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Retail
Storyteller
By Amber Michelle
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| Portrait of Temple St. Clair by Joshua Kessler. |
Jewelry designer Temple St. Clair’s career was launched by a simple errand. Her mother sent her to set a coin from the ancient city of Carthage into a necklace while they were living in Florence, Italy. It was then that St. Clair discovered the Florentine Jewelers guild and fine jewelry making. St. Clair was mesmerized by the goldsmithing done by this group of skilled artisans and the rest as they say is history. She founded her eponymous company more than 30 years ago in Florence in partnership with the finest goldsmiths. In 1986, Barneys New York inaugurated its fine jewelry department with St. Clair’s first collection and in 2016, she won the GEM Award for jewelry design. St. Clair’s pendant, The Tolomeo, was installed in the permanent collection of the Louvre in January 2017.
Known for her opulent jewels of whimsical creatures, as well as rock crystal and gemstone amulets, St. Clair recently released a new book, The Golden Menagerie. Published by Assouline, the gilt-edged, clothbound tome is a celebration of her Haute Couture jewelry trilogy of one-of-a-kind works of art. The first chapter is dedicated to “Mythical Creatures.” The jewels from these pages made their premier at an exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts in the Louvre in Paris. Chapter two is entitled “Wings of Desire” and that collection debuted at the Salon of Art + Design in New York City. The third and final chapter, “The Big Game,” is based on a collection that was exhibited at the DeLorenzo Gallery on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. The book showcases each jewel through photography and the watercolor paintings that St. Clair did for each piece. St. Clair and Rapaport Magazine editor in chief, Amber Michelle, had a conversation about creativity, storytelling and writing a book.
Amber Michelle: Define what creativity means to you and what is your creative process.
Temple St. Clair: Creativity is a certain level of freedom to explore. My creative process starts with exploration and research. I came to do what I do from an academic background of art history and literature. Coming out of grad school, I, by chance, discovered the world of gold and jewelry artisans. The world of jewelry became my medium to explore and goldsmithing came out as a way of storytelling and exploring myths that continue to inspire and fascinate me.
AM: You say that you are a storyteller. What story does your jewelry tell?
TSC: My jewelry tells big universal stories that tie us all together. That is why certain people are attracted to my jewelry. It attracts people who are drawn to a big universe. I will go down the path of the Roman Goddess Diana of the hunt and think of a strong woman out in nature and how that translates to a modern woman. I explore symbols of her myth visually through vines and pieces that are strong and structured, but still ethereal. I’m interested in Buddhism and the art around it. When I’m looking at Tibetan art and painting, I will do my interpretation of the story of Buddha, whether it is a Buddha figure or deer earrings from the animals in the art. I take inspiration from the Buddhist garden by the colors of gems I choose, greens and blues and the rich saffron found in Buddhist paintings. Creative people retell fundamental stories that everyone can relate to. I have a classical, whimsical approach to those stories.
AM: How is your personal life philosophy reflected in your jewelry?
TSC: In the most basic way, it is in terms of the quality of the jewelry and the sourcing of elements that go into the pieces. I’m very concerned with sourcing of gold and gemstones. I try to make sure my gems are conflict free, and we really track where the gems come from, and we use recycled gold. With my artisans and goldsmiths, I do slow jewelry so each piece is finished inside and out. We make sure that it has a good feeling weight wise and that it is finished perfectly. I’m not interested in just making jewelry or following trends; there has to be an authenticity about what I am doing as a storyteller.
AM: How does writing a book parallel making jewelry?
TSC: I have two books under my wing. I don’t claim to be a writer, but I love to tell stories. A book is another vehicle to express what I do. A piece of jewelry will tell the story, but I like to explain the background and thought-wise what went into making the piece of jewelry. Writing a book is a complementary story to the pieces of jewelry. For my Haute Couture work, there are many different layers of what goes into the work. There is the jewelry itself, the watercolors that I do about the piece, the work with artisans and even the specially made marble boxes with inlays that are made for each jewel. There are many layers of storytelling.
AM: What is the story and inspiration behind the pendant that is in the Louvre?
TSC: The Tolomeo pendant is named after Ptolemy, the first century A.D. astronomer and astrologer. Astronomy and astrology were on equal footing at that time. It is a jeweled expression of the Ptolemaic planetary hypotheses that earth is the center of the universe. The blue sapphire is the earth and the different colors of sapphires are other planets. Symbols for the planetary orbits are engraved on the back of each sphere. It goes to Saturn because that is as far as the solar system went at that time. The whole piece rotates. It has historical significance, incredible engineering and storytelling all in one piece.
AM: If you were not a jewelry designer, what would you do?
TSC: I would remain vastly curious and I would continue to tell stories, perhaps as a travel writer, art writer, painter, but in a very nineteenth century way. Travel writing would include watercolors, drawings and sketches. I would still be a storyteller, but I would be using some other means.Article from the Rapaport Magazine - February 2017. To subscribe click here.
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