Kaleidoscope effect

Gilded Bronze box, detail. Top carved with faces, and a single smiling face among them. French jewelry designer Line Vautrin (1913-1997)

French jewelry designer Line Vautrin (1913-1997)
Born in 1913, renowned French designer Line Vautrin has found her own path in jewelry design. She created jewelry and decorative objects of rare beauty, truly wearable art.

A future designer, inventor, entrepreneur and educator, Vautrin became interested in metalworking technology at a young age. So, she mastered casting, gilding and bronze chasing at her family’s foundry. Continuing to become acquainted with ancient cultures, hieroglyphs, pictograms, as well as ancient metalworking methods, she traveled widely.
She turned the acquired knowledge, skills and artistic vision into the design of allegorical and exquisite jewelry. In addition, the designer’s calling card was the use of symbolic images and poetry on gilded bronze. Noteworthy, in 1948 Vogue called her “the poetess of metal.”

It is important to note that, together with her daughter Marie-Laure, Lin Vautrin founded the Association for the Development of the Handicrafts, where she taught metalworking and jewelry making.
Vautrin died in 1996, leaving a rich legacy of unique works filled with poetry, tales and mythology.
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Owl with emerald eyes brooch perfume hinge compartment. Gold tone, rhinestones. 1970s. Signed Vanda vintage costume jewelry

Signed Vanda vintage costume jewelry (1970s)
Many well-known companies producing cosmetics and perfumes manufacture their own jewelry, including fragrance medallions and rings. One of them was the Vanda Beauty Counselor Company, headquartered in New Castle, Delaware and Orlando, Florida. Since 1939, the corporation owned dozens of trademarks, and one of them was “Vanda”, jewelry trademark launched in 1978.
Vanda designers created Victorian style locket pendants, fragrance brooches and rings with a “secret”. Made of gilded metals and silver, the design of these pieces included filigree, cameo, engraving, enamel and art glass imitating precious stones. Signed with a stylized word “Vanda” and “U.S.A.”, these pieces have become collectible vintage.
Founded in 1978, the Vanda trademark for the production of costume jewelry ceased to exist in the 1980s.
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Gold filled circles brooch pendant. 1960s. Signed Vargas vintage costume jewelry

Signed Vargas vintage costume jewelry (1945-1998)

Founded in Providence, Rhode Island in 1945, Vargas Manufacturing Corporation (alternatively known as VMC, INC.) ceased to exist in 1998.
Initially, the company specialized in production of children’s jewelry (marked Cradle Craft), but it also manufactured ornamental and costume jewelry for adults. The company manufactured earrings, rings, bracelets, and necklaces during five decades.
In the 1990s Vargas Manufacturing Corporation merged with CJ International, Inc., alternatively known as Uncas Manufacturing Company, which ceased to exist in 2017.
Creating classic and filigree designs, Vargas jewelers used sterling silver, gold plated metal, sometimes set with good quality rhinestones. The marking traditionally includes V over a geometric diamond, or “Vargas”.
Noteworthy, Vargas jewelry is featured in the 1998 book “Costume Jewelry by Fred Rezazadeh”.

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Inspired by Marc Chagall Flying angel brooch pin. Gold, silver. Walter Schluep modernist jewelry art

Walter Schluep modernist jewelry art
Jewelry designer and sculptor, Walter Schluep was born in the Spanish city of Sant Feliu de Guixols in 1931 and lived in Montreal, Canada since the age of 22. Educated in Switzerland, Schluep began creating jewelry in the late 1950s, and worked until his death in 2016.

His unique style includes avant-garde, modernist and contemporary designs, museum quality wearable art and high quality craftsmanship. Highly sought after by collectors, Shulep’s jewelry art works have won many prestigious awards at jewelry exhibitions. Influenced by many modern artists, and in particular, Marc Chagall, he created a series of flying angel designs.

When creating his jewelry by hand, the designer traditionally used gold, silver and natural stones. Noteworthy, he also did not refuse to experiment with new materials. Thus, he was one of the first jewelers to mix plastic with silver and gold. He labeled his products with his name “Schluep”, or initials WS with a bird logo, and the purity of metal – gold or silver. Sometimes the maker’s mark includes the year of production and “LLP”.

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Beetle brooch. Carved Hematite, gold. Robert Wander WINC fine jewelry

Robert Wander WINC fine jewelry

A third-generation jeweler and New York native, Robert Wander (1942 – 2019) studied jewelry in Paris, where his family owned jewelry boutiques. That is why he labeled his first jewelry creations as “Wander France.” He later traveled the world, studying jewelry in other countries. Inspired by Greek and Roman motifs, he made jewelry at a very high level of craftsmanship.

In 1984, Robert Wander founded WINC Creations, Inc. with headquarters in New York, NY. It was a family business in partnership with his wife Deanna Haimoff was also a jewelry designer and owned a jewelry gallery in Hawaii.

Wander jewelry designs traditionally included the use of precious metals and stones – sapphires, tsavorites, aquamarines, opals, lapis lazuli, tourmalines, corals, etc. He created realistic images of animals, insects, lizards covered with precious stones, sets of earrings, necklaces and bracelets with Etruscan motifs.
A regular participant in jewelry art exhibitions, Wander has received many awards during his forty years in the jewelry business. He also collaborated with JCK magazine in the 1990s, patiently explaining how he created jewelry or the essence and nature of different precious stones.
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Pearl and sterling silver modernist mid-century brooch pin. Christian Schmidt modernist silver jewelry

Christian Schmidt modernist silver jewelry
The famous American modernist jeweler Christian F. Schmidt was born on August 28, 1928 in Minneapolis, MN, where he worked all his life until his death on April 22, 1974. Schmidt received an art and music education at the University of Minnesota, from which he graduated in 1956. He subsequently taught jewelry and design at this university and the Minneapolis School of Art (1956-1963). Although Schmidt lived only 45 years, he made significant contributions to the world of jewelry.
Drawing inspiration from the nature around him, Schmidt created unique works with organic forms, for which he received numerous awards at jewelry exhibitions. Noteworthy, later Schmidt himself was a member of the jury of national art exhibitions. He was also a sculptor and nature photographer, studying phenomena such as the transformation of a butterfly or the gill structure of a mushroom. The photographer’s observations helped Christian create, implement and refine his jewelry designs and the concept of his sculptures.
When creating jewelry, the master most often used sterling silver, as well as gold, cultured pearls and natural stones. The maker’s mark includes stylized “S” or “Christian Schmidt”
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Swirl design sterling silver brooch pin. Mildred Ball modernist mid-century jewelry

Mildred Ball modernist mid-century jewelry
Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, Mildred Lee Ball (1902 – 1997) was educated at Columbia University. After she married William M. Ball (1928) she taught home economics and needlework at school and college for several years.
In the 1940s, she began creating her unique silver jewelry using enamel, wood and natural stones. According to sources, she launched her own jewelry trademark in February 1959 in Winston Salem, NC.

Successfully participating in national art exhibitions (1955, 1956, 1959), she became one of the founders of the Winston-Salem Arts and Crafts Association and the Piedmont Craftsmen, Inc. (1963).

The work of talented jewelry designer, exhibitor and silversmith Mildred Lee Ball has been featured in various books on mid-century modernist jewelry in the 1960s.
Today, modernist pieces signed Ball are rare and highly collectible.
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