1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,600 Welcome to Jewelry as your side hustle with Sugar Gay Yisper and I'm Sugar Gay Yisper. 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:10,600 So welcome. 3 00:00:10,600 --> 00:00:12,000 I'm so glad you're here. 4 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,400 This is going to be a little something different. 5 00:00:14,400 --> 00:00:20,800 Usually I interview other people that are in the jewelry business or a business adjacent, 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:23,000 somebody that might be helping a jewelry business, that kind of thing. 7 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:24,800 You want to be in my podcast? 8 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:26,200 Just shoot me an email. 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:34,200 Today I saw something that kind of was like really interesting. 10 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:38,840 And if you go bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, and you go to the very end, you're going to see 11 00:00:38,840 --> 00:00:44,000 how I was, I was adjacent. 12 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,880 Like I'm not part of the start, but I'm like right here. 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:52,320 And it's like a really big part of my personal journey. 14 00:00:52,320 --> 00:00:54,480 So let's just jump in. 15 00:00:54,480 --> 00:00:55,960 I'm a very curious person. 16 00:00:55,960 --> 00:00:57,440 I'm always reading everything. 17 00:00:57,440 --> 00:01:01,320 And if I'm reading something, I'm going to like click on it and I'm going to find out 18 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:03,840 more if it's something that's interesting to me. 19 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,440 I don't even know how this story came to me. 20 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:07,800 I do. 21 00:01:07,800 --> 00:01:13,760 It was a picture of a necklace, a really amazing necklace. 22 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:16,560 It was one that was like worn right here. 23 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:20,400 It was all done out of aquamarines and diamonds. 24 00:01:20,400 --> 00:01:23,400 They call it a paru, paru, paru. 25 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:24,400 I don't know. 26 00:01:24,400 --> 00:01:25,720 It's a French word for this kind of a necklace. 27 00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:28,800 It's a little bit different necklace. 28 00:01:28,800 --> 00:01:29,800 And it has a great story. 29 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:35,040 And so I started clicking around and I'm like, wow, this is really a great story because 30 00:01:35,040 --> 00:01:43,240 it's like so much interwoven into the jewelry journey today. 31 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:49,800 And I'm just so excited to share this with you because it's a really old story. 32 00:01:49,800 --> 00:01:56,880 So let's go back to right after the Civil War was over. 33 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,320 So then 1865, the Civil War was over. 34 00:02:00,320 --> 00:02:03,240 So you can imagine kind of what was going on in that time period. 35 00:02:03,240 --> 00:02:05,000 Lots of things happening. 36 00:02:05,000 --> 00:02:07,040 Lots of things happening. 37 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:15,200 The war actually, like every war, it like puts money into things that are going on and 38 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,680 then there's like this big rebound afterwards. 39 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:18,680 And so we're kind of there. 40 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:23,000 We're in 1965, the war is over. 41 00:02:23,000 --> 00:02:27,240 P.T. Barnum had an exhibit. 42 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:30,160 This is before he became circus. 43 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:38,600 So but P.T. Barnum, that guy, he had in 1965 a display of minerals that he had collected 44 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,920 around the world, I guess, while he's circusing. 45 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:50,200 And a little 10 year old boy saw them and it kind of like changed the course of history. 46 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:56,560 So the guy was George Kuntz, K-U-N-Z. 47 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:03,240 And he saw this collection and he was like, Oh my God, it like flipped a switch with him. 48 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:08,600 If you're a rock person like me, I can imagine sitting there looking at all that going, Oh 49 00:03:08,600 --> 00:03:09,600 my God. 50 00:03:09,600 --> 00:03:12,320 And look at what is in nature. 51 00:03:12,320 --> 00:03:13,320 You have that experience? 52 00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:17,560 Go to a museum and look at some of the specimens that are out there. 53 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,040 I just did the Tucson Gym and Mineral Show. 54 00:03:20,040 --> 00:03:24,200 We're still talking about mineral specimens today. 55 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:30,640 Well, what was cool about Kuntz is he was like a little business guy, a little entrepreneur. 56 00:03:30,640 --> 00:03:35,720 For his little side hustle, he decided he would make his own collection. 57 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:45,760 Now during this same time period of when this was happening was also the big engineering 58 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:51,760 beats that were happening, making the Erie Canal, which was connecting like New York 59 00:03:51,760 --> 00:03:53,240 all the way to the Great Lakes. 60 00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:55,640 So they had to dig up all this earth and move. 61 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:56,880 It was a big thing. 62 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:01,440 If you haven't read about it, I have because I have a mother-in-law who is in a 100 year 63 00:04:01,440 --> 00:04:06,320 old plus house that was actually moved back off of the St. Lawrence River during that 64 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:10,200 time as they dug out the river and made it deeper. 65 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:12,600 So I know about all that history. 66 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:13,600 I've seen all the pictures. 67 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,640 I've seen how our house was moved and all the above. 68 00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:22,080 It's really fascinating if you've ever been that area of State of New York, the Erie area. 69 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:24,560 Give that a try. 70 00:04:24,560 --> 00:04:33,560 So all of that earth moving brought up things that had not really been seen before in the 71 00:04:33,560 --> 00:04:36,720 U.S., so all kinds of mineral specimens. 72 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,440 So this little 10 year old boy is out like hops giving around. 73 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:41,960 He lived in Brooklyn. 74 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:49,520 So he's looking around and he's just a little kid and he's picking up all these rocks. 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:57,680 And then when it got to be a thousand rocks, he sold it at that time, which was a great 76 00:04:57,680 --> 00:05:02,200 deal of money, and then he did it again. 77 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,520 And then he did it again. 78 00:05:04,520 --> 00:05:09,000 And then his rocks specimens got even bigger and better and they were selling for thousands 79 00:05:09,000 --> 00:05:12,520 of dollars in those day dollars. 80 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:13,880 So a lot of money. 81 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:20,400 He really knew what he was looking for and he was finding amazing things just as a curious 82 00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:24,480 child that had his attention grabbed by P.T. 83 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:25,480 Barnum. 84 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:26,480 Pretty fun. 85 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,240 Okay, this story continues. 86 00:05:29,240 --> 00:05:34,240 Well, there's another guy that comes into play at this time. 87 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:38,360 He is really the point of the story. 88 00:05:38,360 --> 00:05:48,640 His name was Pauling Barnum, like Farm, Farm, George, Pauling Barnum. 89 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:51,640 And he was just, he was a metallurgist. 90 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:53,720 He was like self-taught. 91 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,840 He was really, really fine sculptor. 