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Blog de tiffany jewelry (page 4)
Jewelry Made By a Tiffany Who Chose A Life of Art
FOR thousands of tourists who wander into Tiffany & Company on Fifth Avenue this summer to gape at jewelry designed by Elsa Peretti, Paloma Picasso and Jean Schlumberger, there's a surprise in store. Interspersed among the showcases on the second floor are 34 pieces of jewelry designed by the founder's son, Louis Comfort Tiffany.
Although he collaborated with his father, Charles Lewis Tiffany, on several pieces for the 1900 Universal Exposition in Paris, the younger Tiffany really began designing jewelry only after his father's death in 1902, when he became vice president and artistic director of the company. By then, the son had long been famous for tiffany creating lavish, exotic interiors and for designing stained glass, Favrile glass in fluid colors, mosaics, ecclesiastical furnishings and enamel work. At the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, he had received 54 medals for his exhibition. He made his debut as a jewelry designer in St. Louis at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. Even today, many people are not aware of his accomplishments as a jewelry designer.
Louis Tiffany's jewelry reveals the richness and sense of fantasy that characterized his earlier design work; each piece is a microcosm of what he achieved on a grander scale in the decorative arts. The pieces on view at Tiffany -- in an exhibition called ''The Jewelry of Louis Comfort Tiffany: Explorations of Color, Nature and the Exotic,'' which closes on Aug. 29 -- celebrate not only his jewelry designs but also the 150th anniversary of his birth. So does a more comprehensive show called ''Louis Comfort Tiffany at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.'' The jewelry on display at the Met, through Jan. 31, is tucked away in a small pavilion of a gallery. And being able to see these delicate and intricate pieces isolated in such a way heightens one's appreciation of them.
Like the designs of Rene Lalique, his contemporary in France, Tiffany's jewelry reflected the natural world in the fluid forms of Art Nouveau while retaining a distinctly American quality. Even in the exotic pieces influenced by his travels to the Middle East and North Africa, there was an unmistakably modern sensibility that appealed to his American clients.
''Tiffany art jewelry was considered fashion forward in its day and was worn by women artists, opera singers and the wives of entrepreneurs,'' explained Annamarie Sandecki, Tiffany's archivist, who organized its exhibition. ''It was designed at the height of American dress reform, when women wore the colorful brooches to set off shirtwaist dresses at the office or tea gowns in the late afternoon.''
Tiffany, working with his gemologist, George Frederick Kuntz, discovered in natural stones, particularly tiffany bracelets those from American sources, the same quality of color that had become a hallmark of his stained glass. One glittering example is the ''Peasant'' necklace that Ms. Sandecki said was a style worn originally by Roman slaves and eventually by peasants in 18th-century Normandy. While its central moonstone came from Ceylon, it is set with Montana sapphires of the richest blue imaginable. A similar necklace at the Met, made for Susan Dwight, adds to this same combination intricate scrolls, both twisted into and engraved on the platinum mountings.
Tiffany's popular grape motif is beautifully represented by another necklace at the Met. With opal grapes and enameled green leaves clustered around a central, asymmetrical opal, it reveals the same gradations of blues and greens that can be seen in his Favrile glass. Always depicted in a naturalistic way, the leaves are tinged with yellow and brown to signal an overripe vine at season's end. A more stylized version is found at Tiffany in the ''Bib'' necklace based on Mughal court jewelry. Its jade plaques and amethyst drops and flowers linked by thin gold twisted wires suggest a ripening grapevine.
BUT the evolution of Tiffany's ideas can best be traced in the brooches on display at the store. From the early period, the berries in the ''Bittersweet'' brooch are made from mottled Mexican fire opals, and an Australian black opal in the ''Mughal'' brooch captures the iridescence of peacock feathers, a favorite theme. But nothing looks more New York chic than his ''Filigree'' brooch from 1933, the year he died. Its symmetrical setting of diamonds and pearls is surrounded by a tangle of platinum vines.
