Sunday, November 22, 2009

Welcome!

Welcome to my brand new blog! I'll be posting images of my necklaces and let you know about my upcoming shows. I started making necklaces about five years ago and learned how to string beads from my dear friend, Babette Sughrue. At first I designed necklaces as gifts for my non-profit clients to give to their volunteers and participants. It was a privilege to create necklaces for the emancipated foster youth who were helped on their journey by Turtle Nest Village. So being a fundraising consultant to non-profits helped me find my creative outlet - better late than never!

I've always had a growing collection of unusual beads and stones from all over the world that my father, Eliot Elisofon brought back from his exotic travels: mummy beads from Egypt, old amber and trade beads from Mali, ivory from The Congo, jade from Asia, Mexican milagros, etc. I'm always looking for unusual beads and more recently, unique vintage pieces to incorporate into my designs. Half the fun is THE HUNT.

One of my inspirations is the fashionista, Iris Apfel, whose couture clothing mixed with extraordinary ethnic jewelry was showcased in the exhibition, "Birds of a Feather" , shown at the Met and at the Norton Museum, here in West Palm Beach. I designed a collection of Apfel inspired necklaces that sold well at the Norton Museum Shop and then did my first Georgia O'Keeffe inspired collection for them.

That's all for now...please check back again soon.