92 00:05:57,840 --> 00:05:59,760 He was actually married to an artist too. 93 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,560 They were like in that time period. 94 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:08,160 Now we're going to fast forward here to let's see. 95 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:19,120 1985, so 20 years has now passed since Coons has been binding all of these stones and doing 96 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,280 all this stuff. 97 00:06:21,280 --> 00:06:28,280 Now so Coons goes to Tiffany's and company was very small little thing in New York at 98 00:06:28,280 --> 00:06:29,840 that time. 99 00:06:29,840 --> 00:06:37,280 And the original Tiffany, the father who started the business sees in these stones a possibility 100 00:06:37,280 --> 00:06:39,880 of really doing great things. 101 00:06:39,880 --> 00:06:42,640 Oh my God, it's so great. 102 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:48,120 So the Coons and Farnham get to know each other. 103 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:53,120 And so Farnham starts making these amazing pieces of jewelry. 104 00:06:53,120 --> 00:07:00,120 The same time, if you look at this, the line of time that Faberge was coming into play. 105 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:04,480 So we know that, you know, the metals, they had like figured out things, you know, there 106 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:07,880 was, you know, even some electricity kind of happening in that time. 107 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:10,840 You kind of think about what all is happening in that time. 108 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:16,600 Well Farnham figured out how to carve these stones and make them look like the stems of 109 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:18,080 a flower. 110 00:07:18,080 --> 00:07:24,560 He knew his stones, but he was also getting all kinds of information and really great 111 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,440 stones from Coons. 112 00:07:26,440 --> 00:07:34,000 Coons at the same time, he gets sent by the US government to become part of this geological 113 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:41,120 survey that's just going to survey for minerals across the wherever it was, like just say 114 00:07:41,120 --> 00:07:43,360 upstate New York, because they were in that area. 115 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:50,680 So he becomes now a super rich resource for Tiffany's because he knows all the stones, 116 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:55,000 where they're from, how he can get more, what they're worth, like he knows all kinds of 117 00:07:55,000 --> 00:07:56,000 stuff. 118 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:00,320 And so now he's giving that information to the US government, but the government in 119 00:08:00,320 --> 00:08:07,200 exchange for that is letting him into this circle so that he can like spread the word 120 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:11,400 and they can like learn more about it from him, like, because he's been doing this now 121 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,200 for 20 years, so if it's smart. 122 00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:16,880 So think about that. 123 00:08:16,880 --> 00:08:20,240 So he's supplying the stones. 124 00:08:20,240 --> 00:08:24,600 He went down to Mexico, for example, there's one mine down there, it's probably still there, 125 00:08:24,600 --> 00:08:32,400 it does fire opal and he was spending $1,000 a stone for fire opal and he made a beautiful 126 00:08:32,400 --> 00:08:37,200 necklace out of these fire opals, which nobody had ever seen before. 127 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:43,120 And that's still in the Tiffany's warehouses somewhere, like because it was such a priceless 128 00:08:43,120 --> 00:08:50,720 piece it never got sold it was just considered to be, you know, a really a masterpiece. 129 00:08:50,720 --> 00:08:57,640 So Coons and Farnham are great friends because they are building this Tiffany Empire, all 130 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,640 at the same time working in collaboration. 131 00:09:00,640 --> 00:09:05,480 And if you go in if you look at some of the drawings, they're really based on nature so 132 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:11,040 lots of flowers and butterflies and, you know, just the floral things and things that we 133 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:18,600 still think of today as beautiful the birds, you know, nature so, you know, this is pre 134 00:09:18,600 --> 00:09:23,880 Nouveau so there wasn't any of that like just like styling going on. 135 00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:28,400 It was simply think Faberge eggs and how intricate they were. 136 00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:32,520 And so the same scale in the US, that's happening now. 137 00:09:32,520 --> 00:09:37,600 They took some of these pieces that Farnham had made including this one awkward Marine 138 00:09:37,600 --> 00:09:45,520 necklace that I saw the parade, and it went to the, the great exposition in Paris that 139 00:09:45,520 --> 00:09:48,400 happened when the Eiffel Tower was opened up. 140 00:09:48,400 --> 00:09:51,400 And so they had like the best of all the world. 141 00:09:51,400 --> 00:10:00,920 And this piece was part of them but there was a little bit of kind of the, the, the general 142 00:10:00,920 --> 00:10:02,960 public that came to come see these pieces. 143 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:09,320 Yes, they were amazing, but the Faberge eggs kind of like talked up, you know, the votes. 144 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:20,520 So when they came back to the US, and Farnham kept working, their original Tiffany's Lewis 145 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:27,080 comfort Tiffany died and his son takes over and his son has a whole different way of how 146 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:33,360 he wants things to happen and what the design should be and, you know, how things artists 147 00:10:33,360 --> 00:10:37,720 in, you know, the stained glass, for example, that was kind of started by the father and 148 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:43,480 things were kind of, you know, put together in really unusual ways and it was Tiffany's 149 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,160 so, you know, they had lots of money. 150 00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:51,760 But the same time, Coons was writing these amazing books for Tiffany's. 151 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:56,040 Let me just read you the title of one of the books because they would do this every year 152 00:10:56,040 --> 00:11:02,240 he would have like for their best customers, these books that Tiffany's would put out of, 153 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:06,480 you know, all their great things over the year was, you know, like a sample book basically, 154 00:11:06,480 --> 00:11:08,600 I would love to see one. 155 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,760 So one of the books was called the etiquette of gyms. 156 00:11:11,760 --> 00:11:14,560 I love that. 157 00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:20,960 Natural natal stones, meaning you're kind of like your birthstone and natal stone sentiments. 158 00:11:20,960 --> 00:11:26,960 So diamonds would be not having even come into play at this point really is the diamond 159 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:33,080 ring of choice for weddings and superstitions associated with precious stones. 160 00:11:33,080 --> 00:11:41,840 So that was like one book that so actually Farnham got a PhD in gemology at that time 161 00:11:41,840 --> 00:11:46,120 like he was really like leading the science he was the science at that time. 162 00:11:46,120 --> 00:11:53,400 He wrote 300 papers and books and he was, you know, very much part of that whole thing 163 00:11:53,400 --> 00:12:00,040 that really brought stones up to something that were beautiful and could they go back 164 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:05,800 like stones go back to ancient times, thousands and thousands of years ago they're making 165 00:12:05,800 --> 00:12:10,920 little finding little stones and when they figured out gold and how to like put a hole 166 00:12:10,920 --> 00:12:14,120 in it like stones have been around for a long time. 167 00:12:14,120 --> 00:12:18,360 But these two guys in the US bumped into their game. 168 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:25,640 So you have to think Goons was writing stories and books and articles and got a PhD and like 169 00:12:25,640 --> 00:12:31,000 he was really the pusher of all things great that Tiffany's got a hold of. 170 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:36,600 He had the inside scoop and that really helped Tiffany's grow too because in Tiffany's knew 171 00:12:36,600 --> 00:12:42,280 how much stocks there were on, you know, a stock being like how much what was the supply 172 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:46,040 like on, you know, hercumium diamonds are from that area. 173 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:47,040 They're not really diamonds. 