Category: November 2009

Barbara Rosin of Ventidue: A Creator of Unique Leather Designs with Her Own Unique Flair!

“I’m a very determined person. If I’m not doing something for myself, what a waste! With all my resources, I thought, this is the time!” -Barbara Rosin

Barbara Rosin is the creator of the leather label Ventidue. She recently came from Verona, a city in northeast Italy, near Venice. This is a part of Italy that has been involved in creating and cultivating leather products for years. New to designing, Rosin just started making her leather collection about a year ago, and her garments are refined and edgy. She uses metallics and uniquely and skillfully treated leather. Rosin combines leather with jersey, cotton, and organza to create her own unique flair. According to Barbara, the leather has a memory and keeps the shape of the wearer’s body. For example, a leather jacket keeps its memory forever. She loves leather for this very reason.

What is your design process?

The process is really simple and natural. I love to design and I like a simple style, while at the same time I love the combination of some particular fabrics, in this case leather, jersey, cotton, organza, etc., combined with metal.

Metal, now that’s different. I noticed you have metal studs on your handbags.

Yes, especially metal. I use it with the leather to create more detail. Everything is completely different if you use materials that are unusual.

Do you make your own patterns, like your pleated skirt, for instance? I’ve never seen a leather pleated skirt before.

This is actually a big job I did with Eveline from EM and Co. It was an amazing combination. I think it’s a particular skirt that everybody can wear. It looks one way in cotton and a completely different way in leather. You can play with the look by combining a simple white tank top or a blouse to make it more elegant. With leather it’s versatile. For instance, a leather jacket is something you can wear everyday. But if you put studs or wear with metallic leather pants, or even accessorize with shoes or bag, it can pull the look together. I love this collection for this reason. Every single piece you can put your personality and play with it a lot!

What would you say is special or unique about your particular designs?

I try to give more personality to my pieces. We did leather leggings in metallic. There are particular materials I use to make my pieces more unique.

I hadn’t seen very much metallic in leather before I saw your collection. How did you come up with that concept?

It’s because I come from a part of Italy where they have been working withleather for a really long time. I’ve been around this material all my life. It’s very natural for me.

As I look at some of your handbags, I don’t really know how to describe them. It’s leather with an edge. Tell me about how you came up with that idea.

As I was cutting leather for something, there was all this excess material that was just going to waste. Why did I have to throw all this beautiful excess away? The kind of ageing of this leather is fantastic. So we took the excess, put metallic on top, and it was amazing. This is the reason that my handbags were born.

So it’s kind of almost like being “green,” recyclable.

Yes, and I love the idea because you can customize it more because of the room inside the bag. You modify to [accommodate] what you need. For instance, if you need something very short for evening, or if you need something very big for daytime, you create it accordingly.

You left Italy to come here. Are you permanently living here now, or do you go back and forth?

How can you play with this kind of leather? I have to go back and forth because the quality of leather is difficult to get here. Unfortunately, you cannot have this kind of effect—it’s a different kind of labor. In Italy they do amazing stuff with leather to make it very soft, like butter. You can have these kinds of effects only with Italian lamb.

Did you have any obstacle while trying to create your designs?

I’m lucky because I received great feedback when I presented my pieces. Economically speaking, it is not a good time to start a business, but I’m very strong and very determined.

What are some of your price points?

A leather jacket or leather skirt retails for $400, bags are around $400, and leather tops around $180. Shipping it from Italy, you have to pay extra; so I think it’s reasonable.

Highest High

I was really impressed with the people who have helped me. Not to take away anything from Italy, but here in the United States and particularly in Los Angeles, a lot of people are really nice and amazing. Everybody was super helpful. I was like, wow! I’m so happy. There was so much support.

Any Lows?

The economy is bad, but if you believe in yourself, you can keep going. When you get low, you just need to wake up and go for it with everything you’ve got. Because if you believe it and if you are lucky enough to have a partner, don’t think about the negative; just be strong and remember that tomorrow is another great day.

How has the economy affected your designing?

Everybody thinks that the leather will cost too much. I just explain that it’s something new, so it doesn’t have to be expensive.

What advice would you give to an aspiring designer?

Do it. Sit down, make your design, try to speak with a lot of people and try to make your project happen. If you take the time, you can meet with the kind of people who can help you. So, if you feel you have something . . . do it! I love that my pieces can make women happy all around the world.

Which designers inspire you?

My inspirations come from everywhere—my family, traveling, Italy. I do love Thierry Muegler, but I consider everyday life an inspiration.

