I.D. Please! - by Melissa Lim

Left to right: Frankie, Craig, Gail and Kismet. All Jeanine Payer

James Dean sporting an ID bracelet

Another silver ID bracelet which belonged to James Dean recently sold for $30,000

The King wearing his signature ID bracelet

Elvis' 14k diamond encrusted ID bracelet sold for over $500,000 at auction

The iconic ID bracelet, once worn by soldiers during the Second World War and now donned by both men and women as a fashion statement, has an interesting history. During WWII, the bracelets were a part of a soldier's uniform and was engraved with basic information (name, rank, serial number). After the war, many men still wore them proudly, as a badge of honor, thus starting a trend. By the 1950s and 60s, the ID bracelet became popular with rebellious teens as well as grown-ups.

Over the years, Jeanine Payer has designed her take on the ID bracelet. In our current collection, there are several versions, all beautifully engraved with poems or quotes.

Featured on the Gail bracelet:

The joys I have possessed are ever mine- ~ John Dryden

The quote seems to capture the essence of the high-spiritedness of both Elvis and James Dean, who lived their lives fast and hard, but by doing so, left this world all too soon.

In Progress...

A Member of the Wedding

I just ran across this beautiful picture of Morgan and her wedding party from a few years back. Morgan is the manager of one of our best stores in Canada, Rubaiyat. Don't these women look amazing? And they all are sporting our Edmond necklace!!

Finding One's Own Metier

Here is a picture our Kismet bracelet from Metier's much followed blog. I love how they paired it with a bracelet by Arielle De Pinto, a designer who's work is so edgy, so the opposite from my completely-without-edge world it makes the pairing interesting. .

Last Friday Metier, a store here in San Francisco, celebrated its 20th anniversary and they had a very fun party. It was especially meaningful for me to be there as I have sold to Sheri since she opened back in the day when it was a chic destination shop on Maiden Lane. More connections; Sheri's husband John, was our first IT guy another lifetime ago. But I know what it means to have a business for over two decades and how long that really is in 'fashion years'. It is an achievement to be proud of and to celebrate!

At the party there was a very cool live band. I was squeezing through the crowd to see who they were and only then did I realize that half the band was made up of two of Sheri's young kids! And Martha Davis's son was on the guitar! I was very inspired by these young people in their early teens just bringing it home and completely self confident and doing what they love. Creativity is alive and well in that circle. It was a really sweet thing to see such a powerful creative confluence of work and family; in that moment it all dovetailed so beautifully.

Love Grows Love: Wedding Ring Set Exclusive at Twist in Portland

Recently I created my first set of wedding rings for Twist in Portland. The solitaire diamond is rose cut and there are 4 small diamonds on the hand engraved side wings. The wedding band has two small diamonds on the side of the words:

Love grows love.

--Casey Haymes

The solitaire was a challenge for me as I am used to having the words be the main design element. Paul, the owner at Twist gave me some great pointers, direction and creative support and helped me to get in the right mindset. I can't wait to make more now!! In the end I think they turned out really great. These rings are only available at Twistonline.com and in the Twist retail store in Portland in the wedding ring room.

Our New Yearbook Shot

Picture Day at JPI!! Look at this good looking bunch!

In order of appearance from top:
Stephanie, Laura, Megan, Sonja
Bella, Izeta, Elvidina
Nina, Kazu, Ben

Winged Victory and Pegasus

the Victory necklace on Kazu.


Design in progress...

I love having the option of wearing a necklace really long or really short--and that's one of my favorite things about this necklace. The softness of the wing against the thick chain has an edge.


Pegasus bracelet with Kazu's great big watch.

When making the wing, I worked in a more gestural and loose way which is not my typical style. I brought my tools and wax home and worked on it for several nights after my son went to sleep (I no longer have my workbench in the dining room, drat! so the dresser had to suffice.) I have many times carried a wax model around with me in case I wanted to work on it in my moments of free time; the creative design process is ongoing and I literally feel attached to the unfinished work-in-progress.

It is always a happy surprise when a piece like the Pegasus bracelet becomes popular, because it carries no engraved poetry. The piece itself is my poem.

Fall Collection Notes

I got to visit the legendary and beloved Liberty of London store in the early 90's when I first started to sell to them. I learned firsthand about the history of these potent little flower prints that Liberty has been making for hundreds of years. It is so wonderful to be incorporating them now into these new styles. I love wearing these pieces, especially the New Moon and the Liberty bracelets, as they are statements and a new direction for me, and yet they are still in the JP vernacular.

My new collection is about texture, boldness and BIG graphic shapes. We ripped and braided the fabrics and put them up against large hammered neckpieces and over sized metal beads. The new group of Liberty art fabrics have captured my creative imagination; they were envisioned as part of a new collaboration with musicians and various artists involved in the music industry--a complete departure from anything Liberty has done in the past. I feel a kinship with the work being done at Liberty, as we both are trying to honor the best of the past and pull it into new, bolder and ever more exciting design work.

Braided Bliss... by Melissa

From top to bottom: Zephyr, Laloue, Small Universe & Journey. All Jeanine Payer

To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders. ~Lao Tzu

19th century Mourning bracelet advertisement

The back of a Victorian mourning brooch
Portrait of a young Queen Victoria in braids

Stevie Nicks, "Gold and Braid" live, 1981

In the 1880's, braided jewelry was sometimes used to commemorate the death of a loved one, which was the polar opposite of the 1980's, when a braided bracelet signified true and enduring friendship. The braiding process is a ancient one and can also be very therapeutic and spiritual in itself, and is found making its graceful way through Jeanine's Fall Collection. Besides leather, artisan fabrics from Liberty of London are used to create looks that marry both centuries - the Arts and Crafts look of Victorian England and the updated Preppy chic of the 1980's. It also reminds me of one of my favorite songs of Stevie Nicks, who, in 1981, looks like she stepped out of a 19th century Rossetti painting.