174 00:12:47,040 --> 00:12:52,400 They're really just a super clear quartz quartz, but they look like diamonds. 175 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:53,800 They're so beautiful. 176 00:12:53,800 --> 00:13:03,240 So these kind of things are all kind of happening all simultaneously and then Farham and Tiffany's 177 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:10,200 lose their their interest together because the new son of the two is running Tiffany's 178 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:12,040 doesn't want the old guy in there. 179 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:13,560 He wants to have his own stuff. 180 00:13:13,560 --> 00:13:20,000 So out he goes and basically goes away into obscurity. 181 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:26,040 His pieces are signed and that was really the only thing that kind of saved him from 182 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:30,440 like never being found again because people do know of his works. 183 00:13:30,440 --> 00:13:35,320 This is actually how I found him because there was one of those antique road shows and it 184 00:13:35,320 --> 00:13:40,320 was talking about this necklaces this lady came in with and she was like really surprised 185 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:45,280 like, I don't know what this thing is this bar and I'm guy and they're like, well, hold 186 00:13:45,280 --> 00:13:50,240 the phone, that's more like a gazillion dollars because it was one of the original Tiffany 187 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:54,240 pieces that was actually signed by him. 188 00:13:54,240 --> 00:13:55,240 So that was pretty cute. 189 00:13:55,240 --> 00:13:56,840 That was pretty amazing. 190 00:13:56,840 --> 00:14:03,680 So this is what Kuntz said about the stones at that time that he was finding when he was 191 00:14:03,680 --> 00:14:05,400 a young person. 192 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:14,240 The engineering projects brought up the fresh virgin soil and by the mid 1920s serious collections 193 00:14:14,240 --> 00:14:22,720 were like way by his 1920 the serious collections were so valuable at that time. 194 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:24,840 I love that. 195 00:14:24,840 --> 00:14:28,960 I love that that it goes so far back and that we do know a lot of his pieces. 196 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:34,360 You really need to look them up like he would like carve the stem so they would be rounded 197 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:37,680 in a pen and he would like put hinges on things. 198 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:41,720 So there was that movement which was something that Faberge was doing. 199 00:14:41,720 --> 00:14:48,280 Faberge would put a little trimmer, a trimmer, trimmer door and in a crown so that from 200 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:55,080 across the room that crown was really lighting, you know, hitting the light, the candle, obruses 201 00:14:55,080 --> 00:15:00,640 were really lighting up that person that was wearing that crown. 202 00:15:00,640 --> 00:15:07,080 So all that technology of being able to put a little hinge on something, it still happens 203 00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:14,800 today but they were the ones that were starting this these really Faberge and a far enough. 204 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:18,080 So we love that about them. 205 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:21,000 I think that that was pretty amazing. 206 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:25,320 Now let me tell you how how's that really today. 207 00:15:25,320 --> 00:15:33,480 So back in 1976 I was in seventh grade, eighth grade somewhere there maybe I was in eighth 208 00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:39,960 grade right and I'm standing out at the school bus waiting for my mother or something and 209 00:15:39,960 --> 00:15:47,000 a little friend of mine who was a one year younger J Rockaway H J Rockaway Harold J Rockaway 210 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:52,000 who's passed on now but he was a very dear friend of mine and you know we just have all 211 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:58,400 this great all this great fun life about about to happen in front of us so we're all happy 212 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:10,400 little kids and he says something about oh my mother has these these figurines it was 213 00:16:10,400 --> 00:16:18,840 Christmas time these figurines from the the crash and then she's she's done them in gold 214 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:26,920 and they're in Tiffany's windows and I was like what oh okay well I knew where Tiffany's 215 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:31,080 was I'd been there a million times I've been in the gallery in Houston since it first 216 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:38,040 opened like it was a part of our life was to go to the malls back then right and the 217 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:43,080 gallery I had a great ice skating rink so you would go there and and then right outside 218 00:16:43,080 --> 00:16:47,320 of Neiman's was Tiffany's and actually it was down the hall until they moved a little 219 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:54,120 bit into a bigger location and I started watching those windows. 220 00:16:54,120 --> 00:17:03,480 Until I was 28 years so we're talking about like 13 to 28 so good 15 years I've been watching 221 00:17:03,480 --> 00:17:08,680 the windows of Tiffany's just because I'm so curious to see what all they put in there 222 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:15,840 like I had no idea that people could actually like put things in Tiffany's windows so and 223 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:24,000 that year I don't know what year was so on like 28 29 30 in that general I had my glass 224 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:29,360 period and I say that it's like artists go through their you know their things where 225 00:17:29,360 --> 00:17:35,560 they're like super enriched with that like whatever they're learning about and mine 226 00:17:35,560 --> 00:17:41,680 happened to be glass at the time not blowing glass or melting glass but sculpting with 227 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:50,800 glass for sure and I came upon this place which is still part of my life today if they 228 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:57,720 only knew it was a really old warehouse in Pasadena Texas it had almost no light it was 229 00:17:57,720 --> 00:18:03,120 like dark you had to bring a flashlight and you had to wear rubber boots because at times 230 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:11,360 if it had rained the water was up to your ankles in this old warehouse can you believe 231 00:18:11,360 --> 00:18:17,240 that they had been making stained glass windows there for you know 40 years in this old factory 232 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:27,000 this old you know this old place and they had these really old tiles there they're 233 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:34,680 like probably like a foot by like eight inches and they're they're really thick and they 234 00:18:34,680 --> 00:18:39,080 were they brought them over from England that's where they're originally made and so they 235 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:44,000 would chop those up and then the stained glass windows come in two kinds they come in the 236 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:48,880 kind with the copper and the soldering you know the flat stained glass that you're used 237 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:53,600 to and then there's also if you look at churches they have this like chunky kind of glass that 238 00:18:53,600 --> 00:19:00,520 set into a black epoxy or an epoxy kind of a product that would harden and keep the stones 239 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:06,360 in and then they would like sand and put this black gravelly kind of sand on top and that's 240 00:19:06,360 --> 00:19:11,560 what held the glass into these big stained glass windows so there's this two kind and 241 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:19,320 they were making both of those so they had a huge amount of excess product and because 242 00:19:19,320 --> 00:19:24,120 I was like I don't know doctor's wife and I had nothing else to do but make really cool 243 00:19:24,120 --> 00:19:30,160 shit I was in there like so many times I would just come with like a huge bucket and I'd 244 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:36,320 be like okay