Bronze bead and pearl lariat. Wendy Lin Designs, www.wendylindesign.com

I’ve been getting many emails asking about the lariat necklace I was wearing this morning during my Martha Stewart radio Morning Living segment. It is pictured in the image above. It is by Wendy Lin Designs, you can visit her website here.

Please tune in to Sirius 112 – XM 157 or call in with a question!!

New post today on The Jewelry Stylist: Do This/Give Back

The ancient craft of silversmithing has something new to say in an exhibition at Aaron Faber Gallery that begins tomorrow, Tuesday, June 23rd and runs through August 8th. The firm has long been the champion of both master-contemporary and up-and-coming studio artisans. The group of about one hundred pieces was worked by thirty-four silversmiths whose aesthetics mix traditional and innovative techniques with a modern sensibility. The collection possesses a strong perspective that (hint, hint) is must see for anyone in fashion looking for some directional afflatus.

Sterling silver ring by Tanja Niedermann (Aaron Faber Gallery, NYC)

Brooch, Oxidized sterling silver and freshwater pearl by Clara Breen (at Aaron Faber Gallery, NYC)

Neck collar. Silver. By Arline Fisch (at Aaron Faber Gallery, NYC)

“Fragments, 2008″ mixed media brooch by Jack Cunningham (at Aaron Faber Gallery, NYC)

“Tantalus” sterling silver necklace by Alexandra Hart (at Aaron Faber Gallery, NYC)

OK..the segment has been rescheduled. Flea markets, antiques shows, tag and estate sales will be beckoning, and I’ll be first in queue because I can no longer remain cloistered in my office due to the inclement weather in New York; it’s been a ridiculously rainy spring. I can’t wait to traipse the alleyways and aisles, and all my friends who love antiquing feel the same way. So let’s get ready to do some shopping, shall we?

Get the inside scoop on how to uncover fabulous jewelry bargains! Learn the simple tools you can bring from home, what to look for in great pieces, and how to negotiate the best deals. I will be a guest on Martha Stewart radio’s Morning Living (Sirius channel 112, XM 157) MONDAY, JUNE 29TH AT 9:30 AM. My twenty-minute segment will get you flea-market-find ready! Tune in or call in and ask a question, I would love to hear from you!

Folding crown Tillya Tepe Tomb VI,, first century A.D. Gold 45.0 x 13.0 cm (17–3/4 x 5–1/8 in.) National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul Photo: © musée Guimet / Thierry Ollivier

If are visiting New York City this summer, please make sure you carve out time to see this exhibition. I attended the press preview for the show, which opens to the public on June 23rd and will remain at the museum until September 20, 2009, and was completely blown away by the grandeur and survival of these ancient examples of goldsmithing, architecture, and the decorative arts. Of course my focus was the jewelry and gold work, however all the artifacts were so compelling that I found myself walking through the halls twice; the glass ewers, vases, and bowls are exquisitely produced and utterly breathtaking.

Afghanistan is a land locked country that is bordered by Pakistan to the south, Iran to the east, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikstand to the north, and China to the northeast. Connecting south and central Asia and the Middle East, Afghanistan’s cultural history is layered like the pentimento images rising to the surface through the transparency of aged oil paint. The merchant trade that formed the metaphoric Silk Road, and its center was Afghanistan, was a crossroads where caravans and cultures met and blended. Influences from ancient Greece, Rome, India, Eqypt, and China are found in these cultural remnants.

The dazzle in these ornaments is not simply in their magnificence, but also in the determination of twenty people, whose compensation at the museum in Kabul was, to say the least, nowhere near commensurate with the value that these objects could bring if sold quietly. And yet, they hid them, preserved them, and most importantly, kept them out of the hands of the those who would plunder these treasures for inconceivable gain.

