LupRocks Gossip

The Jewels of Geneva

Of all the places I’ve visited on my travels around the gem and jewelry world, nowhere is the cult of luxury as palpable as it is in Geneva. The Swiss city is home to the United Nations, international banks and institutions of diplomacy and international cooperation, but to walk along the shores of Lake Léman, particularly at night when the neon signs affixed to the top of every building in town blaze with names such as Piaget and Patek Philippe, is to behold a place in thrall with luxury. And not just any luxury. A hub for the world’s finest stone-setters and watchmakers, Geneva is a city of jewels.

I was reminded of this last week, when I attended the Salon International de la Haute Horlogerie, or SIHH, an invitation-only event ruled by a coterie of 17 elite brands, most of them owned by the Richemont luxury group (think Cartier, IWC, Panerai). As a repeat visitor, I knew what to expect: a plush exhibition space of 24,000 square meters notable for its gourmet meal service and urbane ambience, buzzing with cigarette smoke and a low-key Babelian hum.

This year, however, things had changed—no cigarettes allowed, for starters. Far more significant was the show’s new timing. Typically held in early spring, following the start of Baselworld, SIHH had been moved to its new slot in mid-January due to a scheduling conflict at the Geneva Palexpo venue. I imagine organizers hadn’t planned on such a drastic change coinciding with a global economic crisis, but what can you do?

Personally, I didn’t mind the excuse to travel. I’ve got a few good friends who live in Switzerland and the new dates afforded me an opportunity to see them. They also gave me the chance to indulge my love of fondue, raclette and chocolate—Switzerland’s greatest exports, as far as I’m concerned.

But back to the jewels; in Geneva, they’re inescapable. I spent my final day in town hanging out with my friend, designer Sandra Müller. Born in Chile and schooled in Switzerland, she’s now a dyed-in-the-wool Californian who was visiting from LA in order to discuss a potential collaboration with Shahpour Jahan, the creative director of Jahan, a seventh-generation jewelry business with a flagship boutique located on Geneva’s famed avenue of luxury, Rue du Rhône.

We sat in Shahpour’s office overlooking the lake for an entire afternoon, as I modeled one necklace after another, each crazier, more gem-encrusted than the next. Jahan’s clients are the royals of Saudi Arabia, where weddings are incomplete without head-to-toe bling for every female guest, from the eldest generation on down, so you can only imagine the opulence.

“A person has a doctor, a lawyer,” Shahpour said, as he placed a floral collar of diamond and sapphire roses around my neck, “and we consider ourselves an advisor—someone to improve their jewelry capital.”

As I gazed out the window, to the city by the lake, surrounded by signs advertising more luxury brands—Bédat, de Grisogono—all I could think was, how fitting.

Books n' Baubles

Anyone who knows me well knows that, as much as I relish the finer things in life and immerse myself in the study of beautiful clothing, jewelry and accessories, I'm far more inclined to spend my hard-earned cash on books than I am baubles.  I was extremely saddened by the news on Tuesday that the legendary, two-time Pulitzer prize winning author John Updike had passed away, but I wasn't sure how I would make this topic relevant to our LupRocks.com blog readers....until I read yesterday's WWD.  The article highlighted some of Updike's most poignant quotes culled from two interviews they'd done with him, some of which are extremely relevant to any artist who can only hope to be as prolific as this gifted author,  and anyone who can relate to the idea of making a successful career out of doing something one really, really loves (like designing truly beautiful clothing, jewelry and accessories!).

 

"Being a writer has become a dream come true for me--like an answered prayer."  1997

"I'm a plugger...Writing does not require any drive--it's like saying a chicken requires drive to lay an egg."  1972

"I don't want to get into this thing of writing successful books.  I want to leave myself room to write an arcane and self-indulgent book.  That's the only kind that's interesting for anyone to read 20 years from now."  1972

Having Fun at the New York International Gift Fair!

Even though the weather in New York is miserable today and getting to the Jacob Javits Convention Center is one of the most impossible feats on a good day, from the moment I entered the New York International Gift Fair this morning I was delighted!  Not only did we find a lot of new designers who will soon be joining the site, we also developed some pretty lengthy personal wish lists....

