HOT Dallas

Boy, it sure was hot last week in Dallas.  Exhibiting at the Dallas Home and Gift Market was one thing, but the outside temps were over 100-degrees each day I was there.  Had a great time, opened some new accounts and met some great folks.  Oh yeah, and ate some really good food!

A big thanks to Kim Pettigrew and Georgina Weddell, the fabulous women who own in-detail, who hosted me in their show room.  As a result I was surrounded by beautiful things and lots of very nice showroom staff.

Interviewed in my Studio

I was fortunate to have Stewart Pittman of FOX8 News interview and film me working in my studio.  They posted it on their website... to watch it, click here.

Thanks Stewart for doing such a nice job, and to my friend Kevin Daniels for recommending it.

Here is the text of what they published with this:

GREENSBORO, N.C. - For the last five years, Judith Altman has spent her days in her studio on Friendly Ave., crafting one-of-a-kind jewelry that others will soon cherish. But it wasn't always like that for Altman, who spent time in senior management before following her dreams of designing jewelry.

"I like to think of them as something a woman buys and wears to express herself and her style," says Altman, who fashions large, distinctive pieces from gemstones and artifacts collected from around the world.

"It's just a personal passion that I've always had and wanted to do myself and found that it worked for me," she says.

And has it. Since launching her own line, Altman has sold her jewelry as far away as Saudi Arabia.

"In many ways, it has exceeded what I thought it would be and, in many ways, it's been enormously more challenging than I thought it would be," she says.

With her signature collection retailing for between $300 and $600, Altman sells most of her work in galleries, art museum stores and high-end boutiques across the country. But for Altman, the sale isn't savored as much as the connection to her clients.

"The most rewarding thing is to see someone putting a piece of my jewelry on. It's not just about me and my creative process, but now I've connected with another person and it makes them feel good, so that's the reward right there," she says.

Another reward for Altman is traveling the globe to find the many components her imagination calls for. Otherwise, you'll find her in her Greensboro studio, creating world-class jewelry made right here in North Carolina.

Musings

Waiting out the economic recovery, I notice that there are some behaviors and concerns on the part of the consumer that have shifted, and may live beyond the (hopefully) inevitable recovery. The fast paced, fast food, mass produced, high volume world just seems to have less appeal and there seems to be a growing and welcomed interest in local, crafted, individualized products and service providers.  I, of course, couldn't be happier!  There is clearly a greater interest in value and quality.  Cheap, mass produced products are less satisfying and seem almost cartoon-like now.  The process of finding locally made/grown/provided products is gratifying in and of itself. The exclusivity of a hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind product appeals to something deeper in us.  An interaction and relationship with a person who actually makes something - boutique winemaker, jewelry designer, artisan baker - draws us.  As a designer and creator of products that each hold a little bit of me in each of them, I am gratified by this shift.

JuJu Video

A few posts down I wrote about this new company and product called JuJu, jewelry for your furniture.  This is the brain child of Patricia Chrisley and Sheryl Bryan, who were kind enough to ask me to be their designer.  It was an incredibly fun project and I am excited about the next season of designs that we are starting work on.  Meanwhile they produced a short video of the launch at highpointMARKET....

Click here to watch the YouTube video!

Peace through Music

Artistic collaborations are wonderfully rewarding and they result in something so unique and inspiring.  Playing for Change is an extraordinary and inspiring musical collaboration.  Mark Johnson and a crew traveled the world recording fabulous street artists performing the same songs.  By letting each artist hear the other artist's recording and perform "with" the other artists they created virtual performances of these artists playing together.  These musicians never met... they were never even in the same place.  Recorded on five continents, these soundtracks are amazing in and of themselves. What makes it all the more amazing is the wonderfully produced video of the artists performing and the environments in which they sing (these guys are filmmakers so the video is fabulous). 

This is from their website:

Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race. And with this truth firmly fixed in our minds, we set out to share it with the world.

Click on their logo below and you will be linked to their website...watch them all and be inspired and entertained!

jewelry for you AND your home!

In a few days the Spring highpointMARKET starts. As always I will be at Suites at Market Square (M-320) with a large collection of new necklaces, earrings, bracelets, cufflinks and (new!) brooches. Stop by and shop - all wholesale prices and no minimum!

For the past year-plus I have had the pleasure of working with two very innovative women, Sheryl Bryan and Patricia Chrisley, on the launch of their new company, JuJu. They are offering a fabulous new product - jewelry for your home! Beautiful gem encrusted ornaments that you can drape over a headboard (or on an armoire, or mantel, or...anywhere) to add a gorgeous detail and focal point to a room. These pieces are encrusted with pearls, amethyst, garnets, turquoise...and are punctuated with carved pieces of jade and cinnebar. They are covered in hammered metals and lucious metallic printed leather.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on these designs and with the fabulous team that Patricia and Sheryl have pulled together. Hopefully you will see my signature on these pieces. I am certain that if you enjoy my jewelry you will enjoy these JuJus! These pieces are all individually produced and hand- made in the USA.

