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Jewelry
Accessorizing the City
Top Local Designers Give a New Twist to Jewelry This Season
By Jennifer Maciejewski
It’s that time of year again. From the company holiday party to the New Year’s Eve gala, your little black dress is in for a workout. But showing up at every event in the same old thing can feel, well, a bit boring. Luckily, you can create a unique look for each gathering without ditching the dress. With everything from fun pieces to elegant designs in their collections, Atlanta’s jewelry designers craft the accessories you need to get your money’s worth out of your old standby.
To find out what inspires their creations and discover what’s hot for the holidays, Points North caught up with two top Atlanta-based jewelry designers: Mark Edge, owner of Mark Edge Jewelry, and Lee Lesley, who co-owns Turq Jewelry with her partner Katherine Mulford.
Trendy, Yet Timeless
Unlike standard necklaces, which typically consist of a simple pendant on an 18-inch chain, the jewelry designed by Lesley and Edge combine a variety of stones, crystals, pearls and even suede to create accessories that are off the beaten path — in an elegant, not bizarre way. In fact, their sought-after designs have been spotted around the necks of everyone from Meredith Vieira and Alyssa Milano to Courteney Cox Arquette and Drew Barrymore.
“When Kat and I are designing the pieces, we always push ourselves to do something that we haven’t seen yet,” Lesley said. “We want to be the trendsetters, not the followers. When we get together and design, we think about what we want, what we would wear, what our friends would wear. We use combinations of colors and materials to come up with a design that is trendsetting but still classic, not something that you don’t want to wear anymore after a season.” The duo even names the pieces in the Turq collection after their friends, matching their varied personalities with each item to help define the line.
Like Lesley, a sense of timelessness is a key aspect of jewelry design for Edge. “I like to think of my work as wearable art,” Edge said. “You wouldn’t buy a painting for your home and say, ‘I wouldn’t hang that except in the fall.’ My jewelry is the same way. The fall collection tends to be a little warmer, with more fall colors and gold, but I certainly use gold in the spring as well. They are pretty seasonless.”
This season, messy is in, a trend that lends itself to the creation of asymmetric pieces that play with materials in unexpected ways, such as combining smooth and faceted beads or using chain as a design element.
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Though their pieces retain an air of timelessness, the designers stay in the know about what’s in fashion, often incorporating those elements into their collections. This season, messy is in, a trend that lends itself to the creation of asymmetric pieces that play with materials in unexpected ways, such as combining smooth and faceted beads or using chain as a design element. Due to their flexibility, lariats complement the style as well; wearers can either wrap one around their wrist several times or tie a loose knot to create a long necklace, the perfect accompaniment for a bulky sweater.
“When I am designing, I always try to think up really unique designs, and I am usually six months ahead of the curve,” Edge said. “I think that comes from travel, from looking at people on the street. I go to Europe at least once a year, and I’m in New York often, so I really keep up with what’s going on in many different arenas. I notice when I see something fresh, and then I do my own thing to it, adding my twist, my spin.”
With handmade jewelry, customers may be able to add their own twist to a piece as well, changing the stone’s color or texture to match their taste. In fact, brides-to-be often hire Lesley to custom design their bridesmaids’ gifts. Though some know exactly what they want, others opt to send Lesley a swatch of fabric and have her recommend a few necklace designs that complement the dress. Either way, the bridesmaids appreciate the result; unlike the dress, the necklace is something that they’ll be able to wear again and again.
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Beyond Boutiques
Of course, wearing the same jewelry too often might come with a price — imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, after all. According to both Edge and Lesley, people wearing their jewelry frequently find that strangers stop them on the street to ask, “Where did you get that?” And while many women still head to local boutiques to buy their jewelry, more and more often, they answer, “I bought it online.”
It’s no secret that Internet shopping is on the rise and for time-pressed consumers, shopping online makes perfect sense. With high-speed Internet, people can quickly browse through several stores’ worth of merchandise to find what they’re looking for, often in less time than it would take for them to drive to the first shop.
