2020-05-01_Lapidary_Journal_Jewelry_Artist

(Joyce) #1
By Deborah Yonick,
jewelry style expert

POLKA DOTS MADE AN UNUSUALLY
strong showing in the spring-summer
2020 ready-to-wear lines, peppered
liberally through the collections of
Tory Burch, Kate Spade, Carolina
Herrera, Michael Kors, and Tommy
Hilfi ger, to name just a few.
Peppy and positive, polka dots
have always been considered a pat-
tern staple, but had taken a back
seat the past few seasons to animal
prints and plaids. Trend trackers,
however, started noticing last July
the popularity of polka dots ris-
ing, from runways and red carpets
to streetwear like the Zara polka
dot dress that went viral with mass
consumers.
How fi tting to fi nd that the jewelry
artists of the American Jewelry De-
sign Council (AJDC), in their annual
2019 design challenge, chose polka

dots as the inspiration to drive their
themed creations.
Twenty-nine member artists cre-
ated a piece for the project that
they shared with each other at their
September 2019 retreat in Austin,
Texas. Since 1995, AJDC has hosted
a theme project, where members
of the group are given one word or
concept idea that has been voted on
by a committee. Each member is to
interpret the word or concept in any
way they choose, which Diana Vin-
cent, project committee chair, says is
always a challenge for everyone.
“The theme pushes our members
to think beyond the work they’ve
been doing and the way they’ve
been thinking,” Vincent describes,
noting that the polka dots concept
inspired her to visualize a striking
pear-shaped chrysocolla drusy she
PH

O
TO

S:
C

O
UR

TE

SY

A

M
ER

IC

A
N^

JE

W

EL

RY

D

ES

IG

N^

CO

U
NC

IL

Trends


has had for seven years, waiting to
reveal itself in the right design, as
the body of a fantasy moth framed
by silver and 18K gold wings dotted
in small, round turquoise, moon-
stone, opal, peridot, and diamond
accents. The project, she says,
invites designers to a place in their
mind they’d never have gone on
their own, providing the benefi t of
discovering new personal ideas.
After the initial “wow” factor from
seeing each fi nished piece, the best
part of the artist retreat is unpack-
ing how each designer created
something so diff erent from one
another on the same theme, says
Vincent, who describes the experi-
ence as an empowering show-and-
tell among peers.
The history of polka dots is
fi lled with colorful images of song

CONNECTING THE


DOTS


Polka dots are trending big in
fashion and jewelry design

KA DOTS MADE AN UNUSUALLY
g showing in the spring-summer
dt li d

dots as the inspiration to drive their
themed creations.
T t i b ti t

Susan Helmich
Lucky Ladies Ring
Hand-carved coral, black jade,
sterling silver
PHOTO: SARA REY Zoltan David
Polka Dot Pendant
Peruvian pink opal, pink
sapphires, diamonds,
palladium, platinum
PHOTO: PATTI DAVID

18 LAPIDARY JOURNAL JEWELRY ARTIST


18 Trends_PolkaDots_MayjJune20.indd 18 3/16/20 3:34 PM

Free download pdf