For these reasons, and for the sheer joy of the seeing ancient craftsmanship you will not likely experience again, I wholeheartedly encourage you to make an afternoon of it and see the show. As the icing to the cake of this event, jewelry designer Gurhan Orhan has developed a collection of high-end pieces for the museum. I will discuss a choice few in The Jewelry Stylist…

Necklace Tillya Tepe Tomb VI, first century A.D. Gold with granulation and turquoise Diam. of the beads 2.8 x 2.5 cm (1–1/8 x 1 in.) National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul Photo: © musée Guimet / Thierry Ollivier

Pair of bracelets in the shape of antelopes Tillya Tepe Tomb II, first century A.D. Gold with turquoise and carnelian 8.5 x 6.3 cm (3–3/8 x 2–1/2 in.) National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul Photo: © musée Guimet / Thierry Ollivier

Belt Tillya Tepe Tomb IV, “Chieftain’s Burial,” first century A.D. Gold 97.5 x 2.9 cm (38–3/8 x 1–1/8 in.) National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul Photo: © musée Guimet / Thierry Ollivier 134 Folding

Dara Dubinet, Yellow Beryl breast plate

Things have been a little rough around here, hence my recent attraction for Dara Dubinet’s raw stone designs. According to her press, she has studied the art of Feng Shui at the Black Hat Tibetian School where she learned the restorative power of gemstones. Which ones cure a head cold? Would love to know.

What I like best about Dubinet’s work is how she mixes the clean lines of the Modernist approach with an organic exuberance drawn from the 1960s. If I were pitching her jewelry, Hollywood style, I’d describe it as Andrew-Grima-Goes-To-Scandinavia. You can view her collections here.

On another note: Congratulation to Barbara Heinrich Studio! The designer just won the prestigious 2009 Couture Design Awards in Las Vegas for Best of Gold. I’ve long admired Heinrich’s pristine and well-crafted pieces. Her rich textures and slender silhouettes exhibit a warmth that retains its buoyancy and never appears overworked.

A brief part II of this thread is continued on The Jewelry Stylist…

6/10/09: My segment has been rescheduled due to illness. Date and time are to be determined. Our middle son, Joel, not his older brother Joshua, who was just in Japan, was diagnosed with Flu Type A on Monday — Joel is taking Tamiflu and doing much, much better, thank goodness. However, I seem to have caught a little something while caring for him, nothing serious though. I am still planning on posting Friday, so please check back then…thanks, LG

Yes…it’s that time again. Flea markets, antiques shows, tag and estate sales are all underway, and who doesn’t want to score a piece of vintage perfection? Get the inside scoop on how to uncover fabulous jewelry bargains! Learn the simple tools you can bring from home, what to look for in great pieces, and how to negotiate the best deals. I will be a guest on Martha Stewart radio’s Morning Living (Sirius channel 112) this Thursday, June 11th at 9am. My twenty-minute segment will get you flea-market-find ready as soon as this coming weekend! Tune in, or better yet, call in and ask a question!

Next post this coming Friday…I’ll be introducing an incredible new designer…!

On Wednesday, June 10, 2009, Christie’s London will be selling vintage pieces that would easily fill the jewelry casket of my dreams. Names like Cartier, Bulgari, Chaumet, and Van Cleef & Arpels are among the offerings. The e-catalogue makes for excellent reading; the new online software is a pleasure to navigate, and environmentally friendly too. You can view it here.

In the meantime, I’d like to present a few highlights:

pavé-set old-cut diamond leaf canopy suspending a graduated fringe of diamond trails with six pear-shaped diamond drops, mounted in silver and gold, brooch circa 1860, diamond drops late 18th century.

GEORGE III DIAMOND EAR PENDANTS, mounted in silver, circa 1800

AN ANTIQUE SAPPHIRE AND DIAMOND TIARA, circa 1850, mounted in silver and gold. This is one ornament in a suite of jewels.

Art Deco, diamond pendant, 44.14 fancy yellow circular diamond and calibre-cut onyx, circa 1925

According to Christie’s, this is the largest of this shape ever offered by the auction house.

Just a quick note: I’m on a summer schedule now, so I’ll be posting only once a week until September…

Mother's Day gift 2009: Alex Monroe, 22k gold plate-over-sterling silver dragonfly pendant necklace set with a tiny Tsavorite.

Grateful is a state of being, and I’m in it. Our eldest son, Josh, just returned from a sojourn to Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto). It was a two-week excursion taken upon the completion of his second year of college; he left the Friday after his last exam.

