YazBerry Jewelry Collection: The Bohemians

The Bohemians Collection are worldly creatures. They are inspired by my travels to foreign lands. By my interactions with different cultures and constant personal study of textiles and design from ethnic traditions around the world. Some are Asian influenced, some are West-African influenced, some draw inspiration from my travels to Morocco. Open up the spice cabinet, shake on some berbere, join in a drum circle and have a little stir fry while you are at it. Mostly earrings, as they are so fun to make, but also some necklaces at times, such as the Incan Quipu inspired necklace below, inspired by my travels to Peru and climbing Machu Picchu with my wild imagination peering around corners. You can find The Bohemians on my Etsy shop and on my Facebook page. Are you inspired by a journey you took to a far off land and want me to create something to commemorate it? Fascinated by a near or distant culture? Let me know what you are thinking, I would enjoy creating a custom piece for you.

Mmm Special Fabric Gift!

I just spent the day in CT visiting some of my favorite people on the planet, Jim Bump, retired luthier/historic village reenactor/printer and active musician extraordinaire and Rachel Lewis, artist by profession and hobby and retired textile designer! Rachel gave me some wonderful vintage textiles from her collection and her mother's collection.

These pieces are really special as many are from the 1930's USA, others are from Rachel's mother's time in China (she was born there!) and are beautiful Asian textiles including a beautiful wall hanging, an antique Korean traditional gown, a large batik piece handmade in Indonesia in the 1960's, which is a work of art in itself as it is precise and there are no repeats in the design. Not to mention the silk from China from her mother's collection! I am honored to be the new guardian of such lovely pieces!(This is similar to the dress from Rachel's mother).

I had so much fun going through the textiles with Rachel because she shared the story attached to each piece. She also gave me some insight into her time designing the color palettes for textiles at Lowenstein's in NYC. The key when choosing colors is "spockle" (sparkle), i.e. a combo that pops when it meets your eye. They sold to the fashion industry so the goal was to catch the eye of designers.

Also interesting is that each graphic design was offered it at least three palettes: a pink/red/orange scheme, a blue/green/purple scheme and a "smot" (smart) scheme which featured neutrals like beige, black, white and navy.

What a fascinating afternoon! Thank you Rachel!