Hasta La Ideas

An androgynous jewelry line from Portland, Oregon’s NW neighborhood

Betsy & Iya, the eponymous jewelry line of Portland, Oregon-based designer Betsy Cross, has always been marked by a certain sweetness and androgyny. Her pieces are sentimental, but working the metal by hand gives them a few rough edges that look appropriate on both men and women. In June…

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Mi sono sempre chiesto se esistesse per davvero. Questo spremi-tubetto da dentifricio in metallo lo trovate su Amazon.

Sex and punk elegantly balanced in the sculptural jewelry designer’s latest collection

Balance is the term that first comes to mind when describing Bliss Lau‘s approach to jewelry design. A soft-spoken Hawaiian with a New York sensibility, she embodies a certain duality that comes across in her work. The statement-making body accessories comprising Lau’s line are at once elegant and provocative, with a posh-punk aesthetic brilliantly captured this season by emerging illustrator Heather Benjamin.

Benjamin is the brains behind the lewdly funny, manga-esque illustrated zine, “Sad Sex“, which Lau discovered through one of her young interns. With classical music playing in the background, Lau talked to us at her NYC studio. “I think I was interested in working with her largely because of this idea of her working with the female body and breaking boundaries with that, and then just the fearless, gnarlyness of it—it’s just really powerful and fantastic,” she explains.

Lau commissioned Benjamin to create a series of drawings inspired by the “Sad Sex” seductress, but that would more appropriately showcase her Spring/Summer 2012 collection. “We had this idea of this naughty girl running rampant through the city doing things like smoking, hanging out with tigers, just this idea of this magical, sexy, sort of wicked girl that has fur coats and an amazing manicure but is like totally cool and punk rock, and she does dark things but she does them in fabulous ways,” says Lau.

The finely detailed illustrations perfectly capture the essence of Lau’s pieces, which turn robust materials like powder-coated brass into finely crafted designs. There’s a 1920s kinkiness to Lau’s accessories that is obvious from first sight, but it becomes even more pronounced on the body. The armor-like weight makes you feel regal and powerful, but the delicate way the pieces lay on your skin and move with your body also provides a feeling of sensual refinement. Like the flexible “Hourglass” necklace or “Calder” bracelet, which are technically flat metal pieces that fully form around the body thanks to her clever use of vintage snake chains.

For Lau, designing to the kinetic and sculptural elements jewelry can possess is as important as the visual component. For her S/S 2012 collection, Lau was inspired by the geometric solid. She channels this concept into works that trace the body, giving masculine shapes the ultimate in female sex appeal. “In a way you’re kind of engineering how a person’s going to hold themselves”, she explains. Lau’s vision encourages bold moves but with poetic rhythm.

Lau designs to enhance every part of the body—from rings that connect to the wrist to leather pieces that draw beautiful attention to the waist. Her sculptural jewelry sells online and in stores around the world. See her website for a full list of stockists.

Roughshod elegance marks a designer’s handmade jewelry

In Albert Zuger‘s jewelry you can see Aphrodite taking Hephaestus’ hand; it is a heavenly marriage of beauty and the forge. The Toronto-based designer hammers out earrings, necklaces, rings and bracelets in bronze that carry an unpretentious elegance, marks of the hammer, and the spirit of the American craftsmanship.

Zuger’s involvement with jewelry began with an actual wedding—his own. As a metalworker since high school and a sculptor by trade, when he proposed to his wife, Sasha Suda, he didn’t feel it was right for them to wear rings he hadn’t made himself. What he produced, and what now rests on both of their fingers, features hundreds of layers of several steel alloys, with a lining of gold peeking out around the edge. Those who saw the ring went mad for it, and Zuger—who was leaving his metal fabrication outfit in New York for Suda’s hometown of Toronto—saw an opportunity to start a new career that combined his love of sculpture, jewelry and traditional metalwork.

“I’ve been a metalworker since age 15,” says Zuger, who moved to Kansas City as a teenager and volunteered with historic blacksmith shop there. Meanwhile, he took every jewelry design class his high school offered and learned to weld in a metal fabrication studio before driving his 1950 Ford pickup to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, where he studied sculpture. After college, he opened his own metal fabrication business in an 1850s warehouse in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, fabricating elements of artists’ large-scale sculptures, ornate arch metalwork, and unique structures like a pair of giant bronze doors for an Upper East Side mansion.

Zuger works all of this experience into his jewelry design, citing Samuel Maloof, and the revival of the American Arts and Crafts movement in the 1950s as his inspiration. “I see myself more than anything else as a sculptor,” he says. “I wouldn’t call myself a jeweler.” Whether sculptural pieces or jewelry, the resulting golden bangles, rings and collar necklaces befit strong women from Gramercy to “Game of Thrones” (there are also shoehorns, keychains, and cufflinks for all). Their details and refinement speak to a marked sophistication, but their hand-hammered shape and construction speak to a deep connection to the process in which they were crafted.

