To the world at large, Los Angeles jewelers are a few famous men who deluge the city's red carpets with big, important bling. Beyond the spotlights, however, a more quietly influential group is taking hold.
They are L.A.'s indie jewelers, mostly young women who tend to describe themselves with a long strand of hyphenates: production assistant-stylist-jewelry designer, or photographer-artists' rep-jewelry designer. They got their start selling tiny turquoise pendants at in-home trunk shows, or hand-hammered earrings at farmers market booths. By chance or determination, they graduated to arty boutiques, where their offbeat designs have been discovered by celebrities, costume designers and stylists.
Whether the designers are weaving sterling twigs through wide suede wrist cuffs or fashioning beads into flower petal earrings, they have an artful but offhand way with semiprecious gems and unexpected materials. Two-tone pave wedding bands, crocheted gold wire earrings, resin disc necklaces, reworked vintage gold chains -- their work naturally complements the T-shirt-and-jeans culture.
Suzanne Felsen is one of the city's most accomplished start-from-scratch jewelers. She was working for her father, Sidney B. Felsen, at his print publishing business, Gemini G.E.L., when she decided to buy him a pair of cufflinks. Finding nothing suitable, she enrolled in a silversmithing class at Barnsdall Art Park and made them herself.
"It completely opened up my world," says Felsen, who was then in her late 20s. Soon she set up a tiny workshop in her father's studios and enrolled in community college to learn other techniques. Finally she moved to New York to study jewelry production at the Parsons School of Design. An apprenticeship with an L.A. goldsmith followed and Felsen was ready to go retail, with pieces such as those pave wedding bands.
But where? Felsen headed to Bergamot Station, the Santa Monica arts complex where her mother operates an art gallery. Felsen hired Koning Eizenberg Architecture to build a gallery-like space. It was a hit.
Barneys New York took notice and began selling her cufflinks in all their locations. And last year, Felsen rehired the architects to convert a 1920s Spanish house across from Gemini G.E.L. on Melrose Avenue into her second namesake boutique.
