Saturday, April 23, 2011

Lucite: Redux

Lucite. If you read my blog, you know it's my passion. Yes. If you gave me a choice between lucite and diamonds, I'd chose the lucite. No kidding. Yes, I mean the clear plastic stuff. You may call it plexiglass. Either way, it's the same stuff. What lucite has that diamonds don't have is the ability to conduct light. Let a bit of light hit some lucite and the whole thing lights up like Times Square.

Developed (probably, but not certainly) by DuPont. The first acrylic safety glass (lucite) was mass produced in 1936. They used it to make submarine periscopes, machine gun turrets, canopies and windshields during the war. One of the first peace time applications they found for it was the making of jewelry and it's been variously hot and cold in jewelry circles ever since.

Right now, baby is it hot. It is so hot that places like Nieman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue are asking hundreds for lucite jewelry (some of which you can find acceptably copied for under $10 on eBay), and designers like Dolce and Gabanna are draping their models in it before pushing them down the runway.

I'm lucky. Through the coincidence of writing about my passion for lucite before, I got to know one of America's foremost lucite artists, Judith Hendler. Judith Hendler is to lucite what Lalique was to glass. No one else can begin to do what she does and when they try, they don't do it nearly as well. Through our correspondence I was lucky enough to get a peak at her newest collection, and lucky enough to be able to tell you about it.

But she wasn't always a lucite artist. She started out as a big paper sculpture artist, and at the last minute she needed some jewelry to wear for an opening. She reached into her furniture designer's husband's scrap heap, and created a necklace out of what she found there. From there, as they say, the rest is history.

Behold:





Bold. Geometrical. Graphic. Colorful. Playful. Gorgeous. There's a piece for every mood and every occasion. She designs her jewelry for a certain woman. A woman with a clear sense of style. A woman with a good sense of proportion and color. A woman with chic.

And perhaps even more exciting is the work she's doing for men:

Bracelets.


Simple. Understated. Ornamental without sacrificing masculinity.

Neckware.


Strong. Decisive.

And... the best...

Cuff-links



An elegant man cannot have too many cuff-links.

So I am pleased to present her work to you. You may find it at the stores mentioned above, on eBay. on Facebook, and I was also able to find some of her work at Jazzle Dazzle.

Go. Look. Enjoy. Buy.

Happy Shopping!!!!

Second Hand Roze


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