“I’m inspired by Calder, Noguchi, Hans Hofman. It’s a cultural exploration of form and surface in a wearable sort of way,” says Zuger.

For Zuger, the key is in the craftsmanship. “Every surface has been changed from what it started out as. It’s a transformative process that creates these objects that are both and very sculptural,” he says. “The most important thing to me is to have my hands in the stuff, to be actually making it. Having studied sculpture and making things all these years, that’s what I enjoy most. It’s all hand-hammered. I don’t have other people cast stuff. I don’t have other people do my stamping.”

With no disrespect to David Yurman or Chanel (fine, some disrespect), or even the smaller, trendy jewelry-makers—the Pamela Loves, the Philip Crangis—I believe this is what is called a labor of love.

The throwback cafe racer turns heads and nails the curves along Mulholland

by
Matt Spangler

You know the feeling of finding the perfect suit? Any outfit that makes you more confident in everything you do—your steps a little crisper, your handshake a little firmer—is the kind of “feels good, looks good and you know it” experience I had riding the Moto Guzzi V7 Racer over the course of a late-September L.A. weekend.

The V7 Racer is a ode to the original red-frame V7 Sport Telaio Rosso, housing its legendary 90-degree V-twin engine inside the frame, a creation of famed engine designer Giulio Cesare Carcano. It harkens back to the days when racing wasn’t about fully-padded spacesuits and leaning so low your knees touch the ground. It’s a throwback, and design-minded riders are certainly going to love this bike. It’s flat-out beautiful.

Spoke wheels and subtle red metallics that criss-cross throughout the engine interior evoke vintage Grand Prix style and Steve McQueen cruising the streets of Monaco. The Italian V7 Racer has the same kind of wide appeal as the quintessentially-Italian film classic, “La Dolce Vita”—you’ll feel like Marcello Rubini on this thing. The Italian heritage is no accident. Moto Guzzi celebrates its 90th anniversary with the release of the limited-edition racer, which honors the timeless cool of the cafe racer style born from the 1960s European counterculture group, The Rockers, who would “record race” to reach 100 miles per hour before the song playing on the jukebox ended.

Myself, I had Los Angeles as my racetrack. After a morning ride across Hollywood, it was time see what was underneath the looks, and test it in the turns. I took it up to Mulholland Drive—one of my favorite rides for its 30 miles of uninterrupted turns, and a great place to try the speed, handling and brakes of any bike.

It certainly lived up to its racing bike legacy, shining on the curves. I’m over six feet and normally on a new bike, it takes me a few days to get really comfortable with leaning deep into the curve and letting the machine do the work for me as I gas through it. With the V7 racer, I never had that feeling. I was comfortable from the first time I leaned in, making for one of my best Mulholland rides ever. The V7 racer also felt good on a longer, 90-minute drive, carving quickly and easily down the coast from L.A. to Costa Mesa.

Packing just 744 CCs and 45-50 horsepower with a top speed listed at 120 miles per hour, the bike isn’t known for its power. It pops in lower gears but doesn’t have a lot of oomph in the high gears, and it just can’t compete with higher-performance engines. As the bike speeds into the triple digits, there tends to be some rattle in the foot pegs, but that’s just a guess—I would never actually go that fast.

That said, the relative lack of power didn’t interfere with my enjoyment. It’s a racer, meant to champion speed through efficiency and turns, not the long sprint. While some may question the absence of rattle and hum, I preferred the quieter aggressive purr.

This bike is a fantastic ride with good balance, size, power and suspension, as well as a classic cafe racer experience, thanks to the adjustable Bitubo shocks and the front Marzocchi fork. They have a give-and-take that seems to mesh with the road precisely when you need the support.

The handlebar position takes pressure off the wrists and keeps the rider naturally engaged, with the option of leaning forward or sitting more upright. Little flares on both sides of the gas canister fit comfortably against the knees, regardless of a rider’s height.

The number “7” markings on the bike are consistent across the line, a clear and immediate visual tie to the bike’s racing history, but likely one that will polarize riders when it comes to aesthetics. The cafe racer culture always leaned on customization, so I wouldn’t be surprised if people take to their garages to individualize their ride. It remains to be seen whether the company will allow for custom-ordered numbers down the road.

The bike marks somewhat of a renaissance for Moto Guzzi in the U.S. Starting at $9,790, the bike is a damn good buy—if you can get your hands on one. They’re only selling a few of these bad boys, so they’re bound to be a hot ticket. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ll get yourself the admiration of passersby, and a solid ride that should meet your expectations.