Cheré Coen
Erica Courtney doesn’t design jewelry. She creates works of art.
The Lafayette native who now designs necklaces, rings and earrings for the stars in Los Angeles, hand picks her gemstones, some one-of-a-kind, and creates unique jewelry that can also qualify as collector items.
“I feel like I design conversational jewelry,” Courtney said by phone from L.A.
Her signature pieces, carried locally at Kiki’s in River Ranch, feature countless diamonds, rare Tahitian pearls and gemstones set in 18k gold and platinum custom settings. She can set up to 300 diamonds in one ring, she said, that should be admired from all angles.
Even though some of her pieces are repeated, different stones are used, making her line unique.
“We never mass produce,” Courtney said. “We look at every single stone.”
Which is why some of her clients include Christina Aguilera, Drew Barrymore, Meg Ryan, Johnny Depp, Whoopie Goldberg, Jennifer Aniston, Evangeline Lilly, Kate Hudson, Madonna, Queen Latifah and Reese Witherspoon, among many other stars.
It started with sunglasses
Courtney wasn’t planning a career in jewelry design. She came from an oilfield family and worked as a land man for a time. “And that was the day when it wasn’t that friendly for us girls,” she added.
When she was living in Dallas in the 1980s, Courtney used Swarovski crystals from a broken necklace to adorn a pair of sunglasses. Wearing them out, friends remarked on the glasses and asked for a pair. Courtney’s mother insisted she market them.
“I said, ‘I am not a designer,’” Courtney explained with a laugh. Even when she approached the Dallas Market to sell them, she told the owner, “I am not a designer.”
Her glasses sold well, and she began working with Fossil watches, crystal earrings and bustier, among other mediums.
“Basically, I taught myself,” she said.
Courtney moved to Los Angeles and started working with silver, playing around with love notes as jewelry because she had found a new beau. Some friends loved the idea “and we decided to do it,” she explained.
Silver led to gold and then to diamonds and platinum. Soon, Courtney became a success, selling her pieces to some of the biggest names in Hollywood. Her pieces now sell for thousands of dollars.
“It’s a crazy business,” Courtney said of Hollywood, “and if you’re here you have to be in the game or not in the game. If you’re not in the game, it can drive you crazy.”
Courtney says she plays the game well, including selling or lending her jewelry pieces to stars during awards ceremonies. She mostly deals with their stylists and looks at how the jewelry works with the actress or actor photographed and not necessarily as a complement to the outfit.
“That’s what they (Hollywood stars) are really getting dressed for — the picture in People magazine,” Courtney explained.
If readers scan the celebrity photos in magazines such as People, Us Weekly, Entertainment Weekly and Star, they will see Courtney’s handiwork dangling from actress’s ears or adorning their necks and fingers. Many times the articles will describe an actress’s outfit in detail. Photos of Jessica Alba and her stunning Versace gown, for instance, were all over the fan mags after the 2008 Oscars, and so was Courtney’s exquisite 18k yellow gold and green beryl with peach topaz earrings.
You don’t have to be a star to appreciate her intricate designs and gorgeous pearls and gemstones. In fact, Courtney’s jewelry is the No. 1 seller among Kiki’s jewelry lines.
“People really collect it,” said owner Kiki Frayard.
Even though the price tag may put Courtney’s pieces in the “jewelry that doesn’t sell every day” category, Frayard said, it’s a hit among her customers.
“Everybody loves it,” she said.
Frayard admires Courtney for her business style as well. She believes Courtney has worked hard branding her jewelry and taking it to a higher level. Frayard said one of her customers wore a Courtney necklace to a masked Carnival ball and someone recognized it.
Missing home
Courtney said she loves L.A., her neighborhood, her friendly neighbors who get together for dinner and her business. Her industry friends are “like family” and her staff gives “110 percent,” she said.
“The economy could be better,” she added, although sales have remained fairly constant. “Typically, I never have a bad year. But I’ve never seen anything like this.”
She comes home two to three times a year, where most of her family still lives, and Kiki’s offers a trunk show of Courtney’s jewelry every Christmas.
“Lafayette is always home,” she said. “I miss it terribly.”
Courtney added that she would make it home for weekends if Lafayette didn’t have such a small airport.
“I’m waiting for a direct flight,” she said.
Source: www.theadvertiser.com
