Courtesy
Lorraine Schwartz is normally frantic this time of year, prepping for awards season and dressing her celebrity pals in megawatt jewels worth millions. She’s the indisputable go-to source for A-listers when they want to make a dramatic entrance, like when Beyoncé showed up at the Grammys in a red sequin dress and a 400-carat diamond necklace worth $12 million, or when Blake Lively appeared at the Met Gala in a goddess-like halo with 100 carats of diamonds.
Those entertainers didn t just borrow the jewels; they became her friends and collaborated on image-making looks. And even when other big jewelry houses offered them big bucks to wear their designs many of the celebrities remained loyal to Schwartz, who says she never pays them. Time and again, the designer has created custom-made, jaw-dropping pieces, often with hundreds of carats of spectacular gems and just a few days notice.
Addiction, Nampeyo and Other Letters to the Editor
Nampeyo, a Hopi-Tewa potter, painting designs on pottery, circa 1900. In his new book, “Craft,” Glenn Adamson discovers “making” in every aspect of our history, framing it as integral to America’s idea of itself as a nation of self-sufficient individualists.Credit.Edward S. Curtis/Library of Congress
Feb. 5, 2021
To the Editor:
Although I appreciate Deborah Needleman’s review of Glenn Adamson’s “Craft: An American History” and its call to recognize the contributions of “Indigenous people, African-Americans, women and the working class,” an addendum should be made to the caption of the photograph that accompanies it.