You can find Ventidue at EM & Co in Los Angeles, CA. Also visit www.emandco.com to purchase Ventidue online.

Tatiana McLane: A 16-Year-Old Fashion Designer of the Victorian-Inspired “Queenie 4 Ever”

“To other teens out there who would like to be a fashion designer like me or have a dream or passion, keep going until the end, because you can make it as long as you believe in yourself. This was once my dream, but because I pursued it, it is now my reality.” -Tatiana McLane

While most 16-year-old girls are hanging out at the mall, Tatiana McLane, the designer of Queenie 4 Ever is creating beautiful Victorian-inspired clothes for the upcoming seasons. Tatiana started designing at nine years old. It’s hard to fathom, since I was skateboarding and still playing with Barbie dolls at that age. I certainly couldn’t design an outfit, much less sew a hem. I always found it fascinating when my mother would make me a dress from a pattern and watch it materialize. But to imagine a child of nine creating an outfit from scratch, and bringing it into being, that is a sight to behold. Tatiana has had her vision for seven years and has been quite successful at keeping that vision alive. Her designs have been worn by Jessica Simpson, Hilary Duff, Missy Elliot, Macy Gray, and others. She has been featured in several publications: La Weekly Style Council, East West Woman, Music Connection, and Skratch Magazine. Her mother, Venice Wong, is the co-creator of the Queenie 4 Ever label and a huge support to Tatiana.

What made you want to start designing clothes?

It all started when I was nine years old. My parents are both music attorneys, and so they work in the music industry. I would go along with them after school when they had meetings. My mom helped [the clients] rearrange their outfits. I always thought it was really cool, and I wanted to help.

A lot of designers I’ve interviewed have told me they used to sew clothes for their dolls. Did you do that at all?

Not really. I had Barbie dolls, but I mixed and matched their clothes.

Are the clothes that you wear to school things that you make for yourself?

Well, I have to wear a uniform because I attend a private school. But I do design my own clothing.

How do you go about designing an outfit?

First, I do research. I find pictures. I roughly sketch it, show it to my pattern maker, and pick out the fabric.

Can you tell me what makes Queenie 4 Ever unique? Who inspires you?

I’m inspired by Japanese and Victorian fashion. I like Audrey Hepburn. I really like Vivienne Westwood because her designs are really cool and she uses plaid and I like plaid.

You’re wearing a very adorable pink taffeta, black lace dress. What would you call it, and how did you come up with that design?

I just found the fabric and I really liked it. So I started with the fabric and I thought of Victorian tea parties and how they spend time during the spring.It has an exaggerated bow . . . I really like bows. Right now I’m showing my spring collection.

You have to come up with a collection twice a year. What inspired your spring collection?

Victorian-inspired collection that has ruffles and lace bows. I just choose a color and decide what would look good with that.

You said you’re in a private school. How do your friends accept youbeing a designer?

I was featured in my yearbook. It was called “Hidden Talent.” There were three students featured, one who flies airplanes, another one who did river dancing, and then me, a designer. A lot of people found out about me through that. I thought it was pretty cool that they recognized that I was a designer.

Could you walk me through your first outfit that you designed atnine years old?

I was at a charity event my parents went to. They probably had clients there. I met one of the Back Street Boys, Howie Durrough. I started talking to him and I told him I was a fashion designer. I can make you anything you want. He said he wanted a jacket and a man’s dress shirt. I told him I could do that. My mom was pretty surprised that I did that. But I ended up making a sky blue pinstriped shirt and a jacket. We sent it out to Florida.We flew out after the package, and I got to see him wear it on stage. That was my favorite moment as a fashion designer.

Where do you see yourself in five years? Do you plan to attend fashion school, or do you even need to?

I want to go to Stanford to study East Asian language because I have a huge interest in Japanese. I take Japanese and I really love it. I want to use that to go over there and put my own boutique here and also in Japan. Because then I could speak both languages and it would help me in business.

What is your ultimate goal as a fashion designer?

My goal is to get my designs worldwide, and not just the internet. I want to physically be there.

What advice would you give a young aspiring designer like yourself?

You should follow your passions, and when somebody tells you that you can’t do it, you should prove them wrong because you will feel proud of yourself. And your family and friends will feel proud for you.

Tatiana also volunteers and sponsors several nonprofit organizations: A Place Called Home, P.A.L.S. Class Act (Musical Theater Scholarships), Dorough Lupus Foundation, and Angel Way Maternity Home, and more. Visit www.queenie4ever.com to learn more.

Vilaiwan Fine Jewelry – Semi-Precious Wearable Art That Complements a Woman’s Charisma!

