HOW TO: Fold A Shirt

EXPERIENCE: Mother Nature

I hit up the boardroom in the prestigious main building of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the I.M. Pei designed building and the location of my interview with Syracuse jewelry artist Michelle DaRin. As I open the door, her 2-year-old daughter, Julia, runs over to show me her rolling Spongebob snail. She climbs into the modernist chair next to me, eager to show me the snail and the beige foam blocks from her mother's jewelry box, which she loves to stack. A mini-me of her funky mother, Julia's outfit consists of silver glittery ballet flats, plaid pants, and purple shirt and a delicate bob similar to Katie Holme's, Suri.

Her mother places the toolboxes full of her artisan works on the long, boardroom table that seems taken from a past Trump “you're fired” moment. A dyn-o-mite!!! time capsule explodes in my face as DaRin unearths a sea of orange pendants, Jimi Hendrix-inspired belt-buckles, and groovy-green lockets and earrings. DaRin adjusts her white polka-dotted brown newsboy cap, and the earrings she cast from real leaves sway back and forth, catching on her light brown hair. Layers of brushed-cotton tees, a short-sleeve over a long-sleeve tee, the former reads Buon Viaggo, cover her svelte figure. She wears a corduroy, brownish-orange skirt, Prada-esque toeless ribbed knee socks in brown and orange, and huge (I'm guessing four-inch) wooden platforms with orange plaid buckles. “These are dangerous when carrying a small child,” she says of the platforms. “I can't tell you how many times I've fallen in these.” Three necklaces of her own design swing from her neck: a circular flower enamel pendant, a belly-button-length necklace made of green milt stones tied together with knotted strips of iridescent taffeta, and an owl with magenta eyes.

The jewelry, created from semi-precious stones, copper, silver, and brass coated in enamel can be seen in the pages of W magazine, Style.com's Daily Candy, Tango magazine, Women’s Wear Daily, Bridal Guide, Elevator magazine, and New York Family. However, the piece of press that she refers to as the, “gift that keeps on giving” because she received 11,000 hits is Daily Candy. Hendri Bendel, and a slew of galleries such as The Wedding Gallery in New York City, and Stowe Craft Gallery in Vermont both carry her unique creations. The cost of her pieces range from $25 to $300.

DaRin's work echoes `70s color and the themes of peace, love, and mother nature. “My mother had a pea green fondue pot,” she says, “I like to experiment with color. Especially here [in Syracuse], people suffer from `the grey syndrome.'” Not only referring to the conservative dress of non-student Syracusians but the relentless cloudy, rainy, snowy, cold and dreary skies. “People here need color,” she comments. All the more reason to fashion an extensive range of vibrant pieces from necklaces to bracelets, rings, broaches, earrings, and pendants.

Born on Staten Island in 1970, three years after “the summer of love,” DaRin grew up busying herself with creative activities such as sewing, cooking, and making people out of erasers. She realized her passion for sculpture at SUNY Cortland and continued her education with a masters of fine arts in metalsmithing from Syracuse University. DaRin admits her first love is sculpture but that it was hard to create a living selling that type of art, which is why, she says, she thinks of her jewelry as “mini-sculptures.” She creates giant decorated bezels and places huge copper multi-colored rounded enamel for her rings, making them resemble enormous mood rings that never change. Her effective use of mixed-media and child-like inspiration is evident by her rings with little farm animals molded from her daughter's tiny plastic toys and her bird pins use guinea feathers as well as copper. She met her husband, an education major, at Syracuse University. They married and now care for their three children: Ian, Joseph, and Julia (ages 15, 12, and 2) respectively.

Everyday people with interesting style inspire her as well as her trips around America with her family. After a typical trip to her edgy hairdresser, motivated by his punk-y look, she stepped out of her comfort zone and created two silver skull rings with magenta jeweled eyes (one ring given in exchange for a free haircut, the other for herself.) As for the family retreats, the last time her family took a vacation was two years ago when they went to Vermont. “I need a vacation,” she says.

While having a family and being an artist presents its challenges, it also offers advantages. Her husband manages the business side of the company, and when she exhibits at trade shows her family comes to help her set up. The stresses of family life do hinder her work schedule. Never one to miss out on a soccer game, school dances, or any event in her children's lives she says, “I barely stop to pee.” She hates to miss out on Julia's toddler years because of her curiosity and budding verbal skills. For that reason, she works in her studio from 3 p.m. to midnight everyday. “When I'm there, I'm working and rocking,” she says.

I picture her blasting Sonic Youth jams using the iPod she borrows from her son. “We're a bit of a rock-and-roll family,” she says. I turn to Julia and ask her about her favorite band. “Jimi Hendrix,” she says with the clarity of someone who went to Woodstock. DaRin continues to talk about her process and the many hours she puts into creating a piece. “And then Julia comes in and likes to drop whatever project I've just been working on for hours,” she says, smiling.

Bummer. Keep trying and rock on, sister.

Check out DaRin!

SNAPS: Beautiful & Bizarre

PROFILE: Kaiser Karen the Karl of Syracuse

Professor Karen Bakke, program coordinator of the Department of Fashion and Design Technologies at Syracuse University, opens her bottle of diet Pepsi. Beads of cool water drip down the plastic container and over her bijoux-adorned and frosted mauve-polished fingers. She licks her lips and grasps the blue plastic cap. She shares Karl Lagerfeld's passion for dark carbonated cola, but Karl only drinks diet Coke in a glass. With ice. Bakke, from her outfit to her beverage choice, exudes an efficient blend of high and low and epitomizes Karl's statement for his H&M ads: “It's all about taste, if you are cheap…nothing helps.” Her sweater might be from Penney's, but Karen, a self-proclaimed garmento, knows her fibers. (Always natural, of course.)

Karen's signature look consists of using liner as shadow, custom-made tri-focals made from oversized Ralph Lauren sunglasses, and frosted pink lips. Her hair, white and wiry like that of a feisty Norfolk terrier, falls only a few inches above her shoulder, too short to be tied back with a black ribbon like Karl's. The necklace she wears is bold, asymmetrical, and shiny. In a speech to the Fashion Communication students in spring of 2008, Karen said she uses her necklace as a beacon to attract friends that share her tastes. An aficionado of chunky precious stones and bold jewelry, Karen's best market might be big-haired Texans. (Karl, on the other hand, embellishes his fingers with Chrome Hearts jewelry and caters to the Parisian chic and a waifish clientele).
Groundbreaking and scandalous at 16 year-old, Karen bought her first pair of high-heeled red shoes while Karl was competing against Yves for a coat design contest. The similarities continue. Karl recently refurnished his Parisian living space with all new scientific textiles and industrial materials. So new, in fact, that he does not even know how they will abrade. The only entity that he kept through his many reinventions: the photograph of his lover Jacques de Bascher, who passed away in 1989. “I am whore,” he says, not referring to his love life, but his career, “I go where they pay me.” During class Karen once reminisced about her late husband. He was her painting professor in college, and she fell in love. Today, Karen continues to explore painting and drawing — just like Karl continues to pursue his photography and publishing company. Karl believes that designers must be interested in everything. "It's like being beyond; you don't have to care anymore, good or bad reputation; it doesn't matter."