For American women who shunned the European custom of wearing tiaras on formal occasions, a hair ornament by Tiffany offered panache of the same sort. One such ornament at the Met is composed of two dragonflies poised on two dandelion puffs, with one already half blown away. The dragonflies are made of graduated opals with green demantoid garnets for eyes and metal filigree for the fluttering wings. The seed balls are spheres of platinum strands with dots of white enamel.
''This ornament is the most sculptural of all his pieces,'' said Alice Cooney Frelinghuysen, the curator of the Met's tiffany pendants exhibit. ''And it defies any usual interpretation of jewelry.''
One can imagine how pleased Louisine Havemeyer, its owner, must have felt as she wore this creation when entertaining in her Fifth Avenue mansion -- in rooms designed by Tiffany.
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Wal-Mart Stores is the Nation's Leading Jewelry Retailer
While the nation's economy sputters, the American consumers' appetite for jewelry has not yet slowed, according to the latest market research study from Unity Marketing, The Jewelry Report: The Market, The Industry, The Trends.
In 2000 the consumer market for fine and costume jewelry rose 5% over 1999 levels to total $39.8 billion. Based upon surveys among jewelry companies, jewelry retailers, and active consumers, this report is an important tool for jewelry marketers and retailers to understand the changing dynamics afoot in the tiffany jewelry industry.
Contributing to the growth in the jewelry market is the expanding availability of jewelry at the retail level. "Jewelry has become an affordable luxury for fashion-forward women and men, as well as a favorite gift item in all price ranges," Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, says. "The jewelry market is becoming more democratic in the past decade as good quality and high design jewelry is now available at a much wider range of retailers. After all, Wal- Mart Stores with over $2 billion in jewelry sales in 2000 is now the nation's largest jewelry retailer."
While the retail market for jewelry is broadening, jewelry stores still represent the single largest retail channel for jewelry, accounting for just under 60% of the total retail market.
In the past year, some 43% of the adult population, over 85 million individuals, bought silver bangles jewelry in the past year. Women have a significantly higher purchase incidence of jewelry (48%) compared with men (36%). While men have a lower purchase incidence, they spend significantly more money on their jewelry purchases than women and most of their jewelry purchases are as gifts.
As a consumer category jewelry skews toward the younger consumers, with purchase incidence highest among the younger adults, ages 18-to- 24, and declining as consumers get older. Jewelry stores are the preferred retail source for fine jewelry, but costume jewelry buyers are more likely to make purchases in department stores or at discounters/mass merchandisers.
The trend toward purchasing jewelry through discounters/mass merchants is particularly noted among the younger consumers, ages 18- to-34 years.
This report reveals what type of jewelry consumers purchase for themselves and to give as gifts, where they buy, and how much they spend, in addition to demographic profiles of the target market, based upon a survey among a representative sample of 1,000 American households.
Providing a unique psychographic perspective on the consumer market, the report includes an analysis of five different consumer segments characterized by gender and different drives and motivations for jewelry purchasing. For example, the largest female consumer segment is led by "Frances Fashion," who makes wearing jewelry a part of her everyday life.
Another segment is characterized by "Catherine Connoisseur" who is the knowledgeable fine-silver rings jewelry consumer. She knows high quality jewelry comes with a price -- a price is she more than willing to pay. At the other end of the spectrum falls "Dime-Store Debbie," who makes jewelry purchase decisions based on price, not the latest fashion trends or the quality and craftsmanship of the piece.
Male jewelry consumers fall into one of two segments. On the one hand is "Pete the Personal Indulger," who loves to buy fine jewelry for himself, taking time to select just the right piece for his adornment. On the other hand is "George the Gifter," who feels jewelry is a wonderful gift to give to others.
The report, The Jewelry Report: The Market, The Industry, The Trends details retail sales by product line, distribution channels and product category, as well as presenting a snapshot of jewelry manufacturing in the US.
The report identifies key trends that will have the greatest impact on sales in the industry now and in the future, as well as marketing profiles of the leading US-based jewelry companies and retailers, such as Friedman's, Lazare Kaplan International, OroAmerica, Tiffany & Co., Michael Anthony Jewelers, Whitehall and Zale Corporation, among others.
