Shari K. Stadel snowflake pendant, $125 (all photos courtesy of Space 85)
Space 85—a New York City collective of primarily women jewelry designers that also operates an online gallery of the same name—has unveiled a holiday-inspired collection featuring one-of-a-kind jewels from 19 designers based in the greater New York City area.
The “collection” is a charming mishmash of gorgeous, handmade jewelry ranging from pricey pieces in 22k gold with diamonds to affordable looks in sterling silver. Prices range from $125 to over $13,000.
Many in the Space 85 collective are one-person operations, but they’re bound to their fellow designers through their downtown New York City workshop, where they craft their pieces.
Elise Thompson, founder of Mejia Jewelry, started the collective after studying for 17 years in the wax studio where the workshop now resides, and where she enjoyed and appreciated her peers’ work. She spearheaded the online retail component for the studio, now simply called Space 85, to market the work of the tight-knit community directly to consumers.
The holiday collection features plenty of beautiful, all-season pieces, and seasonally appropriate jewels, too—including Shari K. Stadel’s icy snowflake pendant, $125 (pictured, top); Angelica Cammarota’s 18k gold, ruby slice earrings, $2,235 (see below); and Mejia Jewelry’s sterling silver 1.93 ct. green chrysoberyl ring, $1,850 (see below).
Space 85’s workshop-turned-gallery concept is indicative of a trend that’s been brewing in the jewelry world: small or rarified brands banding together to sell online, outside of traditional e-comm sites such as Twist and Shopbop (though many of them still sell on those, or those types, of sites). Jewelry designer Bibi van der Velden’s retail site, Auverture, stocks van der Velden’s own collection, but it also sells pieces from peers including Nak Armstrong, Silvia Furmanovich, and Tomasz Donocik. And jewelry public relations/communications firms are also doing retail: New York City’s Muse showroom has debuted a holiday pop-up shop for its brands, and Los Angeles’ For Future Reference has a brick-and-mortar that retails its brands alongside vintage jewelry in New York’s Hudson Valley.
In these topsy-turvy times, jewelry is selling well—and in ways previously uncharted.
Source: JCK 10-11-2020
