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Wynn Hall Jewelry - My exclusive bio of this must-see New York jewelry designer

Read below for a bio and insider facts of Wynn Hall, an up-and-coming jewelry designer, in her words! She's an amazing jewelry designer and her pieces are truly unique... be sure to check out some more of her jewelry at the links below!

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One of the first pieces of jewelry I made was a flower ring. I would make a thin, vertical slit in a clover flower’s stem and loop the bottom of the stem through that opening. Slip it on my finger and done. They were sweet smelling, easy to make, and very special, even without exclusivity. Pretty much everyone I knew made and wore them.

I was also into, well, I still do it, wrapping seaweed around my wrists, balancing small shells on my hands and fingers, twisting thin branches into rings.  So much of what’s already there looks beautiful on. It’s hard to beat gorgeous flowers tucked behind an ear.

I don’t try to compete with nature, but I do get a lot of inspiration from it. Sometimes I recreate an object, and sometimes there’s a mood and a story I want the jewelry to have, so I’m interpreting something I’ve seen. The shell bracelet and ring came about because of a family trip to the beach. Most of my family is in New Orleans, and I’m in New York, so we decided to meet in the middle, North Carolina, and spend a week at the beach. I wanted to make my mom a birthday present about the trip, something to do with shells, so after lots of sketches I came up with a smooth, curved bangle that had a little secret interior. I like contrasts, even contradictions, so I made the interior rough. And since that looked cool I decided to have the interior plated in black rhodium, which added more contrast, more significance, and an amazing look to the pieces. Now I’m plating the interiors with gold, which is blowing my mind, it’s so pretty.

My first art is acting, and as much as I love being an actor I was looking for what I created. Like, literally. Acting doesn’t produce a product that you can hold and feel and lick, smell, taste. Films, taped performances, etc. don’t count for what I’m talking about. It was personal, really, maybe not for everyone to understand. There is a funny similarity, though-castings! I had no idea.

A few years ago I took a beginner jewelry-making class, working with sterling silver to make a ring, a keychain and a pair of earrings. After that I took an intermediate class and then went to Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina for a two-week concentration in metals with Kiwon Wang. Since Penland I’ve continued my studies in New York, and now also study and work with wax to produce my pieces. Having a metals background is very useful, because I like to continue the design of the jewelry after it’s cast.

I’ve got a signature piece, called the Two-Finger Flower. Starting where I started! The flower’s bud rests in a way that allows the petals to drape over two fingers. The ring was inspired by hip-hop two-finger rings that I wanted to put my own spin on. And I love old-school glamour too. So it’s an unexpected but unique and beautiful mix of styles. Which is how my line is developing so far, and it’s fun and exciting to create more.

Next up is my Rock Roots collection, starting with Louisiana. I’m rocking my home state, y’all. The pendants are in sterling silver, and one is oxidized so that it’s a blackish grey (a political statement- how could I not, with the awful oil spill) and the other is plated in gold, which is how is dear my home is to me. More states to rock coming soon!  

For more on Wynn Hall Jewelry, please visit these sites:

WynnHallJewelry.com
http://www.wynnhalljewelry.com/

Wynn Hall Jewelry on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wynn-Hall-Jewelry/336332221240
   
Wynn Hall Jewelry on Etsy.com
http://www.etsy.com/people/WynnHallJewelry

Wynn Hall Jewelry in Ready Made Magazine
http://readymade.com/blogs/extras/2010/02/04/who-do-you-heart-sweepstakes/

 

I know I shouldn't...

But I kind of love this...

I want my ideeli!! Roberto Cavalli edition

Roberto Cavalli lives and breathes luxury: from his lavish villa in Tuscany to the A-listers he dresses (and calls friends). A native of Florence, Cavalli hails from an artistic family, and studied textiles at a local art institute (and even before graduating, his exotic knit prints were raising eyebrows throughout Europe). Everything in Cavalli's life is fabulous—especially his designs. Each item he creates captures his luxe lifestyle, and Roberto Cavalli watches are no exception. Incorporating the signature Cavalli attention to vibrant colors and metal accents, each timepiece is poised to instantly up your chic quotient, and provides superior functionality. And lest we forget from whom these watches hail, there is also a dose of playfulness that speaks to Cavalli's celebration of la dolce vita. Simply put, to wear Roberto Cavalli is to feel as if you have arrived.

ideeli prices for this event start at $69

Don't forget to use my special ideeli code here!

