Robert Lee Morris vintage costume jewelry

Robert Lee Morris vintage costume jewelry
American jewelry designer of the 1960s, Morris first exhibited his work at the Sculpture to Wear exhibition in 1972, thereby launching his career and meeting influential clients. Also, he caught the attention of the press. Morris carved out a segment of the jewelry market for himself by selling his jewelry through Artwear stores in New York. Thanks to his close ties with leading fashion magazines, his work and his name became known throughout the country.
When it all began, less than fifty years ago it was impossible to predict that any of this would happen. “Full of very revolutionary ideas”, he left Beloit College in Wisconsin in the late 1960s. Morris grew up in an Air Force family, spending his ten years in Japan and his senior years in Brazil.
His success story in jewelry design began on an abandoned farm in Wisconsin. There he, together with a small group of like-minded friends, learned how to make jewelry. However, when the house burned down, Morris and his friend moved to Vermont and opened a workshop there. They did what they knew and had to do to make money. He read books on jewelry, such as the Thomas Gentille’s jewelry book. Everything else, history and success grew out of these small beginnings. Already in the late 1980s, more than 60 people worked for his company, located in the center of one of the New York districts.

He sees in his jewelry “a very intense, focused worldview that makes people feel. “I want people to fall in love with my work and, by falling in love, discover something new in themselves.” Morris jewelry represents an alternative to modern jewelry, and at the same time, is a traditional jewelry. It is now fashionable jewelry crafted from metals ranging from 18k gold to gilded brass.

During his long successful career, Morris managed to collaborate with such brands and designers as Karl Lagerfeld, Jeffrey Bean, Michael Kors, and Kansai Yamamoto. And together with Donna Karan, they released 36 amazing collections. His collaboration with Calvin Klein in 1981 earned Robert a Coty award. Also, Morris received 2 CFDA awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America: in 1985 and 1994. In 2011, Morris sold his brand to Haskell Jewels.

Robert Lee Morris vintage costume jewelry