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 >

I’m so excited about the new work I’ve just put up on the website, particularly about the “Aquarium” necklaces.  They feature “Lodenite” stones — rocks really!

Each Lodenite stone tells a story, visually speaking, with a different shape/size and with a different colorway.   Each stone is clear and domed and so refracts its bottom rock layer into a scene.   Peering into each stone is similar to the experience of being drawn into the exploration of an aquarium.  Here’s a close-up of one such stone, but unfortunately none of these pix does justice to the mystery in each of them.  (You may view this close-up by clicking on either or both of the links listed below.)

So, I grouped five stones in each necklace, using stones to offset their colorways.

One necklace pairs dark amethyst crazy-cut amethyst beads with hammered light amethyst beads, alternating with small purple-dyed pearls and finished with a new find in closures:  agate closures in different hues, this one with some amethyst shading.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=152&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

In another necklace, responding to the coppery sort of colorways of the lodenite, I used rough-hewn red quartz stones and light peach natural tailed and circled pearls, alternating with tiny Akoya pearls and the agate closure in orangey hues.  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5&products_id=151&zenid=99cbfa9678d6b8557cdfcc24e7ce8548

I have another lodenite necklace in the works set off with natural pearls and a pearl closure.  My favorite, I think!

Do they look as exotic to you as they do to me?  By the way, they’re not heavy pieces!

As a jewelry artist, I am frequently asked what inspires me.  This question to date has always given me trouble, whether it’s from an interviewer or for an application for a competition.  The short answer is that I am very impacted by visual “events” such that inspiration is in everything I see all around me.

I go to Tucson each February to teach and to shop and am always captivated by the forms, light and colors of the mountains and deserts.  I don’t watch television very much, but my business partner, who travelled there with me, does enjoy television; I watched with her a few times and was always wowed by a number of the commercials – it’s just the way I see.

While we were weather-delayed in Arizona last week, we went to the Phoenix Art Museum to see the exhibition “Ansel Adams:  Discoveries”.  I had never seen his work before and frankly wasn’t much interested in seeing photography.  I entered the exhibit space, began looking at the photographs, and it wasn’t long before my jaw dropped in awe.  I became exhausted from the awe, from seeing what he saw:  these black and white photos showed you the colors of the subjects, whether architectural or the environment of the southwest; these black and white photos were full of texture that made you want to reach forward and touch; these black and white photos were full of line, movement and the creative expression of juxtapositions of form.  I was dizzy by the time I finished seeing this.

Ansel Adams stated that the unique character of his work was motivated by the practice of “careful seeing”.  I was so happy to know this, since it validated my own visual proclivities, although I am more profligate in my seeing, rather than careful.

Inspiration also comes to me from my visual response to the materials I choose to work with, the colors, form, and shape of pearls and stones – the more unusual the better.  I am also enamoured of vintage stones and beads – their age, uniqueness and difference from jewelry components today.  Using these materials makes my work unlike anything else on the market, such as the necklace “Tails” crocheted of tailed, circled natural lustrous top-drilled pearls and freshwater pearls; the woven necklace “Diorissimo” in which I bezeled vintage Swarovski stones; and the Conchita necklaces that focus on the most unusually formed stones.

Does seeing inspire you?

My morning Google blog alert for “CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements” pointed to a post on FTape, The Online Fashion Resource on the exhibition CRYSTALLIZED™ “Ways to Say Black” .
Being involved in the DIY initiative of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements, I had heard about the exhibition but decided to check out the details on FTape:  this is “a one-off, touring exhibition of the iconic Little Black Dress. . . .  the initiative sees this fashion classic reborn amid a shower of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements at the hands of the greatest established and emerging creative talents worldwide.”

Oh well, so they didn’t ask me but now I could understand why – the little black dresses were commissioned by established and well-known fashion designers from France, Italy, the UK and the USA.  I only design jewelry using their collection of contemporary and vintage elements.

But then I got to thinking:  these dresses are one-of-a-kind, iconic museum pieces that will ultimately be auctioned off to very high bidders.  The likes of you and I may only observe and delight in the marvelous photos of the dresses and perhaps attend one of the exhibitions – Paris, Beijing and New York City – to see them in person.  But to own one!  Not likely.

We each have our LBDs and it is possible to cash in on the cachet of the exhibit by dressing them up with jewelry handcrafted with CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements.  For instance, light up yours with my handwoven Crystal Jet Bib appliquéd with vintage Swarovski margarita beads.

For my son’s wedding last October, the bridal party all wore LBDs.  Being the mother of the groom, my dress was not little, but long, and appliquéd at the bodice with discreet little Swarovski Elements that sparkled in the light.  To accessorize it, I designed and wove a set I call “Collar and Cuffs”, a ruffled choker with matching ruffled bracelets, woven in various hues of black Swarovski Elements.  All very low-key but sparkling!

What will you wear with your LBD?

Is it me? Or is it this time of year?  Or are the stars in poor alignment?  What?  Or am I just now noticing that nothing is easy when it comes to me making my jewelry?

So, I thought I’d share the process and perhaps get some pointers or something.

For me, beginning a piece always means being excited by the material.  Usually it is something I’ve just found and bought, so I go straight to work on it.  If I don’t work with something immediately, then the chances are that I never will do, unless there is a fortuitous moment in the future when the one purchase goes perfectly with something new.  I don’t hold my breath, though.

