Products |
Go to the archives |
By
Published: Feb 4, 2009
Category: Clothing
Badgley/Sneed Designs
Jan Sneed always had a thing for jewelry. At age four, in front of her mother and grandmother, she asked a friend of the family, “Are those diamonds real?” She didn't care that she thoroughly embarrassed her family. “They sparkled and that made me happy,” she says.
She loved how the quartz gravel in the driveway glittered like the sunlight on the lake by her house. She loved ruby rings. She loved geology.
She did not love boarding school. She got thrown out. Which is how, at Northport High School on Long Island, she met Lynne Murphy.
Lynne was Jan's opposite. One of seven kids. A cheerleader, first runner-up in the voting for homecoming queen.
What they shared was a desire to be successful at something. After high school they commuted on the LIRR to school in the city. And during those trips, they made their own jewel: a lifelong friendship.
Jan forged a career in public relations. She eventually became Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications for Grey Global Group and, later, Executive Vice President/Director of Global Communications for Foote, Cone & Belding. But don't let the titles fool you --- she never stopped loving jewelry.
She collected stones. Sketched jewelry. Haunted museums. Made the second floor of Tiffany's her second home. And then, to balance her life, she started making jewelry.
Lynne Murphy, meanwhile, also ascended. She traded commodities on Wall Street, becoming one of the first women to be a Vice President at Shearson. At 35, she realized that “I'd climbed the wrong ladder” --- and left New York.
In Annapolis, she found a husband, had a son. A dozen years later, when her son Penn kept insisting he wanted to act, she moved with him to Los Angeles. She designed kitchens. She became a talent manager.
Two things happened in 2008.
First, Lynne badgered Jan. “You've invested so much money in stones --- what are you doing?” she asked. “You spend a fortune, you make beautiful things, but nobody sees them.” Who could resist that? Not Jan. So she and Lynne formed a company.
Second, they unveiled their secret weapon: Lynne's son. His acting thing? It worked out --- Penn Badgley is the star of a TV show called “Gossip Girl”. And he has a girlfriend. Her name is Blake Lively. Know her? She's the female star of “Gossip Girl”. Cast members of “Gossip Girl” wore their creations on the show, and, of course, they got noticed.
Now the jewelry is online, at BadgleySneed.com. Everything's handmade, and all stones and pearls are genuine. They use 14K gold, but sparingly, to keep prices down. And nothing they sell is in a store, for the same reason.
The idea of the collection? “It's real jewelry,” Jan says, “but not so expensive that you have to put it in a safe.” There are pieces that younger women might respond to: “first-time jewelry that turns out to last a lifetime.” And then there are pieces a professional woman could wear at an office --- and keep on at night.
Best sellers: a chunky necklace made with three kinds of quartz ($360), a single strand necklace of white quartz crystal disk ($330), a necklace of quartz and citrines ($660) and “Gossip Girl” inspired, “Not Your Mother's” pearls ($850). At the high end, a six-strand Moonstone Torsade necklace with cultured freshwater pearls, rock quartz and moonstones interspersed with blue topaz briolettes sells for $1,800.
Lenin thought the only good use for gold was to beat it into toilet seats. Most days, I'm with him. But I have a soft spot for anything that aspires to art. And Badgley/Sneed qualifies.
To visit the Badgley/Sneed web site, click here.