Happy Birthday Net-a-porter!

I heart you.

Watch my ABC interview for my role as Sunita in Look Closer

Watch my ABC interview for my role as Sunita in Look Closer

Rumor Mill: MTV Cancels The City

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised... it's been kind of a bore this season... but I do heart the girls...

But don't fret, it is just a rumor...
 

From Fashionista

Rumor has it that MTV has canceled (seemingly) successful scripted reality series The City. The current season, which airs on Tuesdays at 10.30pm EST, will be its last.
The City, a spin-off of the The Hills, which was a spin-off of Laguna Beach, documents the “life” of Whitney Port, a young designer trying to make it in New York. It mostly takes place at real-life fashion industry companies, including Kelly Cutrone’s public relations firm People’s Revolution and Elle magazine, where main characters Erin Kaplan and Olivia Palermo “work.” (Kaplan does indeed work full time at Elle, Palermo does not.)
In general, we’re a bit surprised by this news.
The City seems genuinely popular, and even if it doesn’t pull in ratings equivalent to those of The Hills (which is also ending this season), it’s much buzzier. For a brand like MTV, it seems like it’d be worth sacrificing some ratings for press.
But we guess that’s not the case in this circumstance. We’re also guessing that, Palermo, who has become a celebrity outside of her work on The City, is “over” the show, as is Whitney Port, who is very serious about her fashion career, even if the rest of the world isn’t.

From the Cut

Whitney Port Denies The City’s Cancellation

Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images

This morning, Fashionista reported that The City had been canceled. While a source told us otherwise, Whitney Port, ever the savvy social networker, took to her website after an alarming number of inquiries from fans as to the show's demise. She wrote:

To my friends and fans,
I want to clear the air and let you all know that the rumors that have been circulating about The City being cancelled are NOT true! When I checked my Twitter and Facebook pages this morning, I was overwhelmed with your kind words and support. I am 100% committed to the show and thank you all for being the best fans! Now, let's show our love for The City and rock this week!!! Tune in tomorrow night LIVE to MTV @10:30.
xoxo,
Whit

But before we rock this week with her, Racked found some more evidence that seems to point to the rumor's falsehood.
The blog reports that two City producers were casting at Surf Lodge in Montauk on Saturday night for a new girl. Racked wonders why they'd cast if the show has been canceled. They also hear from a "very reliable source" that Olivia plans to go on a "press trip with an accessories company" to Berlin next week, which sounds like good fodder for the show. However, Olivia ginned up a jewelry line with Roberta Freymann, so the trip might be for that.

How cool is she?

Jazz prodigy Esperanza Spalding!!!

Kind of the coolest chick I've seen in a long time... I'll have my eyes out for more on her!!

Florence and the Machine!!!

I love love love Florence and The Machine!! So melodic and authentic... thoughts? Read below for her bio!! Also going to make the obvious connection to Kate Nash, Lily Allen, etc...

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Let’s talk about magic. Because music, at its best, is a kind of magic that lifts you up and takes you somewhere else. “I want my music to sound like throwing yourself out of a tree, or off a tall building, or as if you’re being sucked down into the ocean and you can’t breathe,” says Florence Welch. “It’s something overwhelming and all-encompassing that fills you up, and you’re either going to explode with it, or you’re just going to disappear.”

Florence writes her best songs when she’s drunk or has a hangover, because that’s when the freedom, the feral music comes, creating itself wildly from the fragments gathered in her notebooks and in her head. “You’re lucid,” she explains, “but you’re not really there. You’re floating through your own thoughts, and you can pick out what you need. I like those weird connections in the universe. I feel that life’s like a consistent acid trip, those times when things keep coming back.”

