The Big Reveal!

When we last left my heroic story of following breadcrumbs ;-P, I shared that I’m working on a new collection. A collection about perception and truth and optics and technology and my dad and sustainability and beauty and value and “simply cool” objects. I’ve been holding this project close to my heart and tending to it with a lot of love and care. I’ve felt protective of it. In a world where things can often fall flat as soon almost as soon as they take flight, it feels vulnerable to share a new idea.

But I turned 50 this week. And it really feels true to me that some new measure of confidence (or audacity or maybe just thicker skin) comes with age. The past few months have brought me a deeper sense of calm and quiet confidence. And mostly now, I just feel really excited to share what I’ve been working on.

As I explained last week, the concept for this collection came to me as a series of breadcrumbs, the first of which was my love of a good “wink.” You can read the first 2 parts of the story on my website.

I told you that the 2nd breadcrumb was the rediscovery of this necklace I made when I took my first jewelry class at MICA, in Baltimore, about 30 years ago. Traveling back to Baltimore in February brought up so much nostalgia for a time in my life before smart phones and social media. But I also told you that there was a little clue here in this photo for what I am working on now. Did you catch it? (Look at the bottom left corner)

One evening, during this recent trip to Baltimore, I spotted a bag of Cracker Jacks in a convenience store and found myself idly wondering if they still come with prizes. And then it dawned on me: there might be some of those prizes out in the world that were blinking eyes! A quick Ebay and Etsy search turned up a bunch. A bit more research informed me that the company (Vari Vue) which invented this technology—patented by them in the 30’s as “lenticular displays”—had been right here in upstate NY!

I spent the next several weeks hoarding every variety of winking eye I could find, as well as several other variations of this wonderful invention, popularly called “Winkies” or “Winkie Blinkies.” I can’t really explain the feeling I had in my heart about bringing some of these deeply nostalgic objects into my studio. They hit so many of the goals I have for my work: sustainable (I’m not having new ones made, just reusing the ones which are already out there), beautiful, evocative, playful and simply cool.

I love that they actually fit in pretty seamlessly with my design vocabulary, but they are obviously special. I love how using them makes some commentary on how we determine value. I love that they are an early form of technology and play so much with perception. I love that they reference a time in my life when things were less complicated. I love that they are flirty and playful and literally WINK!

I have a bunch more of them on my bench with plans for the first brooches I’ve ever made as well as some more elaborate necklaces, along the lines of the charm necklaces which took over my elementary and middle schools in the 80’s. I’m planning to launch the first group of these new designs before the end of the month, so stay tuned for details. And, if you’re on IG, I plan to post some videos of these treasures in motion soon. I’d love to hear what you think of this developing collection.