But probably not in the US if the results of Tiffany’s second quarter five percent rise in profits are to be believed.  As reported in an online story by National Jeweler’s Aug 27 edition, “Tiffany’s Q2 same-store sales rise 5 percent”, Tiffany’s CEO Michael Kowalski “credited the company’s second-quarter results to its increased presence in markets outside the United States.”  The company is looking forward to continued growth in the second half of the year as they launch “an exciting range of new products, including an extraordinary collection of jewelry with yellow diamonds and an enticing new collection of handbags and leather accessories, among many others”.

Then, in another story on Aug 26, from the online WSJ Small Business story, “Entrepreneurs See Rise in Demand for Made-to-Order Goods”, there is evidence of an increase in consumer and entrepreneurial interest in customized goods.  Jeremy Gutsche, founder of TrendHunter.com, an online magazine that focuses on emerging trends, feels that the economy may be a factor.  “While such items may cost more than their mass-produced counterparts, they’re still generally less expensive than luxury goods; cash-strapped consumers may be seeking feel-good alternatives to items they can no longer afford.”  Obviously and unknowingly, Gutsche is referring to Tiffany’s and the upcoming products they’re launching.

So, who will you shop with, during the second quarter?  Tiffany or M. STURMAN?

M. Sturman has plenty of “feel-good alternatives” to Tiffany merchandise at various price points and in much more unusual materials.  Some will even be on sale at 50% discount!  Beginning on August 26 and continuing through September 6, shop our End of Summer Sale on items from $100 for a pair of Swarovski crystal circle earrings ($50 during sale!) to $1250 for a smashing 28 inch necklace of crocheted natural freshwater pearl segments alternating with amazing cultured natural white keshi fish-bone shapes (you do the math!). You won’t see this on Fifth Avenue on Tiffany’s or any other brick and mortar retailer!  Just online at MSturman.com.  Log on and window shop – entrepreneur!

So goes the article from National Jeweler’s roundup of the important September fashion magazine issues,  “September issues reveal fall jewelry ‘dos’”.

The artcle cites “The short list: long, swinging pendant necklaces, silver cuffs and bangles, gold link designs, shoulder-grazing earrings, sophisticated cluster studs and gemmy cocktail rings” and “a wide diversity of jewelry styles” which doesn’t include bib styles, unfortunately.  These have been relegated to the back of the jewelry box, but I say that small stylish ones like my Jet Bib woven of Crystal Elements and sporting vintage embellishment will never go out of style for holiday parties.

I’d say that the Diorissimo necklace — vintage Swarovski stones hanging from a handwoven chain — qualifies and dignifies the long pendant specified above.

Then there are ‘ladylike pearls and opulent sautoir styles”.  Well, we have a multitude of ladylike styles with eye popping but subtle details, like the Rosebud and Topaz strand.  The opulent sautoir style is graced by our 96″ of knotted, tied and graduated size pearl rope.

And, one can’t go wrong with a stack of bangles made of Crystal Elements and, while it’s not a large silver cuff, nothing could be larger and more eye-catching than a large cuff of Crystal Elements.

What jewelry will set you aflutter this fall?

No! not Gainsborough’s.

Gucci’s.

Times have changed, as amply pointed out by the front page article in this morning’s New York Times Style section, “The Ornamental Male” (by Guy Trebay).   Ornamental indeed!

However, before I saw the boy I saw the blue item at his neck and wondered if it were a beadcrocheted necklace – it looked almost like one of mine at first  http://www.msturman.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=4&products_id=147&zenid=2e2b2e89c8235a88763c0082269de071 . Then I took in the whole image! Wow! this beautiful creature was a guy with a blue bandana knotted at his neck! The whole outfit is blue and the guy is too gorgeous.

I turned pages to peruse the remainder of the article, looking to see if there were other neck ornamentation on these very ornamental boys. Maybe a chain or two. Hmmm. These fellas are so gorgeous they put many of us women to shame — the sculpted cheeks, the defined bone structure!

So, what about beaded jewelry for guys? Why not — especially when they’re so gorgeous?

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!

Seems impossible to avoid the Oscar drama, it’s everywhere! Over my morning coffee, I scanned the usual yearly projections of winners and long shots in the New York Times.

Back at my laptop, I saw a blog post entitled “How David Rockwell’s Oscar Set Makes Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin Funnier” by Alissa Walker, that discusses the role of the set and focuses on the Swarovski curtain, appropriately named Crystal.  ” . . . the star of the show is still the 100,000-Swarovski crystal curtain, but 16 additional inches of topaz crystals were added to add a level of smokiness that matched this year’s color scheme.”

Then I read the SheFinds blog,”Oscar Nominees, Take Note: Our No-Fail Guide To Black Tie Dresses” that reviewed some of the past mistaken choices, contrasting them with the hit choices.  Seemed to me that few of the stars wearing the dresses wore much jewelry.

So with all this in mind, I entertained the fantasy of each of the stars wearing Swarovski jewelry — mine of course! — in what would become a blinding television extravaganza.

Earrings seemed to be the thing during the award season Oscar run-ups, so my fantasy features the long-shot, long-necked Emily Blunt, perhaps wearing my Peacock Earrings, woven with vintage Swarovski Atlas stones, contemporary CRYSTALLIZED — Swarovski Elements beads and gold-plated seed beads.

I can easily picture the always-tasteful and regal Helen Mirren in my elegant Queen’s Collar, trimmed with vintage Swarovski beads.