Florence herself is a mass of contradictions: she’s tough yet she’s terrified, a bundle of nerves and passion, of darkness and pure joy. “I feel things quite intensely, which is why the music has to be so intense. I’m either really sad or really happy, I’m tired or completely manic. That’s when I’m at my most creative, but it’s also dangerous for me. I feel I could write some good songs, or break some hearts. Or tables. Or glasses.”

As a performer she can seem fearless, but she’s also far too quick to pass judgement on herself. This is the woman, after all who got into Camberwell art college by making a huge floral sign telling herself ‘You are a twat.’ She says she’s a geek, who loses all control when in love. She’s also something increasingly rare and precious in a time of karaoke pop: an artist who has found her own, authentic voice.

Her soaring, epic vocals, quirky melodies and self-contained musical world have already won her the 2009 Critics Choice Award at the Brits. Some compare her to Kate Bush. You’ll also find touches of Tom Waits and Nick Cave in her dark visions, and if you heard a little of Bjork too, she’d find it a compliment. But mainly, Florence is out on her own: an exhilarating place to be, she points out, but also a little scary.

Her debut album ‘Lungs’ is made of harps, choirs, drums, elevator shafts, bits of metal, love, death, fireworks, string quartets, stamping, sighing, strange electronic wailing, lambs, lions, sick, broken glass, blood, moon, stars, drink, coffins, teeth, water, wedding dresses.. and the silences in between. The songs are full of Gothic imagery, of fairytale flights of fantasy, and although much has been read into her lyrics, Florence says it’s usually simple. “Everything is about boys!” she laughs. “The whole album is about love – and pain. People see my lyrics as crazy, but to me it’s an honest, heartfelt album. I didn’t set out to be wacky. I just want it to be emotive.”

Florence grew up in Camberwell, south London, the oldest of three children. One of her earliest musical memories is standing on top of the trunk where her dad kept his vinyl collection, dancing with him to the Rolling Stones. She started singing along to Nina Simone and Dusty Springfield at home, expanded her vocal range with arias, then became a pre-teen skatepunk before getting lost in the Camberwell art college squat party scene. It’s an eclectic mix, but for her, the common thread is always the emotion. “Anything that has real feeling in it always excites me. Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change is Going To Come’, Eva Cassidy singing ‘Wade In The Water’, even Rhianna’s ‘Umbrella’ – I’m obsessed with music. I’ll play Beyonce, Lil Wayne, Bob Dylan’s ‘Hurricane’, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Going Down’.

Florence found her own space by going out to clubs and pubs, by singing onstage and in her bedroom. By the time she left school, she’d already written songs like ‘Kiss With A Fist’, and knew she wanted to make music but not how to go about it. So after a year working behind a bar she went to art school, making tents under the desk to sleep off her hangovers while trying to convince her tutors she was an installation.

It wasn’t until she wrote the haunting ‘Between Two Lungs’ that it all came together. Instead of percussion, Florence pounded the studio walls with her hands. She built the melody on the piano even though it’s not an instrument she knows how to play, and recorded the backing vocals first, before writing the top line. It’s bonkers and totally unconventional, but of course it is also glorious – a strange but yearning song about losing yourself in love.   “I’d found my voice, and I just felt euphoric,” she recalls. “It’s been a real process of me learning that the way I wanted to do it was actually the right way. This whole album has been about having faith in myself.”

As for The Machine, it’s a flexible beast. It can go right down to Florence and a drum kit or a piano, but right now it’s a seven-piece band including long-term collaborators Rob Ackroyd (guitar), Chris Hayden (drums), Isabella Summers (keyboards) and Tom Monger (harp). “I’ve worked with most of them for a long time and they know my style, know the way I write, they know what I want.”

Live, Florence and The Machine become an entirely different beast. No two performances are ever alike, and clad in clothes often culled from local second-hand shops that day, Florence goes at it like a woman possessed. “It’s just this sense of total freedom,” she says. “It sounds so cheesy, but I want to touch people. Not in a weird way. I just want to help them feel what I’m feeling.”
 

Bio from http://florenceandthemachine.net