August Design in Progress

New work happening in the studio. New textures, new scale...

wax work and drawings..

my new favorite wax tools. My friend and living jewelry legend, Lisa Jenks, turned me on to these tools recently. I think the packaging is fantastic. The stripes!

Scatttering Butterflies Have Alighted

If you know me well then you know this Gregory Parkinson jacket well, too. It is one of my favorite things. I special ordered it in Paris over ten years ago while visiting with Gregory and Ron and David from Tenthousandthings at the hotel the Pavillion de la Reine. (The guys have just done a collaboration BTW) Aurora Lopez Mejia the jewelry designer dropped in along with Maria Rudman whose metal woven bracelets are my fave. and I remember we were all in an apres fashion week haze. This jacket is so special to me because it reminds me of that wonderful time in my life when I got to go to Paris at least twice a year for 'work'. The jacket is made from vintage silk fabric turned inside out. It isn't reversible, but I love that Gregory decided the back of the fabric was more interesting than the front! The vintage fabric works looks so pretty with the vintage string on the necklace. The hammered silver butterflies are inspired by the raw jewelry work of Alexander Calder jewelry. They have a delicate quality and at the same time are bold enough to make a statement. The fact that the butterflies are alighting on the braided string instead of chain is so summery to me, so easy breezy. The selection by Lwo-Tsu is so perfect for this piece. The last line is, '..the heart is open as the sky'. The Scattering necklace is not on our site but can be purchased through our retail store (415-788-2417) and also at MAC-Modern Appealing Clothing in the Yellow Building(415-863-3011)

The Master observes the world but trusts her inner vision.
She allows things to come and go.
Her heart is open as the sky.

--Lao Tzu
translated by Stephen Mitchell.

Lao Tsu, Butterfly and Bay

This is the Lao Tzu bracelet in brass! This is jumbo size compared to our Palmer cuff. I love how the Lao Tzu selection is like a graphic texture. The response has been INSANE.

The large butterfly is perfect on a breezy scarf.
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Her is the Bay necklace in Silver with the brown and tan organic ribbon. I love it with neutrals best. See a close up here in brass and on Nina. I have tied it up here to be shorter but it can also be worn long.

Name Dropping in Honor of Father’s Day

Phillip Glass, composer

One of the first cool men/fathers to wear my jewelry back in the early 90's was Seal. He called the office directly to ask if we did pieces in platinum. Anderson, who answered the phone, almost told him ‘no’ but thought for a moment…maybe Jeanine will say yes. Can I get your name? how do you spell that? S..E..A...L….!!! pause…

I ended up making him many pieces in platinum. He was lovely and we talked quite a bit about poetry, his lyrics and creative process during that period. It was a thrill to meet him in person in his rehearsal studio while I was working on some pieces for him. He wore the ring and necklace while performing which was very cool. I have some silly pictures of the two of us that I still take a look at now and then, it is fun to remember that time and the work I did for this truly amazing artist.

Another cool dude who’s name might ring a bell is Mick Jagger. His stylist came to the studio looking for pieces for him to wear on his San Francisco Voodoo Lounge Tour kick off in 1994. She ended up bringing him a huge selection and he ordered pieces with the caveat that he wished to use his own poetry! I can only tell you the poem involved a hawk being tempted by all sorts of birds but the only one that had his attention was the white swan swimming in a pond below. Amazing. I am afraid to throw any of my old files/piles away because that poem is in there somewhere!!

I had the pleasure of making a special bracelet for Phillip Glass when he composed an opera inspired by Rumi. It was a gift from the patron who funded the opera to be given to him on closing night. Being a huge fan of Phillip Glass...and of Rumi's poetry and philosophy, it was a thrill to create this piece. I listened to Koyaanisquasti over and over again while making my very first pieces.

I can’t leave Mr. Crowe off the list. This is a good story I have been dying to tell. I will spill it now. I was working on large crosses inspired by Moorish tile work when we got a call from the actress Meg Ryan wanting to make a chunky cross for Russell—this in the midst of the highly publicized and difficult time when it seemed every tabloid was splashed with pictures of Meg and Russell; thy had just worked together closely on Proof of Life, he was up for an Academy Award for Gladiator, and her marriage was in the public eye. I made a one of a kind platinum cross on leather for him and a matching one for her and they loved them. His had a Robert Burns poem on the back. When they eventually broke up he carried the cross in his pocket as a good luck charm and that year at the Oscars he had it with him and showed it to people on the red carpet. He ended up on Entertainment Tonight talking about the cross. It was a three night in a row story on the show…and I ended up having a cameo on ET as well.

Those are the main stories that pop out but fast forward to today... we love that Orlando Bloom wears the 18k Emmie that his girlfriend, Miranda Kerr, gave him when he did the Hugo Boss commercial. We have pictures up in the studio of Mark Ruffalo wearing his own Dale and Sycamore and we recently sent him pieces for good luck at the Academy Awards. He wrote the nicest note saying that he and his wife have been giving each other pieces for a long time and how much they mean to them.

These guys are on my list because they are the epitome of the man who wears jewelry but it doesn't shout. It isn't bling. This isn't rapper time. I appreciate knowing that these are artists driven to wear pieces that have words that resonate, inspire, and carry personal meaning. I appreciate that even though I create a line of jewelry for women, some pieces transcend sex and have found their way onto a cool group of men who are also looking for their talisman.

More In The Studio...

The inbox. Mine

the metal smiths on lunch break eating, tweeting and goofing. Chie, Bella, Izeta and Princess Elvedina!

Kazu up to her ears...

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