Yet, buying jewelry remains a very personal experience. Though you can get a fairly good idea about whether a piece will complement your frame by reading its dimensions or match your style by enlarging the picture to take a closer look, you don’t know for certain that it will work until you try it on. To ensure that you end up with what you were expecting, both Edge and Lesley offer customers the opportunity to return items purchased on their Web sites. “I don’t want anybody to feel like they are stuck with Mark Edge jewelry,” Edge explained. “I want them to love it. If they don’t, I completely understand. Sometimes you put on the earrings and they are just too long. So, we’ll take them back.”
For Edge, making his collection available online is a relatively recent development. After all, Mark Edge Jewelry got its start more than 20 years ago when the designer, in the ninth grade at the time, began selling his creations to stores. Not so for Lesley and Mulford, who originally teamed up to open a Web design firm; Turq Jewelry was unexpectedly born online.
“We wanted to design e-commerce Web sites and brochures for small businesses, like Turq Jewelry,” Lesley explained. “So, we built the site originally as a prototype to show clients what they could have. Making jewelry was a hobby anyways, and if it sold a piece here and there, that would be nice to have, but it wasn’t the focus of our business. We sent the prototype to our email list of family and friends, and then it took off from there. The sales started coming in literally overnight. We were lucky because everyone forwarded it to their email lists; within a week, we started getting orders from people that we didn’t know. It was so well received that we decided to hold off on the Web design business and focus on jewelry, which we love making and designing. It quickly became a fun job to have.”
Hot Holiday Picks
Whether you’re giving or receiving, a handcrafted piece of jewelry may offer just the right touch this holiday season. Though they say it’s better to give than to receive, choosing the perfect piece for a friend or loved one can be a bit tricky. After all, tastes vary widely. To play it safe, opt for a timeless piece, such as a pair of all-metal earrings, or one that emphasizes the colors of the holidays by incorporating pearls, crystals or garnets.
If you’d like a bit more guidance, Lesley will walk you through the selection process. “Men love us during the holidays,” Lesley said. “Our clientele goes from 90 percent female/10 percent male to the reverse on the holidays.” Whether you walk in with a picture of your loved one in hand or simply give a general description of her features, Turq Jewelry’s creators can help you narrow down their collection by pointing you toward pieces that match her style. And if you choose something that’s close, but not quite right, don’t worry. Many shops, including Turq Jewelry, relax their return policies at this time of the year, giving you ample time to exchange the piece for something that better suits her taste.
To take the guesswork out of holiday shopping, have your loved one browse both designers’ collections online. When she finds jewelry that intrigues her, she can click on a link, sending pictures of the desired objects directly to your inbox. Emailing several options helps to keep the element of surprise, and the hints make it much simpler for you to pick out the perfect gift. It
sure beats making the mistake of giving her a mixer.
For More Information
Turq Jewelry
404-685-9818
www.turqjewelry.com
Mark Edge
404-237-3040
www.markedge.com
The Ultimate Shopping Fix
Looking for a unique gift for someone special? If so, head to one of Atlanta’s fun-and-funky shops where you can find all of the latest fashions, from shoes and handbags to jewelry and clothes. Here are several of our designers’ favorites to get you started. Enjoy the hunt!
Sandpiper
City Walk
227 Sandy Springs Place
Atlanta, GA 30328
404-255-7878
Vinings Jubilee
4300 Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30339
770-433-2989
www.shopsandpiper.com
Lena Larose
9700 Medlock Bridge Road
Suite 116
Atlanta, GA 30349
678-957-9336
Peridot
514 E. Paces Ferry Road
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-261-7028
The High Museum
1280 Peachtree St. NE
Atlanta, GA 30309
404-733-4400
www.high.org
Ginger Howard Selections
3164 Peachtree Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30305
404-869-0115
www.gingerhowardselections.com
The Fickle Manor
1402-4 N. Highland Ave. NE
Atlanta, GA 30306
404-541-0960
www.ficklemanor.com
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