When I put the right pieces on the right client and I know that is her piece, I get goose bumps because it will complement her face, neckline, complexion . . . it will frame her face and hair. When I put the right piece on, we both feel it and know it. It’s as if that piece was created just for her. That’s the highest point for me because I feel like I completed my job as a designer. It confirms for me that’s why I’m doing this! -Jo-Jo, Vilaiwan Jewelry Designer

Polthakorn Viboonviriyawong, aka Jo-Jo, was born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand. He watched his mother start and build a successful diamond business. His earliest creative memories are of his mother (Vilaiwan) asking him to use his own designskills to help design new settings for her jewelry. As a result of this new-found passion, his mother sent Jo-Jo to the United States to turn that passion into a career. In honor of her support, Vilaiwan Fine Jewelry was born.

Jo-Jo received his Master’s from FIDM and graduated number one in his class. While there, jewelry became his passion. His vision is that jewelry is not just an accessory, but it is art that makes a statement of personality and energy. His designs are inspired by vintage styles. Vilaiwan designs have made the flower the centerpiece of its design and its signature. Jo-Jo hand-makes each piece and uses his relationships in the jewelry business abroad to secure the best materials. You will not find pieces like his anywhere else in the world. This also means that most of the Vilaiwan collection cannot be mass-produced.

Tell me about your background

I got my Master’s Degree in Interior Design. After that, I wanted to have something of my own before I was 30. I started to make jewelry. I gave a piece to one of my friends and she wore it to an art exhibition. Long story short, we made a connection, and we were able to put some of my jewelry in the museum store. Everything started from there. From the first to the third collection, I saw the opportunity. I created a website. We immediately got published in Dailycandy.com. Everythingblew up after that. We got 20,000 hits in two weeks. I was able to sell my first production in ten days. From there I started to learn about the business, like how do you connect to stylists, stores, you have to have a rep to deal with buyers, and people contact you from everywhere in the world.

So you had a fast snowball success!

It was something that happened at the right moment and the right time. Luckily, I ran into the right channels.

How would you describe your jewelry?

My jewelry is more of an art. It’s definitely not something that’s teeny-tiny with a small little sheen. I definitely create a statement. I design with my heart and my soul. You can definitely see it in the pieces—they’re like an art piece. It is jewelry, but it also complements your bone structure and your appearance. I put a lot of emphasis on the bone structure.

What are the materials you use?

They are all semi-precious. Luckily, I have the benefit of my family diamond business to help with that. We have very rare stones to mix in our one-of-a-kind collection. The structure part is plated with either 14 carat white gold or 22 carat gold. This way the client won’t have to worry about the pieces getting tarnished or creating a rash. We think about every single detail and every aspect of the jewelry.

I have seen the jewelry. It is very beautiful. You said you want to complement the bone structure, but you have some very interesting, intricate designs. Can you give me an example of what inspires that?

The pieces are inspired by nature: flowers, trees, leaves and their textures and colors . . . or even textures of stone and wood in flooring . . . even fountains and the rain. When I’m referring to the bone structure and the appearance of the client, how could I bring up those ideas and concepts’ shape and form, based on my inspirations and be able to collaborate and combine and create something that actually flows with the bone structure of a human being, and make it look like something that really frames your face or neckline? It raises the look of eleganceand complements the charisma of its owner. The answer is every piece has to embody something that complements those particular elements. That’s why it’s called jewelry. You want to wear the necklaces. You don’t want the necklaces to wear you.

So your line is only three years old.

Yes, I feel really grateful for all the great response that I got, including all the press, clients, and fan base. I feel really fortunate for that.

You had a lot of success in a very short period of time. Where can we find your jewelry?

You can find it on our website. We do exhibitions with museums and high-end boutiques. Every 3-4 months we launch one-of-a-kind collections not announced on our website—only announce it to those on our email list. When I’m in Los Angeles, I schedule private appointments with my clients.

How do you go about actually designing these pieces?

I sketch, and every time I go back to Thailand, I get a chance to look at the stone market or the suppliers affiliated with my family diamond business. From there I can see if there are any stones that can fit what I’ve sketched. I will literally make at least one piece myself, and then I have a little team make a couple of the pieces. The maximum number of pieces per design is only five pieces. But every 3-4 months when we do our one-of-a-kind collections, that’s only one piece per one design.

Are they collectible or individually named?

Yes, we named them based on flowers in Thai or ladies’ names in Thai. It gives you a more meaningful association with the piece.

Is there anything challenging about creating your jewelry?

