Rock her World with our Showstopper Earrings for Mother's Day

Mother's Day is upon us! And our Showstopper earrings are part of the Contemporary Jewelry Design Group's Mother's Day Gift Guide.

If you are looking for something glam, these will do the trick. They are glorious faceted white topaz discs. Light and sparkly, they will brighten up a face. They have a quarter carat of diamonds and are set in 18K white gold. Available at Max's!

Trunk Show in Minneapolis!

I have never been to Minneapolis, but I am very much looking forward to my first trip at the end of the month! I've been putting the finishing touches on some pieces and am booking my flight. We're doing a Trunk Show on Friday April 30th and Saturday May 1st, 10am-6pm.

If you are in the MN area, come visit at:

Max's
The Shops at Excelsior & Grand
3831 Grand Way, St Louis Park, MN 55416
(952) 922-8364

www.stylebymax.com

Squaring the Circle

The Quattro was originally designed as an exploration of the relationship between squares and circles. While examining this topic, I came across the expression "squaring the circle." It is a reference to an impossible mathematical problem that involves finding the area of a square and a circle and having them be equal. It is an unsolvable problem because the value of pi is indefinite. So, it turns out that the expression "squaring the circle" is a metaphor for doing something logically or intuitively impossible.

I liked the metaphor. When I worked in the film industry, it seemed we were always trying to do the impossible -- shut down the Brooklyn Bridge in the middle of the day, fly a helicopter to pick up a singer off of a small island in the East River in the middle of the night, stop traffic in the middle of Times Square.

We were often told by the NYC Mayor's Office of Film & Television that we could not do what we wanted. And then we had to come up with a way around it. We shot the scene on the Brooklyn Bridge at 4:00 in the morning (and changed the script accordingly). We found the best helicopter pilot, Al Cerullo, in NYC who the Mayor's office would allow to pick up a person on an island in the middle of the East River. (It was said that Al could hover an inch above an egg in high winds and not crack it.) We went ahead and stopped traffic in Times Square but just for very short periods of time, 15-30 seconds, and then cut the sequences together to make the scene appear seamless.

Working in the film industry taught me that what you think is impossible, is not necessarily unachievable, you just have to come up with another way to do it. And in the end, the Quattro, can be a reminder that the seemingly impossible is often highly possible.

Both pendants pictured above are available at Max's in Minneapolis.

Symbols of Devotion

The wedding ring was not always the emblem of choice to indicate marriage. Before the adoption of the wedding ring, necklaces were given as a symbol of devotion in a marriage proposal or ceremony. In cultures outside of the U.S., including India, Nepal and certain African countries, particular kinds of necklaces are still in use to tell the world that a woman is no longer single or available.

I liked the idea of a necklace to indicate that a woman was married, and began to think about what one might look like. Our Mirabelle necklace came to mind. I thought using a circle shape would echo the idea of a wedding ring. The combination of square faceted stones and round sculptural mandala, creates an intriguing path for the eye to dance over.

This necklace really does feel like an heirloom to me, something inherited from a great, great grandmother who came from across the ocean.

In researching the origin of necklaces as symbols of marriage, I came across this Apache Indian wedding poem written for the 1950 western film Broken Arrow and thought I would share it.

Now you will feel no rain,
For each of you will be shelter to the other.
Now you will feel no cold,
For each of you will be warmth to the other.
Now there is no more loneliness,
For each of you will be companion to the other.
Now you are two bodies,
But there is one life before you.
Go now to your dwelling place,
To enter into the days of your togetherness.
And may your days be good and long upon the earth.

Dangle Mandala Earrings in Sapphire

This pair of Dangle Mandala Earrings continues to be very popular for us. The stones are burnish-set so that they lie flush with the 18K gold surface of the earring. In addition to the blue sapphire pair pictured above, we make them in diamond, ruby, orange and pink sapphire. It is a dainty dangle that somehow is right for both the office and every day as well as a little sparkle for when you go out on the town. It seems to lie just right on most everyone I have seen try them on (which is saying something for earrings!)

These earrings were recently featured in Princeton Magazine's Bridal issue.

The Mandala symbol that we use in our jewelry represents harmony, balance and focus. We hope it lends some of these qualities to each and every wearer.

Inspiration Express

Recently, I was able to take a long Friday lunch with friends and wine in a dark, wood-paneled bar. One friend asked me where I found my inspiration for my jewelry design. Before I had a chance to respond, she said that her mother, who was a lifelong potter, had believed that everything and anything can be inspiration. I agree wholeheartedly.

Permitting curiosity to be your guide, anything can be questioned, expanded, combined, reversed or put to other uses to bring a new idea into being. Michael Michalko wrote a couple of great books on the subject of invention. Cracking Creativity is a particularly good read.

But sometimes, inspiration just does not seem to come. Sometimes you have to wait for the muse to show up. I recently heard a talk on TED.com where Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love quoted an older poet saying, that inspiration can 'barrel through you like a train while you try to catch the tail end of it, frantically looking for a piece of paper and a pen.' And if you can't get to a pen, if you miss it, the train will just streak on to someone else who can capture it and bring the idea into being. This talk on TED.com is illuminating and heartwarming and decidedly worth viewing.

When ideas are ready to be born, they look for capable midwives, ready with pen, paper, clay, computer, precious metal or stones, who are willing to persist in the work of honing the notion into a fully formed creation. This is a job I love doing.

JJD Sample Sale Time!

You won't want to miss out. Our once a year event, the JJD Sample Sale, will be held at the Nassau Inn in Princeton, NJ on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week.

Oct 13 + 14, from 12-4 pm

New items, one-of-a-kinds, and affordable sterling silver pieces. Fantastic pieces at fantastic prices!