how much is this bucket and then I'd bring like more buckets and then 245 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:42,160 more buckets and all of a sudden I had like all of this glass and I'm making things with 246 00:19:42,160 --> 00:19:49,320 them I made like things for aquariums where the little fishies could like swim through 247 00:19:49,320 --> 00:19:56,800 little glass sculptures and they were because it was all done with a silicone it was all 248 00:19:56,800 --> 00:20:03,000 friendly for fish and so I made these things and then they got bigger and bigger and then 249 00:20:03,000 --> 00:20:11,160 I'm like making I'm like putting glass everywhere like glass became my theme at that same time 250 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:20,360 I went up to Arkansas to go visit my grandparents and on the side of the road was a rock chop 251 00:20:20,360 --> 00:20:27,440 and they had all of this turquoise glass it's from the insulators that were on the electrical 252 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:32,240 poles it's kind of like that blue green glass you might have seen them before but this was 253 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:37,960 the slag glass that when they stopped making those glass insulators and switched over to 254 00:20:37,960 --> 00:20:43,600 a ceramic insulator for electrical poles then they had to like get rid of all this glass 255 00:20:43,600 --> 00:20:49,120 and it was like a million pounds of slag glass they just brought brought it up into chunks 256 00:20:49,120 --> 00:20:53,960 through in the back of a big dump truck or truck essentially and then they would go scur 257 00:20:53,960 --> 00:21:00,960 around to rock shops and sell it by the by the pound okay so I found this rock shop I 258 00:21:00,960 --> 00:21:08,600 used with my grandfather and I'm like oh my god I gotta have that I used every penny 259 00:21:08,600 --> 00:21:13,640 that was in my purse this is before we had like debit cards maybe we had debt we must 260 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,200 have had debit cards but on the side of the road at a rock shop if I can use your debt 261 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:25,480 card you're gonna use your cash I had two little kids and I was in Arkansas and I had 262 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:31,040 to drive all the way back to Houston I had must have had a gas card but I didn't have 263 00:21:31,040 --> 00:21:37,440 one penny in my pocket because I spent it all on this glass it was fabulous so now I'm 264 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:47,360 like really rich with amazing glass there's a point to the story so I made some sculptures 265 00:21:47,360 --> 00:21:55,880 and they are really cool and I called Tiffany's I'm like you know back when I was in junior 266 00:21:55,880 --> 00:22:02,560 high school I talked to somebody whose mother had her pieces in the Tiffany's windows and 267 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:08,480 I've been trying really hard to think of something that would be equally as cool and unique to 268 00:22:08,480 --> 00:22:13,200 the world that had never been seen before these glass sculptures that I'm making are 269 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:18,440 it so can I come show you the girl was like yeah I don't know this is like we don't really 270 00:22:18,440 --> 00:22:24,360 do that I'm like I promise you they're cool she's like okay bring me something okay so 271 00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:32,880 I came in Tiffany's at this point had forgot how many windows it was maybe like six windows 272 00:22:32,880 --> 00:22:43,440 instead of the original two because they had expanded so she loved them she's like okay 273 00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:49,920 we have six windows I need you to make I need you to come back by like next week they always 274 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:54,400 never give you a deadline it's like next week is that fine I'm like yeah no problem so of 275 00:22:54,400 --> 00:23:06,880 course I brought the coolest shit for my windows for Tiffany's it was a really big deal I worked 276 00:23:06,880 --> 00:23:16,320 with her on placing the jewelry in the windows but I didn't pick out you know what went where 277 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:20,480 and how things went I just kind of like okay here's this piece okay and whatever we're 278 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:27,760 gonna do with it okay well here's Elise Peretti was really a big designer at Tiffany she's 279 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:34,200 the one that did the open heart the little that's Elise Peretti and then also Picasso 280 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:42,240 Paloma Picasso had a collection that was all like really juicy gems juicy combinations 281 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:47,840 of Tiffany's gyms so those were the two women so it was kind of decided okay we're gonna 282 00:23:47,840 --> 00:23:55,280 really focus on making the windows with these juicy gems that go with this class sculptures 283 00:23:55,920 --> 00:24:05,760 that I had brought in they were so cool like it was really fun like I took my kids to go show them 284 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:10,160 we took pictures I had another friend that took really good pictures I think there's 285 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:15,920 probably one of them here in the studio somewhere I don't know I know I have it because it's a legacy 286 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:23,760 piece and yeah I ended up well I'll tell you about that man the rest of the story so it was a really 287 00:24:23,760 --> 00:24:30,080 big deal and I was really excited well when I came back home I had kind of like you know I had laid 288 00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:34,720 out all the different kind of color combinations that I kind of liked and there was one more 289 00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:43,360 that I could make and it was little like a little maybe that big a little so I had a piece of glass 290 00:24:43,360 --> 00:24:48,480 down and then I took all of these little cuts that I got from this warehouse that were just like 291 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:55,840 little sticks of all different kinds of colors of pinks and purples and you know it was really some 292 00:24:55,840 --> 00:25:01,760 vibe in this old glass so the glass is the story of this and you know you just kind of make kind of 293 00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:07,600 looks kind of like a a downtown landscape kind of like you know it's just like tall buildings kind 294 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:12,480 of like if you looked over Manhattan you would see all those buildings and that's kind of what 295 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:17,360 the sculpture looked like like little things but very delicate and dainty and pinks and purples 296 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:25,040 and I was going to give that to the girl who agreed that I could have my sculptures in Tiffany's 297 00:25:25,040 --> 00:25:30,960 windows so I get there and I'm like kind of like skipping through I've got my little son with me 298 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:37,040 he's probably like two or three and he went everywhere with me he was just such a little joy 299 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:43,840 and he ends up being a really really good designer himself and I think it's because he was always 300 00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:50,320 with his mother and we were like little pals so we're kind of like looking at the windows and I'm 301 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:57,280 like oh wait something is wrong because like that's not the piece of jewelry that we had on that 302 00:25:58,000 --> 00:26:03,360 window like what's that and then I went to the next windows we're like walking down that was on 303 00:26:03,360 --> 00:26:07,360 the outside of the building is where they had these some of these windows and then some inside in the 304 00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:14,480 mall and I'm like well that's wrong and then I like look at one window and I'm like something 305 00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:21,040 terrible has gone wrong because everything was like it was just kind of like something was wrong 306 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:26,240 it was everything was upside down it did not make sense to me I had just seen it like two days 307 00:26:26,240 --> 00:26:36,640 before and it was all beautiful and now I go inside there's like the president of tiffanese 308 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:42,720 the head of security the head of security's assistant the head of this the head of this 309 00:26:42,720 --> 00:26:49,840 and they're all these men lined up they had taken their red eye from