Jewelry

The 'invisible connector': fine jewelry designer thrives in Greenwich - Greenwich Time

While sitting at a glassy table in the center of Greenwich Avenue’s Saks: The Vault on a recent afternoon, New York City-based fine jewelry designer Temple St. Clair recalled one of her first memories behind such a desk.

Seated beside her mother, a 19-year-old St. Clair eyed the pieces at luxury Italian jeweler Bulgari as her mother decided what she wanted. In the end, the pair left with a ring displaying an imperial Roman coin wrapped in “humble brown paper with red sealing wax,” St. Clair said.

The piece that left such an impression on St. Clair was later stolen, and her mother asked for help replacing it while she was finishing her master’s degree in Florence, Italy. In St. Clair’s efforts to transform a Carthaginian coin into a necklace for her mother, she sought out a goldsmith in Florence and visited his studio in the ancient Palazzo dell’Orafo. She worked with him, drawing sketches of how the piece would look, and “I got taken into this culture,” St. Clair said. “I started buying other ancient coins and making them into necklaces to sell to friends.”

A few years later, with the encouragement of some friends and jewelry buyers from Barney’s New York, St. Clair founded her company in Florence.

Beauty in the details

In describing the foundations of her brand, which is celebrating its 30th year and the inclusion of some of St. Clair’s work in The Louvre, the designer shared a series of stories. Her eyes gleamed as the afternoon sun illuminated The Vault’s sparkling interior. She told of collecting shells and scrutinizing coral patterns during her many childhood beach explorations and how she, at one time, yearned to become a marine biologist.

It was evident that the lens of childlike awe through which she was captured by the world’s natural beauty growing up persists as she transitioned into describing more recent expeditions with her son.

To St. Clair, these stories and how they lend meaning to her career trajectory are essential to capturing why her designs have transcended changing fads, trends and business models. Just as stories are the key to understanding the designer’s success, they are also the basis for why Temple St. Clair fine jewelry appeals to its customers.

“I create fine jewelry and what I term as ‘true jewelry,’ ” St. Clair said. “And what I term as true jewelry lives beyond the jewels and craftsmanship. True jewelry must have an abstract quality of value of rare attention to the piece’s integrity of design and storytelling.”

St. Clair designs, which are sold in Fairfield County at The Vault, Greenwich Avenue’s Richards, Mitchells in Westport, Manfredi in New Canaan and Lux Bond & Green, entice mostly “creative” women seeking unique pieces to collect for themselves, she said.

“My pieces aren’t for everyone,” she said. “And people don’t dip into my work for a season. People collect it.”

St. Clair’s dedicated following meant it was easy for Saks to include her work in its recently opened downtown Greenwich shop, said Saks Shops Greenwich General Manager Joe Gambino, adding she has been “important to the launch of our jewelry store.

“How we edit our jewelry is really important, and she’s a big part of that,” Gambino said.

Jewelry as memories

A local admirer and collector of St. Clair’s designs, Lara Laitala, who lives in Old Greenwich, has followed the designer for years. With a background in studying art and art history, Laitala said she regards St. Clair for how she “taps deeply into the stores of creativity and strength that exist in those who are drawn to her aesthetic. Jewelry, to me, is a memory. Similar to a photograph, jewelry can bring forth emotions, vision of past events when a piece was worn, a sense of calmness, love and connectedness.”

While growing up, Laitala gained a sense of comfort from the frequent noise made when her mother’s wedding ring and band jostled together, she said.

Now the mother of four with her youngest, Mary Ellis, being her only daughter, Laitala intends to foster similar memories with two St. Clair angel pendants. “I wear them both now so that my daughter sees them consistently and ascribes memories and love to them,” she said.

For Laitala, the angels also symbolize spiritual guardian angels. Someday, Laitala hopes these layers of meaning will be infused in the pendants and that they’ll be preserved as family heirlooms. Integral to Laitala’s respect for St. Clair is also the quality of her gems, she said.

“Once you’ve experienced that level of quality, it’s impossible to stop collecting,” she said.

Though St. Clair and Laitala have never met, the designer is providing Laitala with a hand-written note to be passed on with the angel pendants.

Telling universal stories

The intimate way Laitala discusses her rationale for collecting St. Clair pieces mimics how the designer discusses her passion for creating jewelry. The parallelism is unsurprising, as St. Clair said she uses her collections to tell timeless stories and bind people together through the human experience.

“I use jewelry to explore an array of themes with a unifying style,” she said. “I touch universal stories. We all have this human connectivity we forget about. It’s the invisible connector.”

Most of St. Clair’s collections fit into an “overarching theme,” such as Amulettes, which are quintessential St. Clair with their roots in the earliest forms of self adornment; Celestial, which began in 2007; and Tree of Life that premiered in 2008.

Every St. Clair design still starts as a sketch and watercolor, which St. Clair shares with followers on her Instagram that she runs herself. Typically, she repeats a sketch over and over, refining and editing until it’s ready for the next step. St. Clair still works with her original goldsmiths in Italy, though she’s added more from other parts of the world as her business has grown.

“My values are the same as when I started,” St. Clair said. “We’re just a bigger version now of where we started.”

St. Clair has collected numerous top industry awards for her work over the years, but most recently, she became the third American whose work is installed permanently at The Louvre. “That won’t sink in for at least a decade,” St. Clair said with a laugh.

One of her latest designs, The Lion collection, that will soon be on display at The Vault, will focus on the endangered species, and 10 percent of sales will go toward the Lion Guardians nonprofit.

While her company’s 30th anniversary has prompted St. Clair to be reflective, she’s simultaneously anticipating what’s next, she said. For as long as she retains her “infinite curiosity,” and the “magic of her child’s view,” she expects continued success.

Contact the writer at mbennett@greenwichtime.

com; Twitter: @Macaela_