Having overcome the dollar signs and purchased something wonderful, the process continues.  I need to assemble accompanying or complementary beads to set off the original inspiration.  Think this is easy?  Have a look at my studio:  each drawer, large and small contains hundreds of beads, pearls, semi-precious stones, vintage elements.  I often need to access other boxes lingering on shelves above my table that contain still more inventory and look through them, too.  This takes time, as I rarely find what I’m looking for immediately, and sometimes not at all, which really puts me in a pout, since I just can’t compromise on my vision.

When I find and assemble everything I need for a project, sometimes I then move on to continue this process with other new purchases, and then set those aside, too, with the others.  Often, when I return to the original, I can’t remember what I had in mind or I’m not as excited as I was originally.  No, I don’t sketch, am simply unable to translate my vision onto paper, since I never know exactly how something will turn out:  my process is always a “what if” – I do this or that.

But the real kicker is finishing a piece and not being thrilled with the outcome!  I have this unreal expectation that everything I do must be a masterpiece.  More often than not, it just isn’t – it’s just another necklace, bracelet or pair of earrings, nice but not drop dead.

In between the finding and inspiration and finishing the piece is a long process, which is supposed to be ultimately the satisfying reward of creating: working in a sort-of zen-like zone of peace and enlightenment.  Well . . .

So, as I said, nothing is really easy.  At least now for me!

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?

My sweet gift-wrapped package from Artbeads.com arrived a few days ago and I was eager to open it and set to work designing a piece. I was captivated by the beads: silver silver satin beads studded with aquamarine rhinestones, aquamarine 2mm fire-polished crystals and a three strand sterling silver slide clasp. These sterling silver satin-finish beads come studded with several different colors of stones — you can choose the stone of your birth month — that can be paired up with matching or contrasting fire-polished crystals. See them here:  http://www.artbeads.com/silver-rhinestone-beads-6mm.html and on sale, too!

Well, you never know what will come of the selection that arrives, but I was so pleased at how these bright shiny beads in this classic combo of silver and aqua looked (this is the stone for March birthdays — my two daughters-in-law each have March birthdays!) The result was a pretty little bracelet of three strands of crystals interspersed with the aqua-studded silver beads, that immediately had me planning to wear it on my trips to Florida and to Tucson this winter, and certainly all during this summer. Perhaps I’ll also make up two others for my March birthday girls!

So here it is — do you like it?

(I receive the products free of charge from Artbeads, am honestly reviewing these products, and have not been paid for my endorsement as it pertains to the products received.)

Wow!  My fabulous team of publicists at Red Branch PR have started a real buzz for M. STURMAN JEWELLERY.

Hot on the heals of the CoutureSnob.com feature on my Diorissimo necklace on November 12, http://www.couturesnob.com/2009/11/diorissimo-necklace.html, came a week of other features:

Luxist.com,  http://www.luxist.com/2009/11/29/m-sturman-jewelry-on-the-set-of-the-new-sex-and-the-city-movie/ talked up my Green Tea neckpiece, one of the pieces for SATC.

Jason of Beverly Hills picked up the Luxist.com story with a great post of its own.  www.jbhblog.com

HauteLiving.com did a feature on us, http://www.hauteliving.com/blog/new-york-blog/%E2%80%9Csex%E2%80%9D-gets-glitzy/ and another of my neckpieces, Be Mine.

Next, these features were joined by one on Eclectic Jewelry and Fashion’s blog, http://eclecticjewelryandfashion.blogspot.com/2009/11/m-sturman-jewlery-on-set-of-next-sex.html, which pictured the above neckpieces plus my 96” rope of natural, graduated white pearls and pink natural pearls http://bit.ly/5aFwaS.

These features were also picked up on various other blogs so that eventually USAToday.com mentioned me, too!  http://bit.ly/6S9dkU .

So, I’m breathless and excited, can’t wait to see what’s in store for us in the near future – magazine pick ups?  Wouldn’t that be great?

I hope you’ll join myself and three other New York City entrepreneurs at our Holiday Gift Event.  We feature an array of artist-made products for holiday gifting.  Sip wine, visit and browse:

WHAT: HOLIDAY GIFT EVENT
WHEN: Tuesday December 15, 2009
6:30-9pm
WHERE: In Good Company Workspaces (IGC)
16 West 23rd Street, 4th Floor, NYC

WHO:

RAANDESK ART GALLERY
Raandesk Gallery makes art collecting accessible and affordable by offering small-scale original artworks from its ART2Gift Collection, made up of quality art gifts on sale for $35 to $500.

M. STURMAN JEWELLERY
M. STURMAN JEWELLERY features one-of-a-kind handwoven or crocheted jewelry that incorporates the most unusual  colored stones, pearls, vintage beads and crystals.  Add style to your wardrobe with handmade jewelry.

KATIE JAMES INC

Katie James, Inc. is an independent label for feminine, funky and functional designs for accessories, websites, and collectible pieces of clothing. All accessories are independently produced in New York and Alabama. We use the finest fabrics to achieve the most unique color combinations, and give long life to all products.Good fabric always lasts, and so do our styles.

CHEEKY LIVING LLC
Cheeky Living works with artisans in South America to bring wonderful fashion and home accessories made from the finest materials…  Our product line includes baby alpaca throws, hats, gloves and scarves; leather tote bags and vintage items.

Won’t you join us for a drink and a browse?