new york to come to this tiffanese 310 00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:59,840 because somebody had taken this is what they told me a tire iron and smashed one of the windows 311 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:05,680 that had like this elizabeth taylor necklace line that was worth like a quarter of a million 312 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:12,080 dollars on one of my sculptures and the president of tiffanese looks at me and I've got this little 313 00:27:12,080 --> 00:27:17,040 tiny thing in front of me it's so cute and the girl from tiffanese that I had been working with 314 00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:22,320 I can't remember her name now but she's irrelevant she kind of looks at me and says you know do not 315 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:30,880 give that to me okay gotcha so when the president of tiffanese is talking to me he's like did you 316 00:27:30,880 --> 00:27:36,480 know that there was no security on that window when you put that quarter of a million dollar 317 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:41,520 necklace in there I was like no sir there's no way I could have known that and I really I didn't 318 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:47,200 pick the jewelry I just brought the sculptures in a little bit more back and forth they had to 319 00:27:47,200 --> 00:27:54,880 like check me out to make sure I wasn't involved in that heist yes I wasn't involved I had nothing 320 00:27:54,880 --> 00:27:59,840 to do with it I did not know that there was one window that we put the most valuable necklace 321 00:28:01,280 --> 00:28:05,760 in there and somebody smashed the window grab take the necklace so that's why all the jewelry 322 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:10,560 had changed they had all put like little tiny things in there instead of these wow so we at 323 00:28:10,560 --> 00:28:16,240 least I had good photos of it one time I was there so then we're chatting up and I'm like talking to 324 00:28:16,240 --> 00:28:23,120 the guy and he's really nice and and I appreciated you know that you know he was nice to me so I had 325 00:28:23,120 --> 00:28:27,520 this little sculpture so I'm like oh but I made you a little sculpture and then he looks at me 326 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:33,360 really serious and he goes how did you know that my living room was pink and purple I was like there's 327 00:28:33,360 --> 00:28:38,400 no way I would know that your living room was pink and purple it just worked out we ended up writing 328 00:28:38,400 --> 00:28:44,960 me the nicest note that I still have tucked away because he was like okay you're like a visionary 329 00:28:45,760 --> 00:28:52,240 you like nailed me I'm like I didn't it was just happenstance and he ended up putting that sculpture 330 00:28:52,240 --> 00:29:03,360 on his mantle he said and he thought about me often and it was great so now with that there became 331 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:10,320 another little issue and I ended up working for Tiffany's for quite a while after that 332 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:18,400 bringing them things that we could do the wind as in but after about I don't know 333 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:28,000 like two years John Loring who was the director of Tiffany's and a very prolific artist himself 334 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:39,280 and also a writer of one of the books on the Pauling, Farnam and Coontz information his books 335 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:46,240 that he wrote about that time period and he brought out of the vaults all these amazing sketches 336 00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:54,080 and things that Pauling had done so so he's so the head of Tiffany's that I never got to meet 337 00:29:54,080 --> 00:30:05,920 but he was in charge of all the visuals for Tiffany's and he had written a book on Pauling and Coontz 338 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:09,920 and talking about all the things that happened during that time period and it must have been an 339 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:14,960 amazing book like it must have written itself I mean he has access to everything in the vaults 340 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:25,040 that Tiffany's has so that was kind of cool but John Loring decided after my little fiasco at the 341 00:30:25,040 --> 00:30:33,120 Tiffany's in Houston that from after this was like probably like two years after it came down from 342 00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:37,200 the top it took him like a while to figure out like what are we gonna do what are we gonna do 343 00:30:37,200 --> 00:30:42,960 and this girl in Houston she's like doing all this stuff for the windows and it was great it was like 344 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:50,320 the best time of my life I had so much fun we did like Christmas things and the little reindeer 345 00:30:50,320 --> 00:30:57,200 we put little reindeer yeah it was like we used like salt to create and salt and sugar to create the 346 00:30:57,760 --> 00:31:03,280 the snow and the little things and you know it's all about the whole point of Tiffany's windows 347 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:09,840 and this is why jewelry if you're out there selling your jewelry this is important and this 348 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:16,720 is what I my credence is was from that time period where it's all about making a customer stop who's 349 00:31:16,720 --> 00:31:24,560 walking by and just go whoa what's that and look a little bit deeper maybe it's just for three seconds 350 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:30,960 but that time that they're stopping and looking and the little details that we would put into the 351 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:38,800 windows same thing with Bergman Goodman word off Goodman now these the window people people that 352 00:31:38,800 --> 00:31:44,800 design windows are really good at looking at like the minute little detail that you make you know 353 00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:49,680 but they're not just sticking a diamond right in the center of the window they're creating a story 354 00:31:50,400 --> 00:31:55,600 that draws you in so that you find like where is that piece of jewelry I know there's got a piece 355 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:00,320 piece of jewelry in here so where is it and then you kind of have to look and you go oh right there 356 00:32:00,320 --> 00:32:07,520 there it is it's that you don't put it in the most noticeable place you put it where they they're 357 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:14,080 kind of have to like interact with the window in order to do that I ended up with a company called 358 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:21,360 away with windows and I designed window treatments for you know other kind of stores mostly jewelry 359 00:32:21,360 --> 00:32:25,760 stores but other kind of stores too I was like my gig for a while because I really liked them 360 00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:31,920 but back to John Lorring so John Lorring came down with an edict because I just kind of like 361 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:35,680 showed up at Tiffany's one day and I'm like okay you know do we have another project coming up 362 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:40,320 like what are we going to do and what can I do for you and always subservient like these are the 363 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:48,240 people that I'm working for and because now it came down from John that from now on he would 364 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:53,440 design all the windows to be one design and it would go across all the stores across Tiffany and 365 00:32:53,440 --> 00:32:57,760 we're going to have one look and it's going to be one thing and there's not going to be any of this 366 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:02,080 fluffy stuff and we're not going to be losing half a million dollar quarter of a million dollar 367 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:08,720 necklaces off the side because you know somebody didn't do it right that was a sad sad day for me 368 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:15,200 because I ended my little my little time to shine which had started back when I was you know in 369 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:20,880 seventh grade and now I got to like do this thing and I really enjoyed it and it was such a gift 370 00:33:20,880 --> 00:33:26,640 and I had so much fun and you know it was really a feather in my cap during that time period and 371 00:33:26,640 --> 00:33:34,000 it was a really fun time period where I really got to explore glass well still that glass I have a 372 00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:40,080 big sculpture at