Nature’s creations are the ultimate Art
that fills our hearts with joy, warms our
souls with promise and fuels our spirits
with desire. My true inspiration to
reflect this beauty is what my Art is all about.”
- Michael Michaud

Artist Michael Michaud, designer of the Silver Seasons jewelry collection, combined his love of nature and exceptional knowledge of precious metal casting and model making to create wonderful giftware and tabletop items.
Table Art is truly a collaboration of creative and design talents.
Combining his love of nature and exceptional knowledge of precious metal casting and model making, Michael Michaud has created wonderful tabletop and giftware items. His exquisite use of layering colors of gold, silver and copper on bronze and pewter, give the Table Art collection an elegant and unique look all its own.
Michael Michaud explores the same sensitivity with nature in his Table Art pieces as he does in his Silver Seasons jewelry collection. The ability to expand nature’s creations in various mediums has added to the successful growth of the Table Art division.
Michael Michaud is a highly respected artist. He blends an exceptional items making skill with his true appreciation for nature including flowers, fruits, plants, berries, leaves and sealife.

The base metal used throughout the collection is primarily pewter in either its natural coloration or, gold plated. Other metals used are sterling silver and brass. Freshwater pearls, glass beads and semi precious stones are used on certain designs within the collection.
Michael Michaud’s napkin rings, sugar and creamer sets, serving spoons, vases and miniature boxes look like they’ve tumbled out of a fairy tale. Each piece of this botanical tableware collection is crafted from a branch, leaf or fruit. Molten pewter is poured into a lost wax mold, a wash of silver or gold over copper is applied, and the results are astonishing. Variations occur in each piece. All pieces are lead free and food safe.

 Subscribe in a reader

Everyone wants to add a little sparkle to our lives. Swarovski rhinestones are the best way to do that whether it be on flip flops, glasses, headsets,mirror or key chain. These are some examples, but the list is endless. There are a variety of shapes and sizes. Stones vary from very tiny 5ss size stones which are equivalent to 1.8mm in diameter all the way up to 48ss which is equivalent to 11mm in diameter.

If you appreciate beautiful, fine artisan jewelry, you are probably already familiar with Swarovski crystal beads.This delightful brand of precision cut lead crystal beads also creates other items such as desk accessories, hair accessories, home decorating items and even toothbrush or shaver. When people think of the household name Swarovski, they think of luxury, high fashion and quality. Swarovski crystal beads come in various degrees of quality, everywhere from top quality distributors to craft retail stores. This means that anyone can pick some Swarovski crystal pendants or jewelry for themselves, or some decorative items.
You can see Swarovski crystal pins on runways all over the world. Swarovski is one of the “must have” brands around right now. Crystal accessories is the perfect showcase for the many colorful, intricate Swarovski crystal beads and each piece is made with the utmost skill and care.
The fashion forward set adores accessories from Swarovski crystal, earrings or necklaces to Swarovski crystal glasses. Accessories makers are able to buy the crystals either by themselves or set in silver and another medium. Lighter cases with Swarovski crystal faces are fully coveted. The possibilities, using crystal, are endless and we can expect many more innovations from Swarovski in the future.
If you want the most stylish accessories this season, look for Swarovski crystal bead products for your home and to wear. A Swarovski crystal pendant on a necklace accented with Swarovski crystal beads ensure all the attention is on you! If you admire brilliant colors and fine, intricate craftsmanship, the Swarovski crystal should come immediately to mind.

 Subscribe in a reader

Nicole Miller has gone beyond clothes, and is launching products in a wide range of categories.

The Nicole Miller company may be 25 years old, but its loyal consumers are just getting a taste of what it has offer as a lifestyle brand.

Chief executive officer Bud Konheim announced the firm’s all-out accessories initiative, signing licenses for handbags, footwear, belts and jewelry, as well as other related categories in a bid to boost the brand’s revenue by 25 percent.

In the past year, the firm has been ironing out the kinks, such as changing its fashion jewelry licensee from Maurice Mac to Gigi Accessories, and the accessories seeds sown by Konheim and the Miller tem are set to bloom this fall on shelves at Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, MyGiftee.com and other retailers.

