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Designer Lines

By Amber Michelle
Name: DANA BRONFMAN
Company: DANA BRONFMAN, New York City
Awards: FASHION GROUP INTERNATIONAL Rising Star Award for Fine Jewelry 2017
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WHY DID YOU BECOME A JEWELRY DESIGNER?
   I have always loved jewelry. When I was young, I loved looking at my grandmother’s jewelry. She didn’t have traditional pieces. She had a lot of Native American jewelry and jewelry she picked up while traveling. I always collected jewelry. I traveled and studied in Chile and Spain and found interesting pieces everywhere I went and I realized how strong my passion is for jewelry. I went to Colorado College in Colorado Springs and was going to be a social worker. During college, I went to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a weekend and while I was there I found a world of fine jewelry that had a contemporary aesthetic. That’s when I realized that I wanted to be a jewelry designer. I didn’t think it was possible. I had no skills, just a desire. Then I found Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts in San Francisco. So I went and learned how jewelry is made. I worked for jewelers in the Bay area and did an apprenticeship in Santa Fe. Then I came to New York City and got inspired. I made connections and realized there were opportunities in New York, so I started my own line in October of 2014.

WHAT IS YOUR DESIGN SIGNATURE?
The oculus is my most prominent motif — the circular-cut open pattern found in many of my pieces. An oculus is an architectural term for a circular opening in a space.

FIVE INSPIRATIONS:
Energy — the energy of the desert and open space. It is a feeling of liberation, the energy of things that we can’t see. The energy that I feel from the patterns in a gemstone that makes it feel like it comes from another dimension.
Salvador Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” — his painting of melting clocks. That inspired the Oculus collection.
Working at the bench carving waxes and the metal-smithing process gives me ideas. Everything comes out a bit differently than how I think it will.
Pieces in my collection inspire me. I like to see how I can incorporate the same concept into different pieces.
Fashion — not by following trends, but by making something that I think would be fun to wear that will help people create their own unique style.

DESCRIBE THE PERSON THAT YOU DESIGN FOR:
She is between 25 and 55. I get a lot of clients who are interior designers. She loves nature, but lives in the city. She is able to collect pieces and is able to create her own story over time that expresses her strength, inner wisdom and feminine style. She is independent. I design for independent, strong women. She is a woman who wants to be different but subtle. I call my aesthetic “quietly bold”; my pieces are understated.

WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT DESIGNING JEWELRY?
I love to travel to the Southwest and to visit family in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Santa Fe is my favorite place. I know that I will be there when I am an old lady. I was in Tulum, Mexico, recently and it was amazing. I love yoga and going to art museums and I really love sitting in a café with a friend and a good espresso.

Article from the Rapaport Magazine - March 2017. To subscribe click here.
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