The challenging part for me is finding the right materials to match the design. Sometimes the structure’s not right or the number of the wiring was wrong, but once you complete it, it’s like a miracle. Because when it’s finished, you know it’s right. I get ecstatic every time I create and finish a new piece. I have to put each piece on a person, because I have to make sure it sits right on the neck. So when it’s completed, it’s a miracle to me. What can be challenging is making sure that the finished product actually looks like the picture I had in my head.

Could you list some of the semi-precious stones you use in your jewelry?

Yes. We use ruby, jade, quartz, emerald, rose quartz, yellow topaz, blue topaz, corals; and sometimes we even mix the stones, for example, ruby and emerald.

Everyone’s got inspirations, right? What jewelry designers inspire you?

Honestly, I don’t have any jewelry designers that inspire me. I see some of the pieces from other artists. I really admire them. But I am mostly inspired by different shapes and forms of art, like architecture or even a flower arrangement . . . even acolor scheme that moves me. I have been taking a lot of pictures lately of the floor with shadowing and different textures of concrete; the sand; the ways that nature grows; the odd shades of pink; etc. I prefer that to a real object or shape and form.

Highest High

When I put the right pieces on the right client and I know that is her piece, I get goose bumps because it will complement her face, neckline, complexion; it will frame her face and hair. When I put the right piece on, we both feel it and know it. It’s as if that piece was created just for her. That’s the highest point for me because I feel like I completed my job as a designer. It confirms for me that’s why I’m doing this!

Any lows?

Sometimes it can be challenging. I might have a design, but I can’t find the right stone for it. Or I found the stone, but the execution didn’t materialize the way I wanted. When those moments come, I just take a break, go for a walk or jog, and then return to it later. By the end, it always works out somehow.

My parents taught me that any job that you do, there will always be problems; but you’re lucky to get the chance to solve the problems in the business that you love and have a passion for. So for me, I have no complaints.

What advice would you give to another aspiring jewelry designer?

1. You really have to follow your passion. You really have to be honest with yourself. If you want to be a fashion designer, jewelry designer, or a singer, it’s what’s deeply inside screaming for you to do it. Follow that and never give up. There will always be obstacles where things aren’t as smooth, but just don’t give up. Be passionate about it; and in the end, it will pay you back. The difficulties are just a test to see if you really want to go through with it.

2. Be open-minded. When you become a designer, it’s like being an artist. You have an ego. But if you become an open-minded person, it will be much more fun while you are enjoying learning everyday from everything and everyone. There are a lot of things in this world that you don’t know and it benefits and can inspire you.

To learn more about Jo-Jo’s jewelry, visit his website at www.vilaiwan.com.

Interviewed by Kaylene Peoples

U.K. Holidays: England, Here We Come!

Written by Benedict Smythe

After a stressful year at work, you finally have the chance to take your vacation and forget about all your problems and concerns (even for just a while). If you’ve wanted to go to the United Kingdom, chances are that England is on that long list of places you want to visit. Here are a number of places and events that you could visit during your stay in England.

STONEHENGE
A vacation in England is just incomplete without visiting Stonehenge. Upon getting to the County of Wilshire, you will be captivated by the lush green environment, which is a breath of fresh air (figuratively and literally) from the constant noise and busy streets of the city. Some people may wonder why you’d want to travel a couple of hours from London just to see Stonehenge, but it really is more than just a pile of rocks.

It has fascinated archeologists all over the world, because these rocks have been standing there in a circular formation for the longest time. The puzzling thing is how ancient tribesmen got these large, heavy rocks there because these particular stones can be found at a location remote from Wilshire. They have also, for the longest time, been trying to figure out what this monument was used for.

The position of Stonehenge made some experts believe that it was used as a cosmic clock, because of the relation of its position with the sun and the moon. More recent evidence has led experts to believe that the area surrounding it was a burial site and that Stonehenge was used by druids as a place for ancient burial rituals.

WINDSOR CASTLE
Whether we’ve heard about them in fairy tales or history books, castles are striking images of power and beauty. In a lot of people’s lives, there comes a point where they’d like to live in one. Though the probability of you living in Windsor Castle goes from slim to none, you can take a tour in this captivating man made marvel. It is one of the places where the British monarch stays from time to time, and it has been standing since the time of William the Conqueror. Since that time, it has gone through a few changes, depending on the taste of the ruling monarch of the time. Upon arriving in Windsor, the sight of the castle itself can be mind blowing when you start the tour.

