When Parisi went to Vogue
This year's Vogue Festival at the Southbank centre was held on a fabulously sunny weekend in March. It seemed the whole of London's fashion crowd had turned out in all their glory to celebrate the worlds 'fashion bible'.
In among the stands offering make overs, manicures, catwalk shows and talks by some of the greatest names in fashion, was the Show and Tell event. An unparalleled opportunity to have your work appraised by some of the most influential fashion editors. This is what we had come all the way to London for.
Greeted by the lovely Fran Burns and Nura Khan, we presented the Elements Collection, talking them through the inspiration and origin of the pieces. We answered all sorts of questions, and were given some amazing pointers, including which stockists to approach, pricing advice and a whole host of other valuable nuggets. The encounter ended with an invitation to visit Vogue House to meet Vogue's jewellery editor Carol Woolton.
Fran and Nura were there to greet us at Vogue House and we were ushered to the boardroom. This was a very surreal experience! Imagine, presenting your collection in the Vogue boardroom! We were introduced to Carol, who was really encouraging and gave us some excellent advice regarding design integrity and staying true to your core values. We also met the Vogue Online team, talked through our plans for the future and how we could develop the collection.
It was a great experience. For a new brand to have this kind of guidance at the start of it's life is a once in a lifetime chance. It is also a testament to the Vogue team, who are global taste makers and influencers but are willing to give their support and advice to emerging new designers.
We have already put in to action some of the suggestions we were offered, and we were so excited when Fran actually bought one one of our pieces!
As it says next to our mention in the July Vogue edition, watch this space…….
One of my favourite parts of the jewellery making process is rendering a design as a tiny painted work of art. I love the almost draughtsman like quality of jewellers paintings, drawn to scale, with views of the different elevations, but brought to life with colour and depth.
My chosen tools for creating these minatures is textured pastel paper, designers gouache, various brushes, a geometry set, silence and a scented candle to set the mood.
The paper is very important. Pastel paper is dyed various colours, from buff right through to black. It helps to use coloured paper as it makes the gold look three dimensional and the gemstones sparkle!
Designers gouache is also the best paint medium (in my experience) as it can be applied opaque or thinned and treated as though it were water colour for a myriad of effects.
Once the painting is finished, it is used as the pattern for the finished piece.
We love hand made jewels at Parisi Jewellery. There's something so personal and intimate about a piece that has been designed and crafted, from scratch, by a human being.
Our new Elements Collection which launches soon, is all hand made and uses gemstones that are natural and unusual. For a sneaky peak, have a look at our Pinterest board:
http://www.pinterest.com/parisijewellery/elements-collection/
We were very pround and excited this week to announce that we are part of the official 'Made in Great Britain' campaign. This not-for-profit organisation has designed a marque that lets consumers know that the item they are buying is manufactured in the UK.
All of us at Parisi Jewellery are passionate about the long jewellery heritage of Great Britain. We want to celebrate the years of design and craftsmanship that have delighted and enchanted jewellery lovers the world over.
We are committed to always design and manufacture our pieces on these shores.
Did you know that Parisi Jewellery is named after the tribe of people that inhabited the area directly north of the river Humber before the Roman invasion? You don't get much more British than that.
I think it's safe to say that all bench jewellers are fanatical about their tools. Usually collected over a lifetime they are liked trusted friends, reliable and familiar.
I recently bought a book on The Cheapside Hoard exhibition at the Museum of London, an unbelievable collection of precious jewels from the 17th century found under some floorboards!
What stunned me most, apart from the dazzling array of jewels, was an engraving by Étienne Delaune, showing the interior of a jeweller's workshop. The image is dated 1576.
So many of the tools that were in use then are still used today. On the left is an apprentice drawing wire through a draw plate to reduce the gauge, this is still done in the same manner today. All the files, the tongs, the triangular pegs attached to the benches, the skins to catch filings and errant metal clippings are all very familiar to the modern jeweller.
I love the fact that handcrafted jewellery is produced in the same way today as it was all those centuries ago. Men in tights not withstanding.