Categories now include women’s shoes produced by Camuto Group, eyewear by Signature, belts with Roma Industries and handbags by NM Designs. Miller also licenses men’s shirting and ties with A.W. Change Corp.; umbrellas, pet products, baby and cosmetic bags with Essex; women’s golf accessories with Glove It, and several others for a total of 34 licenses. Included in that queue are 10 licensing agreements to produce home goods for Bed Bath & Beyond, with Liza Saunders, licensing manager at Nicole Miller said had been a vary lucrative niche for fashion firm.

“Everybody’s in the start-up phases” commented Sanders about the fashion accessories, who added that there has been a soft launch of handbags, belts, and shoes in the firm’s SoHo store in Manhattan.
The accessories are already a hit, according to Rogers Pimenta, general manager of the Nicole Miller Soho boutique. “The bags are doing awesome.” He said. “Just earlier, one of my good customers came in and bought a dress. We added the neck lace and shoes, and the first thing she said was, “Wow, the necklace really made the look” That’s the thing. It’s all complementary to the clothes.”

Styles included large leather satchels in cutout metallic leather, clutches in Miller’s crinkled metallic taffeta to pair with her evening dresses in the signature fabric, oversize leather belts with an ethnic feel to layer over tunics and dresses and skinny stiletto heels that wrap around the ankle several times.

Nicole Miller fine jewelry, produced by World Trade Jewelers, based in New York, the line includes gold pendants in Celtic motifs and elaborate crosses encrusted with pave diamonds. As with all the accessories categories, Miller herself had a huge amount of input in the design.

Miller sent all of her licensees in the direction of South America, a major influence on the fall read-to-wear collection.

“The jewelry represents who she is,” said World Trade Jewelry designer Maria Fryda Velarde. “I talk to [Nicole] about what her style is. She likes to approve everything and details are very important to her.”
“Nicole is who she is because she’s so involved,” said David Yallouz, ceo of Gigi Accessories, “my designers do the final touches, but it’s her vision. When you talk to her, you realize she’s genius. She knows what she’s doing.”

Kate Nienen, designer for NM Designs, which produced Nicole Miller handbags, had a similar experience working closely with Miller and her team. Based on Miller’s South American inspiration, Neinen sourced some vintage-looking, intricate hardware, which Miller just loved, according to Nienen.

 Subscribe in a reader

Pearl Essence

Pearls have long been appreciated for their subtlety, but a number of designers now are using the gems in pieces that are anything but demure.

Even when abetted by the most advanced pearl-farming methods, an oyster’s chances of producing a high-quality South Sea pearl are no better than about 200 to 1.
At depths as great as 260 feet in the Indian Ocean off of northern Australia, divers gather these oysters while adhering to strict quotas that the Australian government has imposed to preserve the species. In the wild, a pearl forms around a parasite or a shell that becomes lodged within the oyster. The oyster reacts by secreting layers of nacre – a smooth, hard crystalline substance – around the irritant, and those layers eventually form a pearl. On board a vessel that serves as a kind of floating laboratory, technicians implant each oyster with spherical piece of freshwater mussel shell, around which, in theory, the oyster will secret nacre. Divers then return the oysters to the sea in nets that allow the animals to feed while making them easily accessible to the technicians, who nurture and monitor them for the few years it takes to produce a gem. Every two weeks during that period, the nets are briefly brought on board to remove from the shells any marine growth, which can carry parasites or diseases that might disrupt the formation of the pearls.
Despite these efforts, on average, only about half of the oysters will produce a South Sea pearl, and less then 1 percent of those will be of the quality that Chanel uses for its new Les Perles de Chanel, a collection that includes pieces in which large South Sea pearls seemingly spring from gold and diamond spheres and sunbursts. These pieces – as well as others designed with pearls of various colors, round or irregular-shaped Tahitian pearls, elongated or nugget like freshwater pearls, or domed mabe pearls – demonstrate how versatile the gems have become, however painstaking and uncertain their cultivation is.
Bright Pearl Necklace
Bronze Pearls Gift Set
Pearls & Gems Necklace Set
Quartz and Pearls Pink Gift Set
Turquoise Jewelry Gift Set
Mother Box w/Pearls

 Subscribe in a reader