the ranch that I use those big glasses for and I'm still collecting glass I don't 373 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:46,960 know what it's about but I think resin has a lot of this glass like properties you know so I know 374 00:33:46,960 --> 00:33:52,720 that in my jewelry these earrings for example like they're stones and they're set in resin 375 00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:57,840 can you see how pretty they are oh my god they're so gorgeous but you know all of these stones and 376 00:33:57,840 --> 00:34:05,840 all this stuff that we work with as jewelers it has legacy it has legs it goes all the way back to 377 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:14,000 you know ancient times of first beads that they know that they ever found were of an ostrich egg 378 00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:23,280 do I have them here uh there's somewhere ostrich egg beads which have you ever tried to cut an ostrich 379 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:30,640 into a bead with a rock another rock that's all you got because there was no metal back then 380 00:34:30,640 --> 00:34:37,680 this is like stone age times they're making things to bedazzle themselves and it was an 381 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:45,120 ostrich egg was it kind of not easy but I've tried to cut an ostrich egg and I had to get a tile 382 00:34:45,120 --> 00:34:53,680 cutter to cut through them they are so strong remember they get they're gonna fall out and down 383 00:34:53,680 --> 00:35:01,360 onto the ground when they're when they're I don't know what do you say when they're birthed you know 384 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:08,160 they are so hard to to think that you could like shatter an egg and then take those little tiny pieces 385 00:35:08,160 --> 00:35:14,160 and then chip them down even smaller so they're a little tiny half an inch and then put a hole in them 386 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:20,080 with another rock that's going to have like a little point in there and it's it's like it's not 387 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:27,520 like metal but it's so close to metal I I just I implore you to get an ostrich egg the next time 388 00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:34,400 you see one pick it up and go could I take a rock and make it make this which is like curved 389 00:35:34,400 --> 00:35:43,520 into a bead like a little tiny bead yeah I have some that I bought in South Africa my son lives there 390 00:35:43,520 --> 00:35:50,480 and he gives me lots of Easter egg ostrich eggs and and I've done a lot of things for a company 391 00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:56,000 here in town where we use those ostrich eggs and made centerpieces on tables and I don't know I've 392 00:35:56,000 --> 00:36:00,320 done a million different things with those ostrich eggs I have a couple of them right over there so 393 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:09,840 I love this part about jewelry about it is connected to our ancient past certainly our 394 00:36:09,840 --> 00:36:15,200 ancient past people were adoring themselves have you ever been to LaBear tar pits in 395 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:23,040 in LA it's right in the middle of the town it's like right on Wiltshire Boulevard right it's like 396 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:29,680 right there where all the stuff is happening there's this amazing museum that's where you know 397 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:38,640 California is oil town like it's an oil city there's oil derricks all over LA and there was 398 00:36:38,640 --> 00:36:45,600 this one area where that tar was constantly there from the beginning of time from eons and eons 399 00:36:45,600 --> 00:36:55,120 and it would trap things would fall into this so I don't know I don't want to say it wrong but the 400 00:36:56,160 --> 00:37:01,760 little creatures big creatures people so it must have been like maybe it had like a topping of 401 00:37:01,760 --> 00:37:07,680 water on it I think that's where it was and all the animals would come to get this water but 402 00:37:08,320 --> 00:37:14,560 once they were like shoved into the water or you know there's like a fight or you know they're like 403 00:37:14,560 --> 00:37:18,880 trying to get each other kill each other because you know that's what they did then once they fell 404 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:24,800 into this water and they fell down into that tar they just became part of the tar so now that they're 405 00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:32,640 excavating this really old tar pit that was you know from you know tens of thousands or I don't 406 00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:37,920 know if it goes back how far it goes back I do because I took tons of pictures of all the reference 407 00:37:37,920 --> 00:37:42,560 material but there was one picture that I took a picture of and it was they you know they found 408 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:48,320 the remains of a woman a full skeleton because you know she was in the tar but then she also had 409 00:37:48,320 --> 00:37:52,800 a necklace on and you know they would have known it would have been like senior because 410 00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:58,640 they didn't have chains back then so it would have been like you know gut or something like that or 411 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:04,080 some kind of a thing that they would have woven like maybe braided some I don't know what they were 412 00:38:04,080 --> 00:38:10,560 doing but then she had these little dangle things very much like a necklace I would make today like 413 00:38:10,560 --> 00:38:18,640 you know with a you know things that could be put on a necklace that represented her tribe or 414 00:38:18,640 --> 00:38:25,520 what she liked or things that she found something like that just like we do today yeah nothing has 415 00:38:25,520 --> 00:38:30,800 changed nothing has changed we are people that adorn ourselves you know I also want to talk about 416 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:43,120 well this week was the Met Gala and back to New York again I saw beautiful gowns I saw beautiful 417 00:38:43,120 --> 00:38:48,800 people wearing beautiful grounds I saw some really a lot of weird like why are we wearing all this 418 00:38:48,800 --> 00:38:55,360 naked stuff like just put something nice on your body don't try to like we are not turned on by your 419 00:38:56,160 --> 00:39:00,400 senior butt like just wear a pretty something because that's what you're there for it was supposed 420 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:04,720 to be a theme you're supposed to go with the theme and the theme was kind of archaic they need to 421 00:39:04,720 --> 00:39:09,200 like make that theme a little bit easier for people to translate into something that's the 422 00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:14,160 number one problem and then you know it's all about the show and it's all about the drama and you 423 00:39:14,160 --> 00:39:21,200 know Kim Kardashian her and her little midget waist which is just kind of an extreme I would have 424 00:39:21,200 --> 00:39:26,240 rather have seen beautiful gowns like there were there were some amazing gowns did you see some 425 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:31,280 of those gowns they're really pretty and then you see all the diamonds because of course that's how 426 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:38,240 these celebrities get there is because they're really like sponsored by Chanel and Carl Lagerfeld 427 00:39:38,240 --> 00:39:45,200 and all those big brands and who make the dress for them and you know pay for their 428 00:39:45,200 --> 00:39:51,040 rights to go to the table and you know be part of the scene and be seen and the publicity is what 429 00:39:51,040 --> 00:40:02,400 they're buying by having the star or star or actor actress actor wearing these amazing gowns and then 430 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:08,160 they're diamond jewelry I say let's have a different category and I'm going to see this for the Oscars 431 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:15,520 too let's have it where it's like let's have some really cool shit in the jewelry department happening 432 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:23,840 there because it's not like the Swarovski crystal had a beautiful outfit the necklace was okay 433 00:40:23,840 --> 00:40:30,000 it wasn't great it was like something I would have done 10 years ago like really Swarovski crystal 434 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:35,680 get your shit together yeah that's why you don't make beads anymore because you never could understand 435 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:45,920 how to use your amazing product you had beads in colors and shapes and sizes and I had them all 436 00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:53,920 I loved them