Gift Ideas in Handmade Jewelry

10 December 2009 One Comment

An open letter to our gentlemen,

I know that you come to this site looking for gifts ideas for your wife, girlfriends, daughters and for all other women in your life. So listen up. If you are still out of ideas, please carefully and permanently note that jewelry is ALWAYS an appropriate gift. If you happen to be shopping for the discerning, design-aware, creative woman with a distinct sense of personal style, you also need to know that a generic, mass-produced piece of jewelry just won’t do. Pas du tout, non, non, non.

Which is why I propose this beautiful array of hand-crafted jewelry designed by some fantastic jewelry designers. Here you will find unique, one-of-a-kind pieces (many of heirloom quality) with something in every price range. But, what you really want to know is that regardless of the price, the real value is in knowing that each jewelry piece has been handmade and imbued with the passion of its designer. Priceless. As they say.

alice roche is an architect (It runs in the family. She is the daughter to Kevin Roche, Pritzker Prize winning architect) and now jewelry designer, offers a contemporary line of jewelry inspired by the natural and built environment. Alice works with silver like a pencil sketch defining line weights, movement, texture and positive and negative space. I own her large Kiss hoop earrings and could have sold them off my ears more than a dozen times. You can shop her collections directly from AliceRoche.com.

My Mother’s Buttons – Linda Wright collects antique and vintage buttons from around the world – some which date back as far as the early 1800′s – to create one of a kind jewelry and accessories. I love her work and own several of her pieces and have also given her necklaces as gifts to immensely pleased recipients. The Edwardian Necklace is one of my favorite pieces. A classic design that seems to work with every outfit. Find the list of retailers here.

SmartGlass Recycled Jewelry: Kathleen Plate makes every single piece by hand. All SmartGlass pieces are designed with simplicity in mind, offering classic and contemporary designs. Many pieces feature recycled glass from wine or salad dressing bottles. So, what do you do with an empty salad dressing bottle? Paired with sterling silver or gold-filled accents, SmartGlass makes amazing fashion forward earrings out of them, of course! Shop at SmartGlassJewelry.com.

Rapt in Maille by Melissa Banks. The tagline is perfect: “This isn’t your mother’s Chain Maille”. Indeed. Melissa hand-makes every modern, edgy piece link by link with stainless steel. I saw the calluses, caused by the pliers, in her palms that prove it! I first met Melissa at the Lakeview East Festival of the Arts (Chicago) and immediately bought a piece of her work. You can shop from her site or through the retailers that carry her line (under “where to shop”).

Restart Jewelry by Susan Hamerlynck: Each piece is constructed of fragments of recycled cans embedded in molded resin, mounted in copper foil and lead-free solder and then combined with vintage or silver findings and beads. Susan has created a totally unique, multi-layered-faceted material which will arouse everyone’s curiosity: “What a cute bracelet. What is is made of?” Keep it a mystery. You can shop Restart from the website.

Robin Goodfellow Jewelry: Perfect for the musician. Robin’s jewelry is crafted with recycled strings from stringed musical instruments. Her designs are inspired by music, dance, nature and Shakespeare. The delicate, romantic creations can be purchased directly from RobinGoodfellowDesigns.com.

Stubborn Works by Melissa Stiles. Melissa’s work is clearly the result of her critical eye, developed as she trained and worked as an architect. Reclaimed industrial metals and opaque resin combine to create lightweight pieces that make bold statements. While you are on her website, check out her gorgeous recycled felt bags. You can purchase directly from her website.

Spora, Brazilian Seeds in Jewelry by Patricia Bello: the rustic elements of the seeds combine with more sophisticated materials like semi-precious stones, pearls and metals to create jewelry pieces with intrinsic organic beauty. Spora is one of the beautiful jewelry lines features in my 1000 Markets gallery where you can shop for Spora as well as many other beautiful handmade items.

Passementerie by Courtney Laine: It’s amazing to think that Courtney is self-taught. I’ve been following her work for some time and love seeing how she evolves (and is now much copied, but still remains the original of this genre), especially with her latest collection, LAINE, which combine antique lockets & findings with fine gems & pearls. Courtney hand-picks gemstones and only the finest materials available including gem-grade precious & semi-precious stones, Tahitian & south sea pearls, solid sterling silver, high-karat gold & platinum. Simply dreamy. You can also find her collection on 1000markets.com.

And, BTW, once you are on 1000Markets.com, feel free to browse around to discover other great designers. Some jewelry designers you won’t want to miss in The Succulent Wife’s gallery on 1000Markets (this is a showcase only, no financial affiliation):

And ladies, if you see something you like here, you know what to do…