Bernice Kelly Shows Off Her Jewelry-Making Materials
She’s drawn to things that veer a little dark.
“I like to go to the core of things,” says Bernice Kelly of her straightforward design ethos. “That level of deconstruction has always interested me.” This is evident in the unfussy pieces Kelly creates for Macha, where her locally sourced metals and gems really pop. Want to know more? Bernice is happy to break it all down. —mattie kahn
Black Diamonds: “I was drawn to black diamonds because they sort of turn the idea of ‘the beautiful diamond’ on its head. They’re less sparkly. They’re a bit darker. They’re the inverse of what people expect. And I suppose it just comes back to my fascination with texture and origin. Black diamonds are closer in color to how the diamond looks in its natural form.”
Silver and Brass: “I love the way the look together. The brass tarnishes a bit against the silver and gives it this really nice sort of aged, industrial feel.”
Engraving: “We do all our engraving by hand, which is great because it means we can pretty much print anything—so the pieces are really personalized. Engravings remind me a lot of old British tradition, which is probably why I started doing them in the first place. I like adding that touch of history. There’s something really sweet about being able to give someone that.”
Like what you see? Then you’ll die over Bernice’s edition, coming first thing tomorrow.
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What Goes Into a Fleabag
Where there’s a Fleabag, there’s a story…
To say that Alex Bell and Shira Entis have high standards for the materials they use would be a severe understatement. Not only are their hand-sewn, eco-minded Fleabags made from locally sourced organic and vintage materials, but so many of these fabrics and parts also come with a built-in narrative. “We love funky, off-the-beaten path, whimsical stuff,” Shira explains. “We’re just very interested in human folly.” Hey, us too! Let’s dive into these crazy tales. —monica derevjanik
Ready to score their Of a Kind clutch (pictured below)? Hop to it!
+ The Civil War-Era Artillery Blanket in the upcoming F/W 2012 collection
“My boyfriend’s stepfather is actually a reenactor. He got me thinking that there’s this whole industry of reenactors and related equipment for them out there. Where there is a market, there are people supplying it, right? Turns out that there’s a whole world of them. We found this one guy in Ohio who actually specializes in reenactment garb, and we ordered wool blankets from him to use in our next collection. This guy is not a weirdo! He’s very normal, intellectual, and social.” —Shira [Ed: Since the collection won’t be available ‘til August, there is no photo evidence yet. But the story was too cool not to share.]
+ The Frames of the Original Flea Tote
“When we first started designing for Fleabags, we had this idea to use tubular frames because they’re lighter. They’re hard to source, but our factory recommended getting in touch with this couple, Mr. and Mrs. Wolf, out in Brooklyn. They were both Holocaust survivors and had been together for 67 years when we first met them. To get to their office, you had to walk down this long hallway, and with elderly Mr. Wolf, it’d be a slow little walk. Each time that we’d make that walk—which was often—he’d usually talk to us about how long they had been together or how they work side-by-side. They were just so in love. The best part is that the first time we placed an order, they wrote us an invoice on a post-it note.” —Alex
+ The Netting on the Seafarer ALICE Knapsack
“Two years ago, I was on a road trip and was listening to an NPR story about people affected by the BP oil spill. They interviewed this guy named Bubba who was a net-maker, and he was saying how he was probably going to be the last person in his family to be one. So I was just like, ‘How can we use his netting? Can we contact this guy and repurpose this netting so he can still make a living?’ I actually found him by looking through the white pages. I contacted him and told him who I was, expecting him to hang up on me. But he was really into it! He made this hand-dyed netting, and we sewed them into what is now our Seafarer knapsack.” —Shira
+ The Leather on the Of a Kind Edition Clutch
“This natural, vegetable-tanned leather has become very special to Fleabags, as we’ve used it for the handles on our first style, the Original Flea, and we’ve continued using it in our other items, like on the straps of the Chesapeake ALICE Knapsack and the Arcade Ballet Tote. The untreated, blush color is intended to absorb sunlight and your body’s natural oils to gain a patina and brown over time. As it ages, it becomes more unique and personal to the owner.” —Alex [Ed: Get this puppy now!]