Their website is www.myjujustyle.com and they have a facebook page (become a fan!). They will be at highpointMARKET at Villas at Showplace, space 1101. So definitely stop by and see this exciting new product.

Meanwhile, here are a few photos.


This last photo is of a pair of curtain tie-backs with a hammered copper center (don't they look like cufflinks?). These are the result of an exciting design collaboration with Lyn Hurst of Lyn Hurst Designs. In addition to the JuJu furniture jewelry pieces, JuJu is offering a coordinated collection of headboards, cornices and tie-backs -- all jewelry-inspired and gemstone encrusted!

Really folks, these things are beautiful so if you are in High Point stop by Villas at Showplace, or just keep track of this on the web, on my blog, and in the inevitable media coverage.

The Journey to a Million Buddhas

I have just returned from a wonderful trip through southeast Asia and thought I would share some of my experiences. In some ways it is a foreign and far-away place, and in other ways travel there reminds us how small a world it really is!

I was particularly focused on spending some time with some of the ethnic minorities in northern Vietnam. Many of these hill tribes are famous for their silver work, and I have incorporated some of their jewelry components into my jewelry. So, we took a night train from Hanoi to Lao Cai on the Chinese border, and then rode for an hour up the mountains to Sapa (switch backs, dense fog, single lane with on-coming traffic - I really wondered if we would survive this!). From Sapa we trekked to Lao Chai, a Black Hmong ethnic minority village. From Lao Chai we trekked to Tavan, where the Giay ethnic minority hill tribe lives. Along the way we were joined by some of the ethnic minority women (wanting to sell their needlework and silverwork to us). Here you see us with our Northface backpacks next to some of the Hmong women carrying their basket "backpacks" and babies strapped on with blankets.

We spent most of the trip in Vietnam. First let me dispell any notions that you may have about the Vietnamese having bad feelings toward Americans. While the older Vietnamese don't want to talk about the war (they call it the American war), the Vietnamese in general have a particular affinity for Americans. They love Americans. In his wonderful book titled "Vietnam Now", author David Lamb says about the relationship between Vietnam and America: "...Americans and Vietnamese share an almost inexplicable bond. It is not the bond of natural friendship that Americans might feel for, say, Australians...rather it is something deeper and more mysterious. It is a liaison woven in tragedy and common suffering...perhaps as much as anything, the bond is rooted in the realization that the war changed the United States as much as it did Vietnam"

Now Vietnam is a country on a rising arc of development, with juxtapostions of old and new. Old women wearing their conical hats squat on the street and sell fruit and food. At the same time, whirling around them are millions of motor bikes and young Vietnamese on cell phones. More than two thirds of this country was born after 1975 and they are full of energy and drive.

By comparison our time in Laos was calm and quiet. Vietnam has a population of 85 million, Laos on the other hand, 5.5 million. Overall I called this trip "The Journey to a Million Buddhas", because I think I may have seen that many while visiting the multitude of Buddhist temples.

In Luang Prabang, Laos we had a guide who had spent over a decade as a monk, and is now a guide and teacher of meditation. As he brought us through the National Museum I commented on the spectacular silver pieces on exhibit from the last Royal reign which ended in 1975. He told me that this silversmith was still alive and had a studio in Luang Prabang. I asked if he could take me to see him, and in no time we were at the elder Thitpheng Maniphone's studio and shop. Thitpheng Maniphone had been the royal silversmith, reputed to have made many of the beautiful items in the National Museum, including the King's crown. The master, along with a number of assistants, were busy making silver vessels for Buddhist offerings. The entire vessel is decorated using the techniques of repoussé and chasing. This is a technique where the metal is decorated by hammering from the inside (repoussé) and outside (chasing). While repoussé is used to work on the reverse of the metal to form a raised design, chasing is used to refine the design on the front of the work by sinking the metal. It was truly awe inspiring to stand and watch him work. Here are a few photos:

This trip was enormously rewarding, challenging and curious. I enjoyed time with my family, and met interesting people along the way.

We trekked among the rice paddies...

and climbed to beautiful waterfalls...

We ate street food...

We traveled on planes, trains and boats...here on beautiful Halong Bay...

Vietnam is a country full of promise, filled with people who are hard working and industrious. Unfortunately there is still grinding poverty, disease and many undeveloped ways. But since the Doi Moi (the government's free market reforms) everyone is an entrepreneur of sorts and with this the standard of living is rising, albeit slowly. I was happy to see that so many artisans are relying on their skills to make a living. While there are factories going up, and most Vietnamese are farmers, there is still a great pride among these artisans that they are able to use their craft to support themselves and their families. I will close with pictures of various artisans - weavers, potters, silversmith, wood carver. They were truly inspiring.