Posts

The Bearable Lightness of Jewelry

Image
       Honestly my relationship with jewelry has shifted so much since I got sick. I no longer like my former favorites and much of the stuff accumulated over many years no longer feels like me, even though I still rely on it to round out what I’m wearing on special occasions. It’s funny how jewelry, like your hair, seems to be an extension of self.       It’s hard to describe how being sick changed this - it changed everything. It changed me so I suppose it’s obvious that it changed my relationship to jewelry. The pieces I loved before were dramatic and showy and often quite heavy around my neck or on my wrist and ears.            In hindsight I guess what I cared about was creating compositions in which I was the canvas and the jewelry and clothes were the paint. It had to do with persona, with display. Now I like lighter jewelry, pieces that are more intimate and don’t weigh me down. They are subtler, though I will still wear a bold clunky piece to complete an outfit for an event. 
Post a Comment
Read more

Great Grandmother's Magnifying Glass

Image
My necklace is actually a magnifying glass. It belonged to my great grandmother,  Grace Todd. She was British. I got it from my mother's cousin Phyllis when I visited her in England in 2018.  I have a very small family so having small items from relatives is very special. When I visited Phyllis, she  said, "I have something for you." I fell in love with this -- even before she told me what it was. Back in the 1800s not everyone had eye glasses, so my great grandmother would use this magnifying glass to see better. She had worn it around her neck on a string.  When I got home, I put it on a little chain. I wear it as much as I can.   It’s very meaningful because I have very little from my mother’s British family.  My mother moved to America from England when she was a child. Sadly, I lost my mother tragically 25 years ago. I was young to lose my mother; she was  way  too young to die. So to have anything from her part of the family is very, very special. It’s such a unique
Post a Comment
Read more

Hooked on a bracelet from St. Croix

Image
Above: From Sonya Ltd. in St. Croix, home of the original Crucian hook bracelet                                     The Crucian hook bracelet, a simple band of silver and gold clasped by a hook, is associated with the Virgin Islands, but its original origins is lost in time. Some say the bracelet was brought to the islands by European settlers, that it was a version of a Danish wedding band. Others claim that it came from Africa where archeologists have found bracelets and fishing hooks made from various metals. Another legend says they were worn by wives of fisherman who would turn the hook outward when their husbands went out to sea, and then turn it inward when they were due to return in order to assure that they would come home safely. Most agree that the bracelet was given a rebirth in 1964 when Sonya Hough of Sonya Ltd., a small jewelry store on Company Street in Christiansted on the island of St. Croix, designed her version of the simple bracelet. That is the version worn by Jan
Post a Comment
Read more

Hunting in Africa

Image
I went with my husband to Zambia, South Africa, on a hunting trip. We arrived at the village late and had to cross a river in darkness to get to the other side where the hunting camp was. The river was crocodile infested and we were going across in a dugout canoe -- which is a tree trunk. The insides are dug out and you sit in there and paddle across the river. I said to my husband, "You're getting your trophies, but now I'm gonna get mine and it's gonna have to be big ."  After the trip, we met up with a gentleman who sells jewelry in South Africa and I did get my trophy: a three-carat diamond."          Janet Cristini , from Atlantic City, NJ, interviewed at the Flying Fisherman Café at 73 rd  Street and Columbus Avenue in New York City.
Post a Comment
Read more

Watches as Jewelry: A Collection of Craftsmanship & Memories

Image
I've worn a watch every day for as long as I can remember, usually in the Timex family. I’ve always had a watch and used as the primary way to tell time even after I could use my phone for that purpose as well. But I never thought of watches as collectible jewelry — until I interviewed Paul Brown about his watch collection.  Breitling Chrono Avenger, known for its waterproof capabilities Paul Brown received his first watch, a digital, when he was seven or eight, but his fascination with watches began with a Swatch. Remember the Swatch? Launched in 1983 in Switzerland, the Swatch product line -- Swatch is a contraction of "second watch" -- was offered as casual, disposable accessories. The originals (different models are still offered by the Swatch Group) had an open case back, a transparent cover on the backside of the watch that allowed you to see the inner workings of the movement.  Brown's collection now includes six watches valued at more than $20,000. They are un
Post a Comment
Read more
Do You Have a Jewelry Story?
Contact:
Jaye Ann Terry
bijouxbios1
@gmail.com

BIJOUX BIOS CREATORS


Jaye Ann Terry
Interviewer, Writer

Margo Hammond
Editor