It explores trends in distribution of jewelry and how specialty retailers are faring against the rising force silver bracelets of mass merchandisers, such as Wal-Mart. This over 200-page report is available from Unity Marketing for $1,995. Unity Marketing is a marketing research and consulting firm that helps companies unite with their target markets through consumer insights.
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Jewelry Store Brings Ancient Cultures to Costa Mesa, Calif., Plaza
Strolling through the Temple St. Clair jewelry store is like taking a trip around the world and through time.
Opals from Australia, Blue moonstone from India and pieces sprung from ancient Egypt or Greece rest on blue velvet in glass cases under spotlights.
While the designer, Temple St. Clair, lives in New York, she chose South Coast Plaza for her first free-standing store, which opened Thursday. A second store is planned for a New Jersey shopping center later this year.
Trained in Italian art history and literature, St. Clair picks up stones and designs on trips around tiffany the world.
"I have a great excuse to travel and look at beautiful things," St. Clair said. "It's become a lifestyle of exploring."
St. Clair, 43, started the company in 1987, selling to high-end specialty stores in Connecticut, Aspen and Puerto Rico. She became the first jewelry designer at Barneys after running into a buyer for the department store in Florence, Italy. Today, she owns her jewelry company with her husband and an investment subsidiary of Tiffany & Co.
She said she picked South Coast Plaza because "it's one of the top malls in the country, and this great space became available."
With the 750-square-foot store, St. Clair hopes to grab some of the billions spent each year in specialty jewelry stores -- $25 billion last year. The amount, up from $24 billion in 2001, has increased over the past few years, according to the National Retail Federation.
Born and raised in Virginia, St. Clair comes from an "old Southern family."
Her father is a retired attorney, and her mother made a career out of charity projects.
St. Clair left the United States for Italy in her teens to study art and history.
Unable to find jewelry with the same quality and design as the ancient Egyptian and Renaissance pieces she studied, she began making her own.
Earrings similar to the first pair she made for herself in the early 1980s are on sale in the store for tiffany bracelets $750. They are pearls set in yellow gold, flanked by three diamonds.
"I love pearls," St. Clair said. "Every one is different, and I love the personality they have."
While she's branched out into platinum, diamonds and different designs, St. Clair's inspiration still comes from Egypt, Greece, Italy and the Renaissance. She works with goldsmiths in Florence.
New takes on jewelry from ancient times come around every 50 years or so, said Kevin Jones, museum curator at the Fashion Institute of Design and Manufacturing in Los Angeles. Designs inspired by Egypt were popular following the opening of King Tut's tomb in the 1920s.
"It just so happened that Egyptian jewelry went perfect with the art deco that was so popular then," Jones said.
Egyptian designs are among the three most-popular jewelry styles these days, Jones said, together with the heavily encrusted pieces of the Renaissance and the diamonds of the 18th century.
Today, Jones sees the chandelier earrings of the 18th century on actress Nicole Kidman worn with clingy 1930s dresses or jeans.
While the designs hold up over time, the way jewelry is worn changes, Jones said.
"What used to be a hat pin is now worn as a lapel pin," he said. "A heavy necklace is now a belt around the hips."
For St. Clair, the large serpent arm bracelets of ancient Egypt have become 18-carat rings that wrap tiffany cufflinks three times around the finger and sell for about $700.
The three-sphere granulation that St. Clair uses in her classic collection pieces is an ancient Etruscan technique that was rediscovered in the 1970s, said Elise B. Misiorowski, director of the Gemological Institute of America in Carlsbad.
"I really like the influence of ancient cultures in today's jewelry," Misiorowski said. "It's a molding into brand new expressions and new styles."
Today's jewelry style is eclectic, she said. The antique and the modern mix freely. An old flush-mounted style can be used to set stones in several colors or diamonds -- or both.
"The styles are as varied as women are varied," Misiorowski said. "It's wonderful to see a woman manifest their own style through her jewelry."
TEMPLE ST. CLAIR
Headquarters: New York
OWNERSHIP: Temple St. Clair and her husband, Paul Engler, own the company together with East Pond Holding Co., a subsidiary of Tiffany & Co.
