Jasmine Diamonds in Westfield Independence mall, which has a catalog of designs on its counter. Prices begin at $150.
“There’s no end to it,†he said. “The more you want, the more we can do to it.â€
The trend has been limited in Wilmington by difficulty in ordering. Customers have to go to a dentist first to pay for a mold of their teeth, in line with legal requirements, Ali said. Molds can cost $50 to $150.
In bigger cities, some jewelers take the mold themselves, sometimes ignoring rules in certain states that consider taking an impression of someone’s mouth to be unlicensed dentistry. Baldwin got his in Atlanta where the jeweler took the mold and made the jewelry.
Real dentists don’t always smile on the fashion, saying grills risk trapping bacteria, causing gum disease as well as scratching teeth. Matthew Messina, a dentist and spokesman for the American Dental Association, cautioned about reactions to cheap metal and jewelry cleaners, which can burn gums.
“Anytime you put anything on your teeth that are going to slide on and off you have the potential for a multitude of different problems,†said Mark Janosky, a dentist
with the New Hanover Community Health Center.
Brandon Hickman, a local radio disc jockey and Murray Middle School teacher, said the roots of grills go as deep as grandmothers with gold crowns. Flavor Flav, of rap legend Public Enemy, made them big in the 1980s, he said.
This go-round has been fueled by the added ease of ordering on the Internet, Hickman said. The trend probably hit its peak earlier in the year, but any time it seems to be fading, he sees someone new wearing one, he said.
“A lot of cats wear grills,†he said.
This report contains material from the Associated Press.
 
April 17th, 2006
Zilker to lead jewelry workshop
Bozeman Daily Chronicle
The Bear Canyon School of Art and Craft in Bozeman is hosting a spring workshop with Sandra Zilker.
“Jewelry/Metals Color Buffet” is a two-day hands-on workshop that will offer a variety of color-involved techniques. Some apply color to metal and other surfaces. Others are colorful materials that combine well with metal. These accessible processes do not require complicated equipment, but offer endless variations and combinations. Samples, slides and demonstrations will be presented and participants will try all the techniques.
The workshop will cover cutting, joining, shaping, heat forming, and finishing techniques. Participants will work with markers, paper mache, polymer clay, photo image transfer, mosaics and more.
Zilker is head of the metals program at the Glassell School, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and is an affiliate artist at the University of Houston. She currently serves on the board of directors for the Society of North American Goldsmiths and is a member of the editorial advisory committee for Metalsmith Magazine.
The workshop will be May 13-14. Fee is $295 plus a $15 fee for materials.
For information contact Ken Bova at 587-5062 or Diana Arnold, 586-8770.
April 17th, 2006
Living Large in Ancient Egypt
BellaOnline
“In Egypt, gold is the dust on the highroads.†Asian king
Among the world’s most ardent collectors of jewelry were the ancient Egyptians. Beauty was taken very seriously in ancient Egypt. Lavish personal adornment was the rule of the day, and everyone in Egypt wore some type of jewelry. Jewelry was a symbol of wealth, a dramatic statement about one’s social status, or religious beliefs. Not unlike today, people loved to show off their jewels.
Jewels had magic, the charm of beauty and the charm against evil. In addition to its esthetics, jewelry, especially rings and amulets, fulfilled the role of repelling evil spirits and injury. So treasured and revered in the society was jewelry, and strong the belief in its powers, that it remained with the owner throughout antiquity, the tombs of nobility laden with some of the world’s most precious gems. A mummy, especially, needs protection. One such magnificent piece is a 4-1/2 pound headdress resplendent in cascades of golden rosettes and precious stones that was found in pieces by tomb robbers at Qurna in 1916. This stunning impeccably detailed headdress has the look of liquid gold flowing over the banks of the River Nile and is an enduring reminder of ancient opulence - a tribute to the jewelry artists of the day.
With the New Kingdom came new styles, new riches. Both men and women of wealth wore pierced earrings made of gold, silver, or electrum (gold mixed with silver), embellished with rosettes and stars through the process of granulation, a meticulous technique which uses solder to fix tiny grains of gold to a gold surface. Egyptian beads, unmatched in number and variety by any other ancient society, still hold a timeless allure for jewelry collectors. Under the cloudless Egyptian sky the people went about their daily tasks or leisure, the gold of their broad jewel-encrusted bracelets and armlets dazzling in the hot sun. Armlets, anklets, bracelets, necklaces, broad collars, pendants, and hair decorations were inlaid with blue-green turquoise, red carnelian (a copper or reddish-orange stone), deep-blue lapis lazuli, and feldspar. Poor people adorned themselves with jewelry that was made of copper or faience (made by heating powdered quartz). Everyone shone bright - their passion for jewelry and their confidence in adorning themselves - palpable throughout the whole society, regardless of social status!
To be magically transported to a dusty ancient Egyptian street to walk amidst the throngs of bejeweled citizens would be intoxicating. Purely for their deep appreciation of beauty, the Egyptians take the prize. It’s not surprising that the ancient Egyptians also loved children, animals, art, gardens, nature, music, fine food and wine, and everything else we may desire or need to enrich our lives, to live abundantly, and to feel joyful. Yes, the ancient Egyptians liked ‘living large’ – and jewelry played a key role, just as it does in our society today.
April 17th, 2006
