On May 3 2010, one of TV’s sexiest mothers, Gossip Girl’s Lily van der Woodsen (Kelly Rutherford), was dripping in drama. The stylists for Gossip Girl selected our Diorissimo necklace to offset Lily’s man troubles with Serena’s (Blake Lively) father. The 24K gold necklace is stunning on brunettes, and amplified even more on blonds like Kelly Rutherford.

As a special tribute to Gossip Girl and the fashions the show promotes, we will be running a 25% fashion discount from May 3rd to May 5th. Enter LILY at checkout for 25% off your entire purchase of M. Sturman Jewellery and treat yourself to some Gossip Girl fashion. And treat your mom to some jewelry for Mothers Day. She will love anything you pick. Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery (it’s a limited edition piece) >

We can also act as personal shopper help you pick something special, so contact us for personal attention.

This necklace is made of vintage yellow stones ordered by Dior from Swarovski after WWII.  The stones are bezeled with 14k gold-plated seed beads and suspended from a chain woven of the same beads.  All of it handwoven, totally one-of-a-kind fashion and totally Lily van der Woodsen, played by Kelly Rutherford.

Shop for the Diorssimo necklace at M. Sturman Jewellery >

You should have been there — on Wednesday night, December 9, at the launch party of InnerRewards.com at Soho House!  This party and holiday shopping bazaar was complete with food, drink and DJ, to say nothing of Collective-e member vendors of holiday products for everyone on anyone’s holiday list.

But the star of the show was the founder of InnerRewards, Julie Elaine Brown, who clearly follows closely the mission of her new company:  “bringing you the latest in high-end, solution-oriented products and packages to help people lose weight, find that fountain of youth, reduce stress, and live more optimally”.

So I was really excited when Julie agreed to wear during the evening my “Peacock Earrings”  http://bit.ly/5C920U to frame her face and set off her lovely dress.  These earrings are my personal favorites, the earrings I had my ears pierced for!  I was about to put them on when Julie spotted them from across the room and asked to wear them.  These were really perfect her because of her long neck and long dark hair framing her face.  Not only is she gorgeous, but she also has great taste!

The “Peacock Earrings” feature two different vintage Swarovski stones and a vintage Swarovski filigree, bezeled with 24k gold-plated seed beads with a rainbow effect and fringed with them and some new CRYSTALLIZEDtm – Swarovski Elements crystal beads.  These old stones simply sparkle and shimmer.

Here are some candid shots of Julie wearing the earrings.  What do you think — don’t they look great on her?

I’m looking over a four-leaf quatrefoil – I mean four-leaf clover.  A quatrefoil is a symmetrical shape formed by the outline of four flowers, sometimes with less overlap and at other times with more overlap, and sometimes with the outline of a square between the lobes.  And it seems to make people happy, just like the famous jingle.

In heraldic terminology a quatrefoil is a four-leaf clover – the French “quatre” for four and the “foil” is middle English for “flower”.  It is a motif that has been used for centuries in architecture, art and design, reaching its peak during the Gothic Revival and the Renaissance.  The quatrefoil element can be seen in tracery in the windows of Gothic cathedrals and in architecture in the north and the south doors of the Baptistry in Florence.

An excellent discussion of the use of the quatrefoil motif in design – housewares, architecture, and, of course, jewelry, can be found online in the blog, Matters of Style, Crazy for Quatrefoils!  June 16, 2009:  http://www.mattersofstyleblog.com/2009/06/crazy-for-quatrefoils.html .

I researched “quatrefoil” in order to introduce to you my own necklace design using one.  When I made it, as with everything I make, I merely was puzzling out how to use four vintage Swarovski cabochons that I had bezeled with gold-plated seed beads.  I moved them around my worktable – should I attach them each to some sort of cord for a necklace?  Should I make a brooch?  Sets of earrings?  Well, I’d done all of that and wasn’t interested in doing any of it again.  I had four of these and usually in jewelry design all we use are uneven numbers . . .  what to do.  I then pushed the four cabochons in together and considered joining them into a pendant motif, which I subsequently did, added a bail and placed them on a necklace of CRYSTALLIZED^tm – Swarovski Elements crystal pearls, finishing with a closure of margarita crystals.  Then I named it “Quatrefoil Necklace” http://bit.ly/80daUb

I’m nearly too embarrassed to mention that I have a BFA as well as an MFA, with a specialty in Renaissance art and architecture.  And, I had no (conscious) idea when I made my Quatrefoil Necklace about the history of the quatrefoil element or its use, furthermore, in contemporary jewelry.  I’ve seen my daughter-in-law wearing her Alhambra necklace from Van Cleef and Arpels for years and I understand now that David Yurman has made earrings using the form.

Well, such is designing – the visual unconscious rising up.  Have you ever done anything like this?

The news is all over the place, everywhere you look:  bold statement jewelry is OF THE MOMENT– this moment!  Chunky chokers, multi-strand necklaces, intricately woven collar neckpieces are HAPPENING now.  Funny, but I’ve been doing this type of jewelry for years, so my time has come.

I am particularly excited about my “Conchita” collection.  These three styles are all of the above and I hope you’ll have a look at them.

But first, a word about the Conchitas:  These focal pieces are a form of Drusey Agate, known as Conchitas in Brazil.  The Conchita pieces are treated with the Vapor Deposition process wherein Titanium is vaporized in an electronically charged vacuum chamber and the Titanium molecules bond with the quartz crystals.  No photograph – not even the professional ones taken — is capable of picking up the sparkle and flash of colors achieved by this finish – silvery pinks, blues, greens on a background of blue/grey or amethysts, pinks, golds.

You can see what a non-treated stone looks like in my “Conchita with Three Strands”:  talk about statement jewelry – this is a big piece!  The non-treated Conchita is beautifully subtle in color and in the forms of the whorls in the Drusey Agate.  It is suspended on each side from three ropes made of graduated chunks of rough black tourmaline beads separated by beads made of hand woven silver/taupe seed pearls.

The colors in my “Conchita with Amethysts” are as boldly stunning as are the muted ones of  “Conchita with Three Strands”:  the focal piece stone here is treated, as mentioned above, and so produced the amazing colors of gold, pink, purples, that I needed to pair with the alternating chunky light and dark amethysts separated by hand woven beads of amethyst-dyed tiny seed pebble pearls.

The more subtle, but sparkling, colors of my “Conchita in Silver and Blue” is likewise treated but the stone picked up the lovely shades of silver, blues, greens and pinks that are reflected in the hand woven chains of 24k gold-plated and sterling silver seed beads, along with semi-precious stones of mystic topaz.

The inspiration for these pieces came primarily from the size, form and spectacular appearance of the focal pieces.  The remaining beads and stones were chosen to enhance the Conchitas, to reflect the flash and sparkle of the colors within them.

Are you willing to make a statement with today’s jewelry trends?

– vintage jewelry that is! I adore vintage beads and cabochons of all kinds. I seek them out wherever I am shopping for beads, anywhere from online to the Paris Flea Market, and everywhere in between. It awes me that they are old — sometimes older than I am!

My absolute favorite of all my vintage pieces is called “Games People Played“. This necklace is perfect for the big spender, with a big strong ego! It’s a large, double strand necklace formed with a bolo and fringe, completely made from vintage beads representing all types of gaming pieces — cards, chess pieces, dice, horseshoes — plus vintage Japanese plastic red beads and vintage French silver beads (from the Paris flea market!) — all crocheted by hand into a magnificent, one-of-a-kind, showstopper! The colors – white, black, red, silver — can go with anything you would want to pair with it, so while its large, it’s versatile.

Do you love vintage jewelry as much as I do?