CITY OF LONDON
If you are quite the night owl, then London is an ideal place to go to. With its numerous pubs, there are little chances that you don’t have anywhere to go t during the evening. In their pubs you will find a mix of locals and tourists enjoying a lager or cider. During the day, there also are a lot of places that you can go to and fill your camera’s memory with. One of the most famous images of London is the Clock Tower. The common misconception is that some people think that this tower is Big Ben, but the fact is that Big Ben is actually the bell inside the Clock Tower.

Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company “Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray” Yerba Buena Center for the Arts – San Francisco, Saturday, October 3, 2009

Anticipation can be the harbinger of great disappointment. When we excitedly anticipate that “next great thing” whether it is Scorsese’s next film, Lagerfeld’s next fashion line, or Wolfgang Puck’s next restaurant, the hype can kill the experience before it ever happens. The demanding pedestal of expectation is a tough thing to overcome for any great artist.

Bill T. Jones’s latest creation, “Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray,” carried with it the burden of high expectations. Mr. Jones is one of the most compelling dance/theater artists making work today, and he is in a period of creativity that is perhaps unmatched by any other in his remarkable career. Recent years have brought us Mr. Jones’s critically acclaimed “Blind Date,” “Chapel/Chapter,” the Tony Award for choreography for “Spring Awakening,” and the equally lauded Off Broadway and now on Broadway, “Fela!” Adding to the expectations surrounding his newest work is Mr. Jones standing with the hip and famous, with mass culture icons such as Tyra Banks frequenting his performances, and magazines like Vanity Fair featuring him.

So as any great artist of a certain age enjoying a great deal of success would do, Mr. Jones took on a safe and uncomplicated project so as not to disturb the comfort of his rising success, right? Wrong. Mr. Jones’s career has frequently been about controversy and risk and has always been about the complex and often uncomfortable. His new work is no different.

“Fondly Do We Hope. . .” was commissioned by the Chicago-area Ravania Festival to honor the 200 th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s birth. Lincoln, slavery, civil war, emancipation, 100 years of brutal repression, civil rights, Obama. Now there’s asimple and easy legacy to take on, one that could have disastrous results for even the most accomplished of artists. However, Mr. Jones’s “Fondly. . .” is a gift to us all—in this reviewer’s opinion, a masterwork. In this work Mr. Jones the artist/intellectual/activist has created the rarest of pieces, the intellectually and culturally informed, politically aware work of art whose lasting impression is not its cleverness or righteousness, but instead its sheer beauty. Not beauty in the classical sense but beauty of the deeply considered, beauty of unforgettable imagery, and beauty of a theatrical experience so seamless and fully realized that it becomes more like a rich dream for those experiencing it. When an artist takes the complex and painful and leaves his/her audience with an overwhelming sense of beauty and hope, the artist must be considered a master. Mr. Jones is in that league.

In “Fondly . . .” Jones does not attempt to be a historian, but we feel as if we are in Lincoln’s place and time through songs, video imagery, and the words of Lincoln, Frederick Douglas, and Walt Whitman. He does not attempt to tell a linear story, yet his script (co-written with Janet Wong, associate artistic director and video designer for “Fondly. . .”) and use of an on-stage narrator are deeply moving and create vividly descriptive snapshots of Lincoln’s life and the lives of others, including the life of Mr. Jones himself. While there is original music for the piece, there is no full-length commissioned score, but instead an amalgamation of music that brilliantly brings us into the mood, era, and message of any given moment during the work. The choreography and exquisitely expressive and athletic dancers are the dramatic backbone of “Fondly . . . .” However, they would not succeed at the same level without all of the other intelligently directed theatrical elements. In short Mr. Jones does not deal in convention yet has created a multi-dimensional, complex and emotionally effecting work of art that only the most gifted of theatrical directors/creators could achieve.

“Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray” could be described as a thoughtful contemplation on the effect that Abraham Lincoln has had on our country, yet it is so much more than that. It is a moving reflection on our national psyche and individual lives. It is Mr. Jones’s expression of the concept of democracy being “by the people for the people” and Lincoln’s inseparable connection to that ideal. It is a powerful yet nuanced comment on the legacy of slavery. It is a beautiful work of dance/theater. It is Mr. Jones’s personal statement about still believing in great men and women . . . cautiously. It is all of those things, and the piece succeeds on so many levels it seems pointless to break it down and analyze. Perhaps we should simply take “Fondly Do We Hope . . . Fervently Do We Pray” as a gift from Mr. Jones to Abraham Lincoln and all of us who embrace the hope of democracy, just as the title and those words were originally a gift of hope from President Lincoln to his country. Brilliantly, this work of art defies easy categorization—just like Bill T. Jones.

Reviewed by Michael Reed