You guys know about the excellent (and generally super affordable) Turtle Love Co., and their long time sponsorship of APW. And you guys love them (after their last APW post, intern Lauren told me she was pretty sure she’d found her wedding ring). But, I wanted to tell you one of the reasons *I* love them today, and that would be their passionate support of individual artisans. When I talked to Turtle Love Co. about which of their uniqe wedding and engagement rings they wanted me to highlight today, they actually asked if I’d highlight two of their artists instead (rad, right?) And then they sent me the links to the artists, and holy wow. The first is Adel Chefridi, who’s work you’ll see above and below. He was born in Tunnis, and works in New York, and, “his work increasingly draws from his multicultural background, reconciling past and present, nostalgia and hope.” How’s THAT for an artists statement?
I love middle eastern art and pattern work (must be all those years of bellydancing.*) So this Diamond Motif Wedding Band made me want to faint. Seriously I saw it, and everything got a little swimmy. And can we discuss it’s pair, the Gossamer Diamond Wedding Ring? Effff, ladies. And the Silver Equinox Moon Necklace is just stunning, the end.
The second artist under discussion today is Midori Ferris Wayne. Her story and jewelry is equally fascinating. First, she uses all reclaimed metals, so nothing a newly mined (green, ethical, metal with a history, I love it). Plus, she uses and amazing technique that I’ve never heard of or seen before, “Midori has embraced a centuries-old Japanese tradition of alloying gold and copper to create the distinctive chocolate-colored shakudo which features in many of her pieces.” Crazy cool, right? You can see this in her Shakudo Branch Necklace. But on the wedding jewelry front, the Rose Gold Vine Ring is stunning and simple and lovely.
In the end though, I’m thrilled to partner with, and encourage you guys to shop at, a business that has such focused support on independent artisans. I’m passionate about that, and if I were at all bossy (cough, cough, cough) I’d tell you that you should be too. You can go browse all of Turtle Love Co’s Independent Artisans here, and shop for… well… engagement rings (’tis the season), but also just jewelry for your mom and grandma and sisters for the holidays. I think they’ll thank you for it.
*Oh, have I never mentioned that I bellydanced very seriously for years? Sometimes my life is too complicated to effectively sum up here. Some of the girls I used to dance with are now (literally) Bellydance Superstars. Yeah. So there we are. I love it, and you’re caught up.
Belly dancing? Awesome.
December 3, 2010 11:38 am
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Hey Meg…
When you click the second picture it doesn’t go to their website. Its goes to a comment page. :) Don’t know if that was intended.
December 3, 2010 12:08 pm
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Same for the other ones, too.
December 3, 2010 12:09 pm
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I never link pictures lady. Pictures are just pictures.
December 3, 2010 12:24 pm
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Fail on my part them, m’am. :P
December 3, 2010 12:29 pm
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Gorgeous.
And yea for belly dancing! I’ve never done it seriously, only for fun. But I really need to get back to it. It’s as good as physical therapy for my stiff shoulders and neck.
December 3, 2010 4:10 pm
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I noticed the Diamond Motif Wedding Band right away also. Boy, I’ve seen a lot out there, but that is definitely new. Very pretty.
December 3, 2010 9:11 pm
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bellydancing me too me too!
December 5, 2010 1:14 pm
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Sooooo preeeeeety!!! I want all of the necklaces. Just gorgeous!
December 6, 2010 10:49 am
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You guys, Turtle Love is awesome!
After reading a previous post by Meg about them I bookmarked a link to a necklace that was *perfect* for my best friend & wedding participant (it’s a T-Rex, which is her, like, spirit animal). After I ordered it, they sent me an email saying, “Um, how did you order that? It’s not supposed to be available any more.” (There was a glitch with the site, apparently, that let me do it through the link from Meg’s post, even though it was technically no longer available for sale on the site.)
I said, “Oh no! It’s so perfect! I don’t want to give her anything else!” And they found a way to get one made just for her/me, and then shipped it express so it would get there in time.
And the whole time, they were super nice & really just wanted to make me happy, which was so wonderful in those last few stressful weeks before the wedding.
(Of course she loved it!)
December 8, 2010 10:34 am
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