Already checked off the top of my wish list are two amazing, crystal "rokki" bangles from Mexico City designer phuze.  As it turns out, I have exceptionally small wrists (and literally collapsable hands) and the company's founding designer Orfeo Quagliata gave me the Cinderella challenge and told me if the smallest of his bracelets fit me, I could keep them.  Guess what....they fit!!   I'm still coveting some of his rings, his quirky martini and shot glasses and, well, pretty much everything he makes, but I've got one item checked off my list!

We loved playing around at the Knock Knock booth and came up with lots of gift ideas (as well as a nagging desire to work for the company writing copy for books like "The Complete Manual of Things that Might Kill You").  Being jewelry girls at heart, we were really impressed with all of the jewelry we saw in truly alternative materials, like felt and rubber, and we loved the entire concept of Melissa Borrell Design's Pop Out jewelry.  On a non-site-related note, I must admit that I loved my G-rated demonstration of OhMiBod (look it up, I won't explain it here). 

Basically, we spent the day visiting with friends like the gals at Lori Bonn and our buddies at Envirosax, while the rest of our time was spent salivating over much of what we saw on the show floor.  But since it was offically work after all, look out for lots of new hot handbag, children's, jewelry and housewear designers on the site soon!!

Go Green!

I had the privilege a few years back to attend one of The Doneger Group's trend forecasting sessions and I've been a big fan of its creative director, David Wolfe, ever since.  Not only is David an engaging speaker, he also tends to be spot on with his predictions in both fashion and culture.  Today's WWD gave a brief review of some of David's predictions for Spring 2010. 

Primarily, he sited our new First Family as embodying the "colorful, pulled-together, classic dressing" that we'll be seeing in Spring of 2010, and noted "Spring 2010 will be the light at the end of the runway, when fashion comes to terms with our new reality."  Gone are the days of conspicuous consumption, meaning online shopping will be de rigueur as we take our shopping in the closet.  He also noted that the idea of flash in the pan "trends" in general will fade out, replaced instead with updating and replenishing our existing wardrobes, and re-embracing those trends like nautical, dress-for-success and Americana that aren't really trends at all.  The only exception to this "no new trends" rule is the green movement, not only as environmentally friendly but also in "floral prints, the color green, wood accessories and skins that evoke nature. 

Lucky for us, if you type "green" or "sustainable" into the LupRocks.com search bar, several designers come up.  Among them, some of our favorite designers, like Envirosax (everyone at Lup HQ is obsessed with these!), Lori Bonn (socially and environmentally responsible jewelry), and iWood Ecodesign Sunglasses. 

All of the designers who come up under the green category of our site are so fabulous and fun, one almost forgets she's "doing the right thing" in rocking them! 

Welcome Year of the Ox!

Today, January 26, marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year, one of the most important holidays in Chinese culture.  I'll leave it to my six year old niece to plan a party involving pictures of dragons and fireworks, red clothing and Chinese food, because we here at Lup H.Q. are more focused on the year's significance than the festivities involved, which we find particularly relevant given the current economic environment.  This year is the year of the Ox, which is a symbol of wealth and success through hard work and resilience.  Maybe it's just a coincidence that President Obama was born in the year of the Ox?  Or maybe we can just take it as a good omen?  In either case, let's all take advantage of the excuse, today and over the next couple of weeks, to celebrate the new year by spending time with our friends and family, celebrating our existing good fortune, and looking forward to working hard and prospering in the coming year.  If nothing else, you can always consider the Chinese New Year a second chance to take a crack at keeping to those New Year's resolutions you may have already fallen short on....

   

Weekend Cocktail Send-Off

I know the illustrious Victoria Gomelsky was supposed to submit her entry this Friday, but she's currently in Switzerland, and I'm sure she'll have lots of tales for us next Friday.  In the meantime, I'd like to, once again, thank Jeff Chenault for his inspiration with the weekend cocktail send-off.  Since you'd have to live under a rock to not feel even just a little bit Americana this week, so in that spirit, I give you the American as Apple Pie Home Baked Apple Pie Martini:

Baked Apple Pie Martini

Equal Parts:
Apple Pucker
Vanilla Vodka

Goldschlager - 1 count
ButterShots - 1 count

Shake with ice
Rim the glass with a Cinnamon and a little sugar mix.
Pour and enjoy!