EMPLOYEES: 15
WHAT THEY DO: Sell jewelry designed by St. Clair. Prices range from $350 to $40,000-plus.
ORANGE COUNTY CONNECTION: The first Temple St. Clair store in the country opened at South tiffany money clips Coast Plaza. The store is on the first level, across from Chanel, next to Tiffany & Co., steps from Nordstrom.
THE STORE: St. Clair has designed the entire store, down to the counter mirrors. She used fluorite, labradorite and tanzanite for a chandelier and crystal for a doorknob that looks like a larger version of a necklace for sale in the store.
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N.Y. man charged in attempted robbery at Kingston jewelry store
Police hunted down one of the two suspects they say pointed loaded guns at the owners of Steve Hydock Diamonds in a brazen robbery attempt just as the store opened Monday morning.
Officers quickly apprehended Devone C. Nash of New York City not far from the Wyoming tiffany Avenue jewelry store as he and his accomplice were fleeing on a path behind a nearby assisted living facility, police said.
Nash, 38, an unemployed, convicted felon from Brooklyn, N.Y., with a rap sheet of violent acts, was charged with a slew of crimes.
The other suspect -- described as a 6-foot 1-inch black male who was wearing dark pants, a white long-sleeve shirt and a baseball cap -- hopped a fence when he saw police and fled. He remained on the loose Monday night.
Investigators located three loaded handguns, along with clothing and pieces of rope, near where police confronted the suspects.
Those guns were placed to the heads of Steve Hydock and his wife, Barbara, during some frightening moments inside 150 S. Wyoming Ave. The suspects took off empty-handed when told police were on the way, according to arrest papers.
"They meant business. They really meant business," said Kingston police Capt. Daniel Hunsinger.
According to arrest papers:
Nash approached Barbara Hydock inquiring about earrings and engagement rings around 9:45 a.m. silver cufflinks He then pulled a gun, went behind the counter, grabbed her by the arm, put the pistol to her head and pulled her around the store looking for a safe.
Meanwhile, the unidentified suspect jumped behind the counter and confronted Steve Hydock in his office, putting a gun to his head and demanding he empty the safe. The suspect grabbed and ripped Steve Hydock's shirt, which tore off an alarm he wears around his neck.
Steve Hydock told him the alarm was already activated and police would be there soon. After forcing Hydock from his chair, the suspect looked at Nash and one of them said, "Let's get outta here." They made one more demand for the owners to open a jewelry case, but they refused.
Police soon arrived and the Hydocks said the suspects ran up Covert Street. They then cut through some silver pendants residential yards and made their way to the location they were spotted at behind Tiffany Court, an assisted living home for senior citizens, police said.
Nash was charged with robbery, aggravated assault, felons not to carry a firearm, terroristic threats, possessing instruments of a crime, simple assault and recklessly endangering another person. He was arraigned in front of Magisterial District Judge Paul Roberts Jr. in Kingston.
While looking over his paperwork, he said, "I didn't assault nobody and I didn't make any threats."
Police said Nash was new to the area, living with a woman in Kingston.
The judge ordered him jailed in the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in lieu of $100,000 cash bail.
According to the New York State Department of Correctional Services, Nash served two years in state prison silver money clips for a robbery conviction, being released in 1996, and four years for gun crimes, being released in 2001.
A preliminary hearing for the attempted jewelry store heist is set for May 14 at 9 a.m. in Luzerne County Central Court.
Police say a quick response and a heavy saturation of officers from multiple departments prevented the incident from getting uglier than it did and helped police catch one suspect. They hope his arrest will lead them to the other man.
Anyone with information on the second suspect is asked to call Kingston police at 287-6911.
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Good luck with all that luxe: Data hint Crystals is entering tough market
To fully comprehend all the challenges facing CityCenter's Crystals luxury center, you probably don't have to look any further than at what has happened to one of the retail and entertainment center's anchor tenants.
Jewelry retailer Tiffany & Co., which opened its flagship store at Crystals on Dec. 3, recently reported store traffic at its U.S. stores was down and retail sales fell 9 percent in the third quarter.
Vice President of Investor Relations Mark Aaron said during tiffany third-quarter earnings call Nov. 25 that his company blames the declines on fewer customers spending less in its stores.
