Pica Vintage Letters

About 2 summers ago, at a flea market in Chicago, I stumbled upon a bucket filled with old letters of various sizes which appeared to be made of lead. I thought these old letters, which were probably used for small signage and doors, were so unusual and would be such a cool way to wear a personalized initial necklace without the same old stamped disc look. It took me a while, but I finally had them cast in bronze and after many weeks of playing around with noxious and hopefully not too toxic chemicals, I created a hand-rubbed antiqued finish which makes these letters look old again. I drill a hole into the top and solder a nice sized ring of 18k gold so you can slip them onto different chains. I am really excited about these and so far, the response has been wonderful. I recently found another lot of letters and will be casting these along with some vintage numbers in January. I named the line Pica. Enjoy!

A New Year

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in over a year--I'm bad at this blogging thing! I have been busy with the store, trying to create some of our own lines and still hunting for new and interesting jewelry designers. In the past year, we have carried designers such as Ruth Tomlinson from London (show above), Basia from Canada, ila & i from Houston, kothari from San Francisco/India and a lot of reworked vintage. I will make a new year's resolution to try to keep up at least weekly with this blog.

Nunu

A darling designer from Texas, Nunu created these luscious semi-precious cluster earrings. They are just the right amount of festive for your lobes!

Laura Kitsos

These are 3 of my newest designs. I am getting into doming and nesting right now. Also, the mossy green rutilated quartz earrings have 18k gold tendrils which move slightly when you wear them. They are my favorite new thing at the moment!

Anat Gelbard

From Israel, Anat's work is influenced by ancient culture designs and techniques such as Estruscan, African and Japanese. She is mostly inspired by natural organic shapes and only uses high karat gold (22k)

Irene Neuwirth

Irene Neuwirth uses different colors of 18k gold, such as green or pink in her stunning designs. She also likes to use unusual and rare gemstones with a raw undertone and mix them with diamonds.

Vanessa Hirschowitz

Lucky for us Vanessa lives in Chicago and presented her jewelry to us with open arms- she gave us a beautiful collection of completely hand forged 22k gold and fine silver goods- each piece one of a kind. We love her creative designs as do our customers who know what fine jewelry really is.

Lina Fanourakis

Based in Athens, Lina crafts timeless and elegant designs from precious metals and rose cut diamonds, merging the arts of sculpture and jewelry design. Lina is inspired by the stained glass windows of cathedrals, and how they use light to catch the eye with glamour, not glitz.

Lucifer Vir Honestus

Not a man, but a woman, Luna Scamuzzi, an amazing Italian goldsmith creates these organic works of art.

Jeanine Payer

I have been a fan and collector of Jeanine's work for several years and am excited to be showing it in the store this season. She really does hand engrave each piece- when I hold 2 of her bracelets with the same quote/size of metal, there is a slight difference in each of the handwriting. At this point in her successful career, it would be so easy for her to cast the pieces and mass-produce them, but she holds true to her original premise and realization of the integrity in her designs.

Finn

I love Finn for their simplicity but also for their clean, bold designs. They always use 18k gold and a nice amount of it to give each piece some weight and substance. I am absolutely obsessed with the pig!!!

Gem-A Jewelry Boutique

This is our shop in Bucktown- it's very sweet and cozy. If you are ever in Chicago, come and visit us!

Yayoi Forest

Yayoi is a very talented and spirited jewelry designer from Japan. Her style is organic, fluid and playful. Each piece makes me smile!

Estate Collection

After collecting estate jewelry for years, I am finally putting my collection in the store. These are 2 examples of pieces I have found: The locket is an Art Nouveau piece from 1910. It is 14k rose gold on a diamond cut 14k rose gold chain (to add a bit of flair!) The second piece is a pair of earrings I made from reclaimed Victorian friendship bracelet tags which were hand engraved with the recipient's name on the front and the friend on the reverse. They are made of sterling, with 18k earwires and a black spinel drop.

Ten Thousand Things