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Category Archives: Jewelry News
Another Shot: AK-47s as Jewelry
By THOMAS VINCIGUERRA
WHEN Cara Buono arrived at the Emmy Awards in September, nominated as best guest actress in a drama series for her role as Dr. Faye Miller in “Mad Men,” she wore a $150,000 political statement in her lobes. “These earrings,” she said, “are made from AK-47 gun metal.”
Ms. Buono’s husband, Peter Thum, is a founder, with John Zapolski, of Fonderie 47, an organization that converts what is perhaps the most widely distributed assault rifle into jewelry.
On a visit to Kenya in 2008, Mr. Thum, a leader in humanitarian efforts like Ethos Water, which finances water projects in underdeveloped countries, was struck by the profusion of AK-47s. An estimated 20 million of them are circulating in Africa, according to Mr. Thum, citing Small Arms Survey reports and data.
Jewel-Box Rooms and Baubles to Match
One of interior design’s most influential (and eccentric) figures, Ms. Brandolini burst out in a riot of color, material and motif more than 15 years ago. As laid out in “The World of Muriel Brandolini,” a lavish tome out from Rizzoli next month, her style may look au courant now, but in the midst of the safe, classic 1990s, it was like a bucketful of red paint tossed on a tasteful table setting.
“I was the only one using color!” she recalled last week in the Upper East Side town house she shares with her husband, Nuno Brandolini d’Adda, an Italian aristocrat and investment banker. It never occurred to her, she said, that color might be something to avoid. She had grown up in Vietnam and on Martinique, where vivid color was as natural a choice as Benjamin Moore Decorators White is here.
And color isn’t even the half of it. Scarcely are you in the front door when you find that the walls of the small entryway are, in fact, covered in tiny glass beads.
JCK 5: Jewels to Find in Dubai
Find these exhibitors at Dubai International Jewellery Week 2011 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre Nov. 10–13:
1. Pendant necklace in 14k gold with 0.14 ct. diamonds; $775; Meira T Designs, New York City; 212-398-0606;
Loving the Chambered Nautilus to Death
It is a living fossil whose ancestors go back a half billion years — to the early days of complex life on the planet, when the land was barren and the seas were warm.
Naturalists have long marveled at its shell. The logarithmic spiral echoes the curved arms of hurricanes and distant galaxies. In Florence, the Medicis turned the pearly shells into ornate cups and pitchers adorned with gold and rubies.
Now, scientists say, humans are loving the chambered nautilus to death, throwing its very existence into danger.
“A horrendous slaughter is going on out here,” said Peter D. Ward, a biologist from the University of Washington, during a recent census of the marine creature in the Philippines. “They’re nearly wiped out.”
The Best Time of Year to Buy Fine Jewelry
Summer may just be the best time to buy a diamond ring, but not for the reasons you would expect. Diamond prices tend to fluctuate with no regard for the weather or the seasons. What does change over the summer is demand.
Right before the winter shopping season, jewelers stealthily raise their prices and blame the market. Then, come the holidays, they offer a discount so that customers think they’re getting a deal, when they really are paying the same.