Angela Moore, U.S. commentary editor for MarketWatch, wrote Nov. 25: "Like other luxury purveyors, Tiffany has been hard hit by the recession as shoppers scale back on discretionary purchases. And as the economy turns, it's unlikely shoppers will revert to their crass consumption habits, at least not right away. They'll be attracted to classic brands that hold their value."
And this is the market environment that Crystals, a high-end mixture of luxury retail stores, is entering.
Even though many of Crystals' stores boast prices that will make some consumers blink twice to make sure they are reading the price tag correctly, MGM Mirage Retail President Frank Visconti is confident the retail center will succeed.
Luxury shoppers like the ones Crystals is targeting are more interested in quality than price, he said. And not only will they visit Crystals, they will return to shop again, he predicts.
"Everybody talks about luxury like it's just the price, and it's not," Visconti said. "Yes, price is a money clips product of what you use, and ultimately it is a bit more expensive than other stuff, but it's about the materials and fabrication, and, ultimately, about the service. It's the timelessness of some of those products. And there are consumers in the world that want that."
Kate Newlin, New York City-based author of "Passion Brands" and principal owner of a self-titled consulting firm, agrees.
"Why is one pair of shoes worth $39 and another $690?" Newlin asked. "It's not about the buckle on the loafers, it's about investment grade purchases, buying shoes worth repairing."
Some real numbers, however, may undercut their belief that Crystals' luxury market is as free-spending as it was just two years ago.
Luxury sales at other high-end Strip properties have declined, according to numbers available through publicly traded companies.
Retail revenue for MGM Mirage, which includes high-end retail at Bellagio, The Mirage and Mandalay Bay and midmarket shops at properties such as MGM Grand, dropped 11.9 percent in 2008, and another 22.4 percent the first nine months of 2009.
A better gauge for Crystals, however, might be retail venues at Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, which cater to the same luxury market targeted by Crystals.
Wynn Las Vegas and Encore have a combined 101,000 square feet of luxury retail including three shops found at Crystals -- Louis Vuitton, Cartier and Dior. Revenues at the two properties dropped a combined 7.2 percent in the first nine months of 2009, even with the first full year of Encore's operations.
Wynn Las Vegas retail revenues dropped 9.6 percent in 2008 after climbing 19.5 percent in 2007.
Although luxury retail sales are down, there are some signs of stability in the high-end market.
Tiffany & Co. reported that same-store sales, which are sales at stores open at least a year, declined 10 percent in the third quarter, following declines of 34 percent and 27 percent in this year's first and second quarters. A closer look reveals improvement in the third quarter with an 18 percent decline in August, 7 percent in September and a 5 percent decline in October.
The 500,000-square-foot Crystals opened Dec. 3 with nearly 40 percent occupancy. Tiffany was one of 23 stores that opened the first day; nine more stores will open Dec. 16 when the Aria hotel-casino opens.
Many of the properties opening at Crystals will be flagship stores, such as the one for Italian fashion designer Roberto Cavalli and luxury leather goods maker Louis Vuitton.
About 40 tenants have been signed to open at the center through next summer, with room for nearly 20 more shops.
Visconti is confident Crystals will be fully occupied by this summer.
Angeline Close, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said the phased earrings opening of stores at Crystals might not be bad for the center either. The initial opening could attract customers who believe they'll get better service because of the smaller crowds, while a smaller number of people will wait until the center is at full capacity before visiting, she said.
"There's a segment of people who have to be first," Close said. "Those are the people who stand outside in the cold to buy a Wii. It's more of a personality trait where you want to be the first and you want to be able to tell your friends that not only did you get this at Louis Vuitton, but you got this at the new Louis Vuitton."
Some tenants at Crystals already have shops elsewhere, including Tiffany, Dior, Hermes and Bottega Veneta, all at Bellagio.
Visconti doesn't think any of those shops at Crystals will be stealing customers from the other locations.
"There are customers (at Bellagio) who are comfortable with the staff and the store," Visconti said. "We believe Crystals will grow the market in the long run, not take away from existing stores."
Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
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