Sentimentality is the Way

My entire day has been colored by my incessant "coverage" of the inaugural events last night (from the comfort of my couch, of course), and the overwhelming emotions yesterday mustered up.  I feel like Beyonce backstage at the Neighborhood Ball, ready to burst into tears at any second, which is why it's especially appropriate to report on one of the biggest trends we saw at the JANY Winter Show this past Sunday through Tuesday--sentimental jewelry.  While it's true that traffic was down overall, those designers that specialize in jewelry "with meaning" were slammed with business the entire three days.  Now I know that diamonds have long been considered gifts of love and therefore have inherent sentimentality, but I'm talking about more blatant displays of affection, like personalized charms from LupRocks.com designer Heather Moore Jewelry, or bespoke lockets from Monica Rich Kosann. 

It seems that if people feel like they're buying something for purposes other than adornment, they will feel less guilty about spending the money they still have.  Maybe this is a good message to send your customers?  It's not just a silk scarf, it's reminecent of the silk scarves your grandmother used to wear!  It's not just a handbag, its color identifies your political affliation....okay, I'm reaching here, but you get the idea. 

Now I have to go wipe my eyes, I just thought about yesterday again....

One Track Mind

While there are a lot of LupRocks.com related subjects that I could cover right now--happenings at the JANY Winter jewelry show at the Javits, or "our" girl Blake Lively on the cover of the February issue of Vogue looking ultra-glam, for example--like the rest of the world, I am currently completely consumed with all of the activity taking place in DC right now, and the momentousness of this day is over-riding anything design related that I might want to dish about.

So, since I know you don't come to LupRocks.com Gossip because we're political pundits, go ahead and read something more newsworthy!  While we could wax poetic about the First Lady's attire, and I'm sure moving forward we will, I'm going to tune in to New York Times and New York Magazine for all the news that I'm interested in hearing.  In the meantime, I'll leave you with some words from PRESIDENT Obama's speech earlier today that relates directly to you:

"Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished."

That means YOU dear designer!!

 

Photo AP

Weekend Cocktail Send-Off

In the spirit of Jeff Chenault's post from last week, and because it is so cold in New York City (we know, we know, mom, it's even colder in the Midwest), we thought we'd wrap up this bitterly cold week with some warm spirits....quite literally!  

I was looking online to find the perfect recipe for a Hot Toddy, but according to Wikipedia, a Hot Toddy is pretty much any alcoholic beverage served warm.  Since in my past life I was a bartender I figured I'd resort to my own devices and give you one of my personal recipes.  While there is nothing extraordinarily unique about this particular Hot Toddy, it does have its claim to fame in that I often made it for one of my regular customers, The Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen.  As any fan of his could tell you, Bruce is known for his marathon-length concerts, which leaves his famous voice in quite a state the next day, so he would often come in post-concert and say (all throaty and sexy) "Michelle, make me that thing you make me...." 

Below the recipe for the newly named Bruce Springsteen Hot Toddy:

One glass Chamomile tea (if you put a metal spoon in the glass before pouring in hot water, it will prevent the glass from breaking....or at least that's what I'm told, maybe you should use a mug!)
Generous helping of honey
Lemon juice squeezed from at least six lemon wedges
A splash of orange juice
A generous shot of Jack Daniels 

Serve with a smile and voila, winter chills (and throaty voice) begone! 

The Gift that Keeps on Giving!

LupRocks.com designers have gotten a few requests lately to send us product for gifting to various media.  We were amazed at the influx of hand bags, t-shirts, belts, sunglasses and, of course, jewelry that poured into our office.  In fact, it was due in large part to this enormous stockpile of goods that we called on Miss Randi Molfosy to help decorate our office.  So, armed with all of these goodies, we've been diligently reaching out to editors and costume designers in order to keep LupRocks.com top-of-mind for all of their upcoming projects.  Guess what....it works!  Not only do we have an ever increasing number of influencial media utilizing the site, but one LupRocks.com designer's creations, Kristin Celeste Designs, graced the red carpet on three-time Emmy Award winning actress Edie Falco at a promotional event for the highly anticipated Showtime series Nurse Jackie.  Congrats Kristin Celeste Designs!  And let this be proof to the rest of you that the generosity you're showing to our beloved media is working in your favor!