onyx feather events | garden party

we just threw a garden party to celebrate a fun year for onyx feather. it started out a little hectic  (note to self: you cannot whip together a whole tray of proscuitto, goat cheese and peach bauguettes drizzled with olive oil in ten minutes no matter how hard you try unless you are martha stwart), but my amazing girlfriends and interns made it come together! we have lots of images and video footage of the event i can't wait to share. in the meantime here is the invite and check out andrea's coverage and images of the event on the fly blog; she and april looked lovely. thanks to everyone that came and made this event a success! i appreciate you all!

r&r | new york

my family just moved to ithaca, new york so last weekend i went to visit them. to my surprise they've shed their city ways and decided to build a lake house. (this is shocking because my family has never been a big fan of large bodies of water. once when we were at the beach, my aunt decided it was too dangerous to play in the ocean because large bodies of water are evil and sweep you away. her solution: the whole family stood in one long line, held hands and carefully waded into the water and let the tiny waves dance around our feet. i'm pretty sure we looked like a cult.) here are some views of one of the lots they are considering. hoping this one is the winner--it's so serene.

onyx update | custom wedding orders

it’s wedding season which means long (but fun) deadlines for me. here are images of a july custom order piece i created for a  lovely bride. she wanted a traditional necklace remixed with vintage and non-traditional elements to complement her french lace gown. the result: a piece that mixes three types of vintage (the jeweled pavé  clasp, silver-plated marcasite connectors and pavé  links) with traditional materials like swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls. it was such a fun piece to work on and very sparkly and commanding in person. she also wanted jeweled earrings for her bridesmaids to match their navy, silk bhldn dresses. here’s a sneak peak of one of the earrings below. it’s a mix of vintage maracasite (to complement the bride’s maracasite), brilliant tanzanite stones, swarovski crystals and silver-plated connectors.  in customary onyx feather style all bridal necklaces and custom orders come packaged in an antique cigar box. i will post images from the wedding when the photographer gets them up. right now i’m working on a necklace for a non-traditional bride (buckets of fun!); i will share those after her wedding!

 

diy | rolling nordic hills dinner decor

j from boundary line just did a diy post on how to create a simple, nordic-inspired table runner for a dinner party. it’s inspired by the surprise onyx feather city collection themed dinner party the girls threw for me a few weeks ago. they really nailed translating the lookbook into nordic-inspired dinner décor--using moss is brilliant. i also love this flickr image of the icelandic hillside that inspired the johanna necklace. check out the diy details here.

images | dinner decor-ginervitis_ | rolling hillside- ornello  | johanna necklace - arthur moeller for onyx feather

parisian glamour | marion cottilard

the styling is impeccable. the small scale mixed prints, the way the vintage christian dior dress accentuates her tiny waist and derriere, the bright pops of vivacious red and the tiny, emerald-hued ring. this is parisian glamour at its best.  image | vogue & coffee

model crush | joan smalls

love her work. modeling despite her scoliosis only makes me appreciate her hustle even more. via moment blog.

onyx feather | city-inspired dinner party

a few weeks ago my tribe surprised me with a dinner party to celebrate the “best of dc” washingtonian mention. the theme was onyx feather and every course was from a different city collection. i’m so blessed to have such a creative, thoughtful group of friends; i treasure them like the hope diamond.  even the table décor reflected the rolling hills of iceland. here are a few pictures from the dinner party courtesy of emily. haley made tangerine-ginger caipirnhas (a nod to our rio collection)—they were so fresh and delicious. here’s a link to her boundary line guest  recipe post on how to make them. you can skip the rum and just use ginger ale instead to make them liquor free as well. yum!

                                                       images via emily b  | drink via getty

destination | san francisco

been off the radar again. this time i was in san francisco—love this city so much.  i ignored the touristy things this time around and spent more time exploring the mission district and the castro. i have never eaten so much food within a 96 hour period of time. each bite was the equivalent of a child blowing air into an expanding tiny balloon that was threatening to pop. now that i’m back on the east coast i am barely hungry; i think my body is still living off the rich fat from gorging buttery french deserts, authentic tacos and spicy turkish food. i feel like i’m two steps away from temporary gout like the old british kings. here are a few images from the trip. for a full recap of my bay area food adventures check out the boundary line blog here.  and for a peek at my vintage and boutique hopping travels click here. the crème brulee food truck in berkeley is brilliant and evil all at once. who unleashed that on society?

blog travels | festive drinkware

this chilly anthropologie recipe for watermelon margaritas has me coveting the drinkware. more festive drinkware on the boundary line collective blog I contribute to here. heading south for a fun weekend. so excited for a break from this sweltering hot, 100 degree heatwave! via anthropologie.

sneak peak | bridal party orders

knocking out multiple wedding orders this week. here’s a sneak peak of a bridesmaid collection i’m working on—i love the colors.  it’s a mix of clarit czech glass, vintage gold-fluted lucite, apollo czech glass, etc. i love when i get to work with unique stones and colors. i’ll post full images with detail shots after the wedding!