I love Swarovski crystal I bought into it I remember the first time that one of my 437 00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:58,400 customers was wearing one of my bracelets and I told her what all the beads were and they were 438 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:03,600 amazing and they all had a history and they were all old and vintage and never been used before 439 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:06,960 but I threw on a couple of Swarovski crystals because I don't know I bought them 440 00:41:08,560 --> 00:41:16,080 and I remember her going oh look at that that's a Swarovski crystal I was like okay from now on 441 00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:22,880 it's all Swarovski crystals because she didn't care that much about how vintage it was I have so 442 00:41:22,880 --> 00:41:29,600 many old things that are around here I can't even tell you what it is oh really old African beads 443 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:36,320 that are from recycled ones which I'm doing an African store next so that's kind of that's a good 444 00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:40,960 thing for me to pick up because now I know where those are but anyway so the point is is that 445 00:41:42,160 --> 00:41:52,000 we need to like value interesting jewelry as much as these bespoke gowns now Hermes picked me as one 446 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:58,400 of the top 50 artisans in all of Texas that's saying something like I put in my great 20 years 447 00:41:58,400 --> 00:42:05,600 of working with all kinds of beads especially Swarovski crystal and fossils minerals gems pearls 448 00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:12,560 those kind of things but when Swarovski crystals stopped making those it was because they made the 449 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:19,840 marketing mistake to not promote their product except for a little tiny four millimeter bicone 450 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:25,280 beads and I know this because I've talked to all those people in fact I had Fire Mountain Gyms who 451 00:42:25,280 --> 00:42:31,520 is one of my suppliers and I love them dearly and I got to meet the owners one time and they know me 452 00:42:31,520 --> 00:42:38,640 they love me like we've been as I've been a platinum partner there for years and they called me and 453 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:44,480 said hey let's do something together I'm like let's do something together but they even they did not 454 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:51,200 understand and they're like kind of complicit too is that they would have these big contests 455 00:42:51,200 --> 00:42:58,320 and the contest winners were always the four millimeter bicone bead that's the little triangle 456 00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:03,200 kind of a bead it's got a hole in it but it's like kind of triangular and soft soft it's not easy to 457 00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:08,240 wear I don't like that little sharp edge on my jewelry I like the rounded faucet of beads because 458 00:43:08,240 --> 00:43:12,720 if they're they're they're going to touch your skin it's not going to be that sharp little edge of 459 00:43:12,720 --> 00:43:17,840 that bead hurting you but these people that were winning would have like a million of one color 460 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:25,200 of this four millimeter bicone bead and like just pulled my hair out I'm like what are you freaking 461 00:43:25,200 --> 00:43:32,560 doing like show your creativity by using the beauty of Swarovski crystal beads and I was a 462 00:43:32,560 --> 00:43:39,040 vetted partner with Swarovski crystal I signed the documents I went there I know them and I even 463 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:44,240 knew one of the colors that the guy that was signing me didn't even know yet line my favorite color 464 00:43:44,240 --> 00:43:51,200 line I love it very hard to find Swarovski crystal now and if you're finding those beads keep them 465 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:54,640 in their little packages unless you're going to use them because they're only going to get more 466 00:43:54,640 --> 00:44:00,880 valuable time I have big huge buckets full of them because I've been saving them for years and 467 00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:05,280 every time they went on sale I would like scoop up as many as I could afford but I have lots of 468 00:44:05,280 --> 00:44:10,320 Swarovski crystal beads I'm hoarding them now but I do use them for all kinds of things look on my 469 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:15,840 Instagram sugar gay is where.com and you'll see that I still talk about that I have lots of Swarovski 470 00:44:15,840 --> 00:44:20,320 crystals and I put them into my products but Swarovski crystal really messed up they should 471 00:44:20,320 --> 00:44:26,880 have had like they sent my jewelry around the world to different Swarovski crystal places 472 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:32,000 but they wouldn't put my name attached to the piece so I'm like yeah why are we doing this like 473 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:38,960 send my shit back like if you're not going to like let me attach my name to you know I had people 474 00:44:38,960 --> 00:44:44,400 that were like in New York City at the Swarovski crystal whatever store or whatever and they could 475 00:44:44,400 --> 00:44:49,760 see my pieces there but there was no name so I was like yeah I don't know Swarovski you didn't really 476 00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:55,680 do me very fair I'm not we had lots of discussions but they never could understand that they're 477 00:44:55,680 --> 00:45:02,960 that what they made was exquisite and that really changed now how we make jewelry because we don't 478 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:09,760 have access to those amazing amazing colors like the purples that they used to had were magnificent 479 00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:14,160 the blues were magnificent the greens I have a customer coming in next week and I'm like 480 00:45:15,120 --> 00:45:20,800 we only had those really amazing Swarovski crystal air night which is one of my favorite color kind 481 00:45:20,800 --> 00:45:30,560 of like oak bottle glass green yeah we don't have that anymore things have changed but we do need 482 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:37,600 we need a revolution in the handmade jewelry department where they it doesn't have to be 483 00:45:37,600 --> 00:45:43,040 freaking diamonds and guess what all these places that are like using diamonds now they're not 484 00:45:43,040 --> 00:45:49,680 they're using their cz's which are lab grown diamonds that's what a cz is cubic zirconium it's 485 00:45:49,680 --> 00:45:55,600 the same thing and all of these people that are making things are you know yes there's diamonds 486 00:45:55,600 --> 00:46:02,800 for sure but there's also a big colored diamond trend that's going on which is nothing but 487 00:46:03,760 --> 00:46:10,480 cz's I have tons of them I love them I just made a necklace this week and and I want you to go on 488 00:46:10,480 --> 00:46:16,720 to my Instagram to go see it it's yellow so there is a diamond so this is all how it's 489 00:46:16,720 --> 00:46:26,240 going to go around the end of the story is there is a diamond called the yellow rose oh my god the 490 00:46:26,240 --> 00:46:33,840 yellow rose well and it's going to be auctioned it's 202 carats of perfect yellow and it's shaped 491 00:46:33,840 --> 00:46:40,640 like an egg you know egg I'm sure like an egg and it's going to be auctioned at Christie's and 492 00:46:40,640 --> 00:46:45,280 Christie is excited about this because it's the first time that like there's something about it like 493 00:46:45,280 --> 00:46:52,080 that this diamond is starting back where Christie's first started there's some like little trick about 494 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:58,560 that so it's kind of cool it's actually I did a reel about it on my Instagram I happened to have 495 00:46:58,560 --> 00:47:06,400 sitting on my table a piece it was seven carats smaller so seven carats it's not very much but 496 00:47:06,400 --> 00:47:14,080 it was a beautiful faceted stone hand faceted stone in the same shape almost the exact same size as 497 00:47:14,080 --> 00:47:22,560 this big diamond that they're going to auction next week and at Christie's in New York so I made 498 00:47:22,560 --> 00:47:29,280 a necklace yesterday kind of celebrating that and also because the the thing that it's it kind of like 499 00:47:29,280 --> 00:47:35,680 makes me kind of happy is if you went back in my life to when I opened up my first sugar factory 500 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:42,480 in Kitchener Ontario and it was this big old building it was fabulous and on the outside I 501 00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:52,560 did a sculpture and it was