The
Stow Independent... Online
December 7, 2011
Hollywood Glam from Stow Designer
By Ellen Oliver
Stow
jewelry designer Christine Lorenzo will have her red carpet moment when
her jewelry is given to nominees and presenters at the January 2012
Golden Globe awards.
Part of a luxury gift lounge hosted by GBK Productions, Lorenzo is
one of several artists who are providing items for 100 gift bags, plus a
display item to be viewed by the guests and reviewed by 75 media
representatives.
“The Golden Globes – oh my gosh,” said Lorenzo. “I have such an
appreciation of movies. I watch the nominations. I watch the movies.
It’s such a big deal that I’m in this event,” she said.
Lorenzo
sells her jewelry under the name SariBlue, a combination of “sari”
(pronounced “sutter”) the Turkish word for yellow or blonde, and the
blue of a traditional evil eye, the bead featured in Lorenzo’s
creations. For the Golden Globes, Lorenzo designed a large evil eye
pendant, featuring the vibrant blue bead accented with silver beads and
smaller sparks of color and copper. The pendants will be packaged in a
small tin bearing the evil eye symbol and also containing information
about Lorenzo’s work.
Lorenzo’s Turki
sh connection began when her employer opened two
offices in the country, requiring her to make frequent trips there.
Lorenzo liked the jewelry, especially drawn to the evil eye beads, which
are designed as protection from evil. Lorenzo soon began buying the
handcrafted glass beads and making her own jewelry. “I read about the
overlaps with Italian culture,” said Lorenzo, who is of Italian decent.
“They both have the evil eye in their culture.”
While she has her own website, last spring Lorenzo found it easier to set up a virtual storefront through etsy.com, an online collection of handcrafted artisan goods. Through etsy.com,
Lorenzo was offered the opportunity to expose her work to the celebrity
market via The Artisan Group, who provide a means for artists to
connect with celebrities to promote their work.
Although Lorenzo has to supply items for the Golden Globes for free,
she feels it is a good investment. “My goal is to get some really good
attention. I hope they will pay attention to the site and buy some
jewelry,” she said. Lorenzo also hopes her philanthropic side will be
noticed. “Right now I’m supporting a cancer foundation where 100% of the
price of the jewelry will be donated,” she said.
Through the Artisan Group, Lorenzo has also provided items in gift
bags for actress Hilary Duff, Jessica Alba, Ginnifer Goodwin, and
Lorenzo’s favorite, Zooey Deschanel. Lorenzo knows just what a tweet or
one picture of a celebrity wearing her pendant can do to promote her
jewelry. “Just recently one celebrity tweeted how excited she was about
our gift bag,” she said.
Lorenzo enjoys the link between etsy.com’s
“local” shopping feel and the ability to make unique, handcrafted items
available to everyone. “They’re the new mom and pop shops,” she said.
“You can focus on someone who isn’t part of a big corporate footprint.”
Lorenzo also attends craft fairs and artisan events. “I did really
well at the Stow Art fair,” she said, of last week’s artisan fair held
at Mistletoe Farm. Lorenzo created special small dolls with colorful
beads, which were a big hit with children. “They loved them,” she said.
“They clipped them to their backpacks.”
To learn more about Lorenzo’s work, visit her website www.sariblue.com