social change soulmates



i have a friend named johanna who is an extraordinary person and has accomplished some extraordinary things in less than 30 years that would take most people a lifetime to achieve. like recieving the bill and melinda gates foundation public service law school scholarship, becoming a comissioner to the city of seattle, working with the united nations in different capacities, etc.  it's hard to keep up with her. (sometimes i just make up weird titles for her because i can't keep up with her current ones. "special attache to the blah blah blah united nations water and sanitation project"? i mean how do you even fit that on a business card?) the best part is everything she does is driven by her compassion, conviction and her calling to help the people that need it most. it's such a privledge to watch her continue to sacrifice for others and it is so inspiring. she wrote the sweetest note to me here and it means the world because i always feel like i'm not doing enough to change all the awful things that happen in world on a daily basis. thanks jo. love you lots my hawaiian social-change-fireball-soulmate! she has an awesome, thought-provoking blog, check it out here.

onyx feather press | lanalou style

thanks to lana from lanalou style for the lookbook feature. love, love the new format of her blog! click here to check it out.

foodie travels | s'meaches

i'd been craving s'mores until i saw this amazing summer recipe for s'meaches. eastern market peaches are amazingly ripe and sweet. it only stands to reason an eastern market s'meach would be mind bloooooooooooooooooowing. this calls for a dinner party. via sho and tell and kitchy kitchen

onyx feather press clips | best of washington, dc

onyx feather is named one of the best local jewelry lines in dc by washingtonian magazine in their "best of dc" july issue out on newsstands right now! thanks so much to the editors of washingtonian for recognizing emerging designers! this is such a milestone moment for the line. it started as a little dream to merge creativity with an initiative to protect children that are victims of hunger and trafficking and slowly it has grown and gained traction. there have definitely been some failures and tough learning experiences along the way (owning a jewelry line part-time is hard) but the successes have outweighed them. through this business i’ve been blessed to meet so many creative, like-minded people. a huge thank you to my mom, tegan hare, jennifer wilsie, johanna gusman, jessica woodson, lauren frank, emily barenbregge, melia moore, joan kim, ashley truxon, and everyone else (you know who you are) that have supported the line from the very beginning.

below is a throwback image from the first shoot where we had no idea what we were doing! (like seriously no idea at all. we ended up trying to do a jewelry shoot in a graveyard during twilight... yea....we’ve come a long way...i think?)

and here is an image of ::shiny eyed:: tegan forcing the poor check-out clerk to look at the article like a mom with a kid on the honor roll. (we were in safeway when we stumbled across the magazine.) she's hilarious.

updates | meeting the first lady + refinery 29 feature

i have been a really bad blogger lately. but i'm popping back into the blogging world with two quick updates 1. our new summer lookbook was featured on refinery 29! (so excited, thanks guys!) and 2: i met the first lady. she's a blast. i've got the full, off-beat account written up here on the boundary line blog i contribute to. have a great weekend! image via the AP

our summer lookbook launch | reykjavik, iceland

i've been off the blog radar for a while working on our new summer reykjavik collection. iceland is such a beautiful country filled with magnificent glaciers, lush rolling hillsides, breathtaking black sand beaches and enticing geothermal pools. i wanted the new collection to reflect all these attributes; here are some of the vibrant images that inspired the line. the materials for this collection: icy blue agates, crackling white quartz, neon swarovski crystals, repurposed palm wood, as well as silver accents and geometric shapes. it's such a fun, off-beat summer line. click here to  explore the lookbook. thanks to everyone who helped put the shoot together--morningside park was an awesome place to shoot! and special thanks to arthur moeller our awesome and super quirky photographer.

behind the scenes | our summer lookbook

i've been under the radar for the past two weeks working on our summer lookbook. we shot on location in new york city which was an amazing, chaotic adventure. we even had one of our original onyx feather models fly in from michigan to support the shoot which was so sweet. love you melia! more instagram shots of the lookbook shoot below.  i get chills when i see the final images, so excited for it to launch next week!

shop-it-to-me | L.A.M.B. heels

contemplating the pros and cons of acquiring these. pros--well look at them! cons: i've done nothing recently to deserve them. i feel like these signal some sort of milestone? (well at L.A.M.B price points probably bankruptcy.)  via here.

custom order | herkimer diamond quartz

just finished another custom order--it was a second anniversary surprise for a very chic lady. paris had a special significance for the couple so the husband wanted a necklace from our paris line. i picked a traditional design since she's so classic, but added some unusual stones to keep things unexpected. it's a fusion of herkimer diamond quartz, swarovski crystals and czech glass.
to punch up the romance i packaged it an antique cigar box. this was one of my favorite custom orders.

shop it to me | tinnlily

love these bracelets by local designer tinnlily. brilliant right? via refinery 29