Vintage jewelry designer collars dog market, too

Vintage jewelry designer collars dog market, too
By ERIN CRAWFORD
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
DesMoinesRegister.com, IA
June 5, 2007

Which came first, the designer or the jewelry?

In Dania De Bortoli’s case, the jewelry beat her by about 80 years.

The Fairfield jewelry and purse designer creates opulent adornments using beads and intricate cast metal pieces taken from vintage art nouveau and art deco jewelry.

A businesswoman with a background in project management, De Bortoli’s passion for jewelry began with antique pieces. She immersed herself in eBay, buying and selling vintage jewelry.

“I really love art nouveau designs and Czech jewelry from the ’30s and ’40s,” she said. “So, I thought, why not try my hand at creating vintage-inspired jewelry.”

The move wasn’t so far of a stretch as it seems.

De Bortoli had always had a crafty side, dabbling in ceramics, painting, jewelry and even Elizabethan costume-making.

Having a child changed her career and her crafting. She got out of the corporate world, and she adjusted her hobbies, too.

“I have a 5-year-old son, so I haven’t been able to lock myself into a sewing room and do that,” De Bortoli said, “but I always want to try something new and experiment and go on that journey of seeing where an idea will take you.”

The idea to make jewelry came, fittingly enough, from jewelry.

Visiting auctions, De Bortoli was buying boxes of it. Some of the pieces were stunning examples of vintage work. And some of the stuff was just old.

Often, when she bought a quantity of jewelry, the set would include necklace remains and extra beads.

“I was playing with them and finding different components from other antique dealers and creating things,” she said. “It appealed to me, the idea of re-creating vintage items.”

Her creations are often dramatic, planting glamorous, swirly art nouveau beads into unexpected new arrangements. Her pieces frequently use pearls and aged brass, which De Bortoli said has a warmth that works well with many skin types.

At once modern and retro, De Bortoli gives vintage lovers something new to get excited about. Her work caught on quickly, since launching the business three years ago, and she’s been picked up in galleries across, and outside, the state, and is sold online.

However, she doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as retro. Some of her recent work has been more modern.

And recently, she’s embarked on a new venture: Pet jewelry, inspired by her 3-month-old toy poodle, Cocoa Butter.

“A friend of mine got the other litter mate and she went nuts and bought all these little outfits and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is nuts,’ but once you start dressing them up, they look pretty cute,” she said.

De Bortoli caved in the cold weather, watching her dog shiver and started outfitting her in sweaters. Once she was making sweaters for the dog, she thought, why not jewelry?

“It’s for pure adornment purposes,” she said. “I’m just having fun looking into this, doing the research, coming up with prototypes and (researching) the market.

“I think it’s a hoot.”

In addition to jewelry for dogs and people, De Bortoli teaches knitting and makes whimsical, brightly colored felted purses that also incorporate vintage jewels. One of her bags was recently featured on the HGTV show “That’s Clever.”

“You can turn the bags into real objects of art with texture and color and shape and form,” she said.

Turning her creative whims into businesses allows De Bortoli time at home with her son. If she needs to drop something earlier in the day to take him somewhere, she can pick the project up later and work until 1 a.m. She’s also set up a jewelry table for him, outfitted with his own tools, next to her work space.

Recently, he asked his mom what her favorite colors were, then put her answer to work.

“He made me a pair of beaded earrings,” she said.

Reporter Erin Crawford can be reached at (515) 284-8438 or ecrawford@dmreg.com

Post Author: Indonesia Jewelry