And if filling a neckline is out this year, a large, sparkly bracelet, such as my Double-Sided Cuff, replete with CRYSTALLIZED – Swarovski Elements, would not be amiss, gleaming on the wrist of Sandra Bullock, touted as winner in the best actress category, as she accepts the Oscar.

Not Harry Winston diamonds, but I think these Swarovski pieces are a lot more captivating — don’t you?

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?

The new decade has begun, as have new resolutions, new diets and exercise programs.  But most of all, the beginning of each new year brings the awards season.  I checked the list of nominees for the Golden Globe, SAG, and Critics Choice awards, forming a fantasy wish list involving which of the nominees should wear my jewelry on the red carpets — especially the Oscars!

My hands down favorite actresses, Meryl Streep and Helen Mirren, are each not classically, celebrity-popular, drop-dead gorgeous.  As excellent actresses they have in common the talent, intelligence and craft to become whichever role they play — from gorgeous to school-marmish to hariden.

It would be such an honor, for instance, to have Ms. Streep wear my classic bib-style necklace of jet CRYSTALLIZEDtm — Swarovski Elements appliqued with vintage margarita crystals.

Having played a queen, Helen Mirren would look classic and elegant wearing a woven collar — the Queen’s Collar, again CRYSTALLIZED — Swarovski Elements, woven with vintage emerald cut stones.

One of the most popular actresses in the market is Sandra Bullock, who, like Meryl Streep, this year is nominated for two of her films. Here is a lovely, talented actress and savvy business woman we all can admire, who would look perfect on the red carpets wearing Diorissimo, very old Swarovski stones set off by 24-k gold plated seed beads.

Julianne Moore is also a terrific actress and a real beauty — I love the red hair!  She often wears purple to set off her mane, but in my fantasies I see her in a black dress paired with my Amethyst Conchita necklace.

I was  transfixed when I saw Marion Cotillard playing Edith Piaf and then saw how lovely and dramatic she really is when she appeared to collect her Oscar for it.  I can see her at this years’ awards wearing my Evening in Rio collar.

Carey Mulligan was charming in “An Education” and I can see her waif-like face set off by a pair of bold, dramatic earrings, such as my  vintage blown glass and gold-plated beads earrings .

Gabourey Sidibe is a big young woman and would look fabulous in many of my necklaces, but I particularly would like to see her wear my “Games People Played” necklace, a big necklace crocheted of vintage gaming pieces.

Who doesn’t look great in pearls, particularly fine ones in interesting shapes?  Even Queen Victoria did!  Emily Blunt in all her elegance and drama would look fabulous with my “Chicken Feet” necklace setting off her face.  

So, how about some feedback on fantasies?  Want to add to my Wish List with suggestions of your own?

Last Sunday in the New York Times Magazine, David Colman wrote about pearls in “You Go Pearl!” http://bit.ly/8RxJhX.  Mr. Colman relates a credible, concise history of pearls in fashion beginning with Seneca.  These pearls were natural ones that indeed were prized and precious as there were so few of them to be found.

Pearls are nacreous organic gems formed in the body of a mollusk — a mussel or an oyster.  Natural pearls are those formed without human assistance.  So, due to constant demand, the world’s main pearling grounds were depleted by over-fishing in the late 18^th century.   Experiments in forming cultured pearls, those formed as the result of human intervention in the formation process by either bead or tissue nucleation, began in the 1890s, and by 1920, Mikimoto marketed cultured pearls internationally.

There are two main kinds of pearls:  saltwater and freshwater.  Saltwater pearls are nucleated with a bead and come in three main types:  Akoya pearls from the P. fucata oysters are white, round, lustrous and come from saltwater farms in areas of Japan/China. Tahitian pearls from the P. margaritifera black-lipped oyster, are relatively large and come in lustrous colors, farmed in saltwater farms around French Polynesia/Cook Islands.   South Sea pearls from P. maxima oysters are silver,white, or yellow, and are farmed in the saltwater farms around Australia.

Freshwater pearls are cultured in mussels in freshwater farms around China and Japan and come in various sizes and colors due to the way they are made:  Tissue nucleation, the insertion of a piece of tissue into the freshwater mussel, induces it to form a cultured pearl.  However, because up to 50 tissue pieces of tissue can be implanted in one mussel during the nucleation procedure, freshwater cultured pearls are plentiful and usually come in irregular shapes.

We’ve all seen examples of both types of pearls.  Who wouldn’t want a strand of one of the amazing varieties of saltwater pearls?  They are gorgeous and perfect, and quite expensive — the more perfectly round and lustrous, the more expensive.

If you have seen my work in pearls, you’ll know that I use freshwater pearls, of all sizes and colors.  But the main point here — and the reason I have bored you with a much-condensed review of cultured pearl history/formation — is that the less perfect, the more unusual the shape or markings on pearls, the better I like it.  Take for instance my necklace of  top-drilled, circled (the markings around the pearls), and tailed pearls here.  To me, this is interesting, dynamic jewelry.

Many women throughout the years, as cited by Mr. Colman in his article, are famous for wearing perfect, knotted and tied strands of pearls.  I however do something different with my knotted and tied freshwater pearls, as in my 96″ rope of natural (undyed), graduated size, pearls here.  These can be wrapped around the neck several times or looped in many ways — to me much more interesting than a plain strand, however perfect or expensive.

I particularly love natural (undyed), lustrous freshwater pearls that come formed into interesting shapes, such as Chicken Feet but using dyed freshwater pearls makes for a dynamic necklace too.

Mr. Colman remarks of Marc Jacobs that in his spring dresses the designer festooned them with “buckets of pearls” — a dynamic idea, indeed.  Wouldn’t you rather just wear a necklace of freshwater pearls?