called the Yellow Rose because I can't really explain it you wouldn't 502 00:47:52,560 --> 00:47:59,200 understand but the Yellow Rose it was like told to me like this is the Yellow Rose this is your 503 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:05,360 gift this is a big deal and so I had the Yellow Rose on the outside of my building and then I go to 504 00:48:05,360 --> 00:48:10,880 look at this stone that I happen to have a copy of that's being auctioned in New York and I'm 505 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:15,440 reading all this stuff about Farnham and I'm reading all this stuff about Coons and I'm like 506 00:48:15,440 --> 00:48:21,200 really like immersed in the history of all of this stuff and how it all comes together and how 507 00:48:21,200 --> 00:48:28,720 I'm participating now in some of that same stuff going forward because I'm using the vintage 508 00:48:28,720 --> 00:48:33,760 Swarovski crystal I'm using these vintage plaques that were from actually from Hong Kong from the 509 00:48:33,760 --> 00:48:38,800 1950s they call them cameos but they're not really a cameo in a traditional sense where there's like 510 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:44,960 a woman in there it's not like that but and some other things and I you know I love this necklace 511 00:48:44,960 --> 00:48:55,120 that I made but I love it because it's the Yellow Rose I called mine the Yellow Rose too after this 512 00:48:55,120 --> 00:49:01,120 big huge stone that was just gorgeous isn't it if you're a yellow person you need this necklace 513 00:49:01,120 --> 00:49:09,280 anyway I am Sugar Gay Isper and you can find me on my podcast here jewelry as your side hustle 514 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:15,520 and a lot of people that have side hustles it's a very big trend I've been doing this as my full 515 00:49:15,520 --> 00:49:20,000 time job for a really long time but I also teach a class called jewelry as your side hustle where 516 00:49:20,000 --> 00:49:26,000 I teach you the business parts and how to make jewelry so I'm teaching you both so that's where 517 00:49:26,000 --> 00:49:34,640 I really feel very like taken with this jewelry as your side hustle I have a tv show called jewelry 518 00:49:34,640 --> 00:49:40,560 stars by Sugar Gay Isper and I'm Sugar Gay Isper and that's how it starts and then I also am in a 519 00:49:40,560 --> 00:49:46,880 new reality tv show that'll be played on Amazon Prime this summer probably and it's called The 520 00:49:46,880 --> 00:49:54,000 Blocks and it's me and like a hundred other contestants it was way too many that was the one 521 00:49:54,000 --> 00:50:02,480 problem competing to see who's the best entrepreneur and I just sent the guy who started that West 522 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:09,600 Bergman who was very dear a little necklace from my little my little bunny collection I just had 523 00:50:09,600 --> 00:50:14,080 all these pieces that were played and I put one of those little bunnies on some little pink pearls 524 00:50:14,080 --> 00:50:18,480 for his little daughter who's just adorable because she's not even one yet so she's really cute 525 00:50:18,480 --> 00:50:25,840 but anyway I have a great life making jewelry and I hope that you do too I hope that if you're a 526 00:50:25,840 --> 00:50:33,040 jewelry maker you really like draw it in learn your craft learn the history pick up something 527 00:50:33,040 --> 00:50:39,680 that interests you if you're doing this kind of jewelry learn about it go back in time figure out 528 00:50:39,680 --> 00:50:44,240 how are they doing this 10 years ago were they doing this like what were they doing and really 529 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:50,720 learned some of the artists that have come before us because they really said the time Collier was 530 00:50:50,720 --> 00:50:58,640 one you know he was an amazing artist that made all these really big huge sculptural hanging 531 00:50:58,640 --> 00:51:03,680 things and he did a line of jewelry that was amazing so easy to replicate because it was just 532 00:51:03,680 --> 00:51:09,360 basically brass that they were like yeah he had a guy that was like hammering this brass and just 533 00:51:09,360 --> 00:51:15,040 making these amazing necklaces and you can see them online look them up like learn about other 534 00:51:15,040 --> 00:51:19,840 artists that are out there and what they're doing and learn how to use some new products and always 535 00:51:19,840 --> 00:51:25,120 keep learning always keep learning and you know you can stay on your path but you can go off your 536 00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:32,800 path you're like oh I had my glass period then after that I had my painting period I painted 537 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:39,840 everything that is humanly possible to paint I even tried to get the chemical companies down in 538 00:51:39,840 --> 00:51:47,440 Pasadena to let me paint their big oil tankers or they were there oil thing I'm like I don't paint 539 00:51:47,440 --> 00:51:54,080 anything I'm I painted a train a pool I don't know I painted every everything you can think of it 540 00:51:54,080 --> 00:52:00,960 was my painting period and my goal was to have every color of spray paint that they made and I 541 00:52:00,960 --> 00:52:08,080 never got that goal but I still have a lot of spray paint and I tell people if my house catches on 542 00:52:08,080 --> 00:52:13,360 fire evacuate the city because I have a lot of paint but not and I kind of moved in the 543 00:52:13,360 --> 00:52:21,360 street at the ranch so don't worry about that anyway I hope you're having fun making jewelry I hope 544 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:31,040 you can connect the dots to how jewelry is really essential and that's why it's a 300,000, 545 00:52:31,040 --> 00:52:38,240 333 billion dollar business annually because jewelry is everywhere like I'm pretty sure if you 546 00:52:38,240 --> 00:52:44,160 went to 7-eleven there is some kind of a jewelry there like there's some kind of a jewelry everywhere 547 00:52:44,960 --> 00:52:50,960 like look at those silly little bracelets that Taylor Swift made made famous just a little 548 00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:56,880 some elastic cord and some cheap little beads yeah that's like the zeitgeist of our time 549 00:52:57,840 --> 00:53:02,800 like I'm sure if you're not making them you could and you probably make a lot of money off of them 550 00:53:03,520 --> 00:53:07,840 I have to you know every day keep learning something and making something and 551 00:53:09,600 --> 00:53:14,960 I create a lot of jewelry because it's always changing and I always think the next piece 552 00:53:15,520 --> 00:53:20,320 is going to be my favorite piece or it's going to be the piece that's going to get my the 553 00:53:20,320 --> 00:53:27,280 attention that I'm that I need to my site to move my company forward I'm always learning every piece 554 00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:31,600 that I made I always think wow I'm so glad I made that because I learned a little something else 555 00:53:31,600 --> 00:53:39,200 I'm always striving to constantly make it's I see it in my dreams and wake up in the morning I know 556 00:53:39,200 --> 00:53:48,080 exactly what I'm going to make I have true visions of what I have and I have a lot of product like 557 00:53:48,080 --> 00:53:56,640 I'm sitting on a wealth like it's just like surrounding me it's like so much I could make 558 00:53:56,640 --> 00:54:03,360 anything and I love that I love that like why not I've worked for 20 something years and to be able 559 00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:09,440 to make jewelry and I'm constantly improving and I hope you do too that's really the part of this 560 00:54:09,440 --> 00:54:18,480 I wanted to say this long story that I'm telling you about and and how being a little girl never 561 00:54:18,480 --> 00:54:26,640 even thinking about jewelry never even thinking about glass tippaning company all those kind of things 562 00:54:30,400 --> 00:54:36,240 yep those are good memories I've had a great life because of jewelry 563 00:54:36,240 --> 00:54:41,360 I would have been a lot richer if I hadn't been buying all this shit though regardless I've had a 564 00:54:41,360 --> 00:54:50,320 great life because of jewelry and I hope that in your quest to build this artist need that we have 565 00:54:50,320 --> 00:54:57,360 to create that you come up with something that is remarkable and I hope that you share it with us 566 00:54:57,360 --> 00:55:03,920 please write to me send me something look on my instagram sugar gay is where everything is sugar 567 00:55:03,920 --> 00:55:09,280 gay is where there's a lot of sugar out there there's a lot of gay out there but there's only 568 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:15,680 one sugar gay is burn so you can find me and I hope you had a great day today I'm trying to see 569 00:55:15,680 --> 00:55:24,240 how much time we had oh yep it's time uh have a great day go see my yellow rose and find me on 570 00:55:24,240 --> 00:55:35,200 instagram and I'll see you in the next podcast have a great day