Not all was well at the beginning of his trip — he was on a flight from Detroit to Tokyo where there were four confirmed cases of the H1N1 virus aboard. Almost immediately upon his arrival he and his traveling buddy were quarantined in their youth hostel. When the next morning rolled around, a couple of medics arrived to take their body temperature. Josh’s was 99.5. Now through all the years I’ve been a mom, 99.5 was never a fever in our household, unless there were accompanying symptoms. However, the Japanese hold to a more stringent standard. Suddenly, a medical crew, speaking little or no English, appeared wearing Hazmat suits, helmets, and masks. They buckled Josh down on a gurney, placed him inside a bubble-lined ambulance, turned on the siren, and headed off to the nearest low-pressure hospital room. Once he was admitted, Josh had no human contact, save for the occasional doctor visit (again, suited up, gloved and masked). Even his meals were delivered through a sterilized port in the wall.

The world sim card he bought for the occasion didn’t work in Japan (a word of advice for anyone traveling there: rent a cell phone), and so he skyped us just before they took off with him in the ambulance. Unfortunately, we lost our connection midway through our conversation. That was the last we heard from him for two days. After that we could only get word about his tests and his condition through the U.S. Embassy, and his friend who skyped us every three or four hours (Josh could make local calls but was not permitted to reverse the charges home to us. There was no explanation as to why…).

The Embassy finally called us very late Sunday night with the good news that the hospital would release him in a couple of hours. On Monday morning at 1:30 a.m. we heard the phone ring. It was Josh. He was fine, all the tests came back negative, and after paying the $650 hospital bill (yes, he had to pay the bill), he was permitted to leave. Happy and healthy, Josh then continued on his way to tour Japan.

Oh, and I forgot one little detail: this was Mother’s Day weekend. I think I earned my stripes…don’t you?

And so this necklace, hand selected in Japan by our son, and presented on behalf of himself and his younger brothers, is my Mother’s Day gift 2009. I later discovered that some Native American cultures believe a dragonfly represents renewal after great hardship. The Japanese take the view that it symbolizes courage, strength, and happiness. Believe me, Josh had absolutely no knowledge of the cultural significance of a dragonfly when he purchased the necklace; he thought it matched a pin he mistakenly believed I owned. This is of no import. I haven’t taken the pendant off since his return. I do find the metaphors meaningful, however this ornament will always be special and mostly for a single reason: my son returned safely home to give it to me.

Maureen Dowd is in hot water at The NYT today. It seems that she may (or may not, depending on your POV) have lifted one of her quips directly from the thoughts of another blogger, Talking Points Memo editor, John Marshall. A huge brou-ha-ha has ensued, and the outcome has yet to be determined. I am interested, not only as a observer, but also as someone who has had a similar experience with The Gray Lady, a moniker to which the paper is traditionally referred. But honestly, I’ll let you decide for yourselves if my renewed disgruntlement is justified.

On September 27, 2007, I wrote about the death of jewelry designer, Kazuko Oshima. After my post went up, I was contacted by Margalit Fox, obit writer for The New York Times, inquiring as to where I obtained my information regarding Ms. Oshima’s passing, and would I please help her get in contact with the friends/relatives who so informed me. I forwarded on the necessary email address and also let the recipient know that The NYT was looking to do an obituary.

The result of my assistance resulted in an October 4, 2007 notice by Ms. Fox that included the following description:

In Ms. Oshima’s most characteristic designs, crystals and semiprecious stones are wrapped in webs of gold wire and seem to float above the body as they encircle a wrist or neck. Ms. Oshima believed passionately that the materials that she worked with possessed great healing powers, something she often discussed in interviews.

I described Kazuko’s aesthetic in my mention of September 27, 2007 this way:

Her sculptural pieces—gemstones wrapped in complex webs of gold wire—had a gossamer quality that made it appear as if the gems were floating around the body rather than weighing it down. Kazuko believe that every mineral had an aura or purpose–a healing power of sorts.

When I later wrote to Ms. Fox stating my offense at what I perceived as her appropriation of a portion my post without proper credit, she responded that under the pressure of her deadline, she may have used a few too many words that were similar to mine. She did not admit to borrowing my original expression in its entirety.

Now I’m sure you are asking why I’m exposing this now. Writing a story for The NYT Sunday Business section was one of the highlights of my career thus far. However in my experiences thereafter, and there were a couple, the standards that applied to me were not upheld by the NYT’s staff with which I was dealing; I was left disillusioned with the paper. What I recount above was one of those experiences. I would certainly welcome the opportunity to write for the paper again, provided I was dealt with fairly. But the NYT’s editors and staff need to come down from those clouds upon which they believe they deserve to be perched. That’s for the birds.