1. WHAT DO YOU DO FOR A LIVING?

Bella: I am the co-founder of NYC Jewelry Week and a curator, writer, and lecturer on jewelry.

JB: I’m the co-founder of NYC Jewelry Week and the co-host of the Rough Cut podcast. I do marketing and social media for small businesses, write and curate jewelry projects - pretty much anything related to jewelry!  I love storytelling through visuals and objects, so I try to work in that sphere.

2. HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE JEWELRY INDUSTRY?

Bella: Serendipitously. I worked for a decorative arts gallery that sold some of the most incredible and important antique and vintage jewelry which I had the pleasure of getting to know intimately over the five years I worked there. However parallel to this I fell in love with contemporary jewelry and it led me to where I am today.

JB: Bella Neyman, my partner in NYCJW - before we had started NYCJW or had ever worked together actually - asked me to curate a Street Art and Jewelry collaborative show with her at a contemporary jewelry gallery in NYC. This was about 8 years ago, I think. I had owned a street art gallery at that time in Los Angeles and had just left it to move to NYC – so jewelry was a whole new world to me. But we did the show together, it was very successful and I never left the jewelry industry after that - and Bella and I never stopped working together! 

3. WHERE ARE YOU BASED?

Bella & JB: Brooklyn, NY

4. WHERE ARE YOU FROM?

Bella: I was born in the former Soviet Union in a city called Odessa, which is on the territory of Ukraine.

JB: Kansas.

5. WHAT’S THE FIRST PIECE OF JEWELRY YOU FELL IN LOVE WITH?

Bella: It’s hard to place the first but the most consequential was a necklace by American jewelry artist Jennifer Trask.

JB: A plastic rainbow heart necklace as a kid. Still got it. Still love it. Pretty sure it led to my current collection/obsession with heart jewelry!

6. WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT JEWELRY?

Bella: The freedom to express yourself and stand out in a room. To tell a story, sometimes it's your own but sometimes it's the artists.

JB: The human connection. There’s no other object that can carry so much history and emotion - it doesn’t HAVE to, it could just be pretty or cute, but it CAN be so much more. It can hold space, time and the full spectrum of human emotions. It’s incredible. I’m continually awed by that.

7. DESCRIBE YOUR JEWELRY STYLE

Bella: According to my daughter, there is no such thing as too much.

JB: Fun. I think of jewelry simply as a means for self-expression. Whether it’s what I want to “say” to the world, or the message from the maker that I want to share - jewelry is a great communicator. While I  wear the  jewelry I wear mostly because I love the aesthetic, I select the jewelry I buy because it’s unique, has something to say, or challenges what we think jewelry can be. Give me a paper brooch over a diamond any day. There shouldn’t be any rules and I believe pretty much anything can be jewelry!

8. WHERE DO YOU GET MOST OF YOUR JEWELRY FROM?

Bella: I purchase it from independent artists and consider it to be more akin to purchasing (wearable) art.

JB: I almost exclusively buy vintage (unsigned, non-precious) and art jewelry from up-and-coming artists. I buy a lot of stuff from the artists directly, just because I’m lucky enough to know them and work with them, but go buy from galleries! I buy vintage from flea markets or small vintage shops.

9. WHO IS YOUR JEWELRY ICON/ROLE MODEL?

Bella: Helen Drutt.

JB: I adore old images of Jane Birkin because her personality was so radiant, it made everything she put on seem brilliant. I think people often refer to her style as being “effortlessly chic” which is true, but it’s only because she portrayed confidence (whether she had it or not) and always seemed so comfortable in her skin. But I also love Dolly Parton for the same thing, but with the opposite effect! Dolly puts so much effort into every part of her look and I adore that. It’s incredible, but it’s the same as with Jane - it’s successful because it’s Dolly being 100% Dolly. That’s how you should wear jewelry: as confidently as you can just being yourself.

10. DO YOU HAVE A FAVORITE STONE? COLOR?

Bella: I do not wear a lot of jewelry with stones but my birth stone is a peridot and I do like it a lot because of the color but I also love amethysts, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Really gemmy colors and I tend to gravitate to those colors in my clothes as well.

JB: I don’t wear a lot of fine jewelry, or stones even, but the young jeweler Loren Nicole carved a bracelet out of one piece of clear quartz and I dream about that piece - it made me fall in love with clear quartz.

11. DO YOU HAVE A PIECE(S) OF JEWELRY YOU WEAR EVERY DAY AND IF SO, WHY?

Bella: Only my wedding band and a friendship bracelet that my daughter made for me in camp in 2022. It has not fallen off yet but that is the bond of jewelry! When I need to wear jewelry that is a talisman or that protects me, I wear pieces that remind me of my family. Either made by them (again, my daughter) or made by the artist Melanie Bilenker that has my husband’s and daughter’s hair in it.

JB: I have a simple 22k gold band that has “To progress” engraved on the inside. I wear it as a reminder “to progress” every day. No matter how awful a day was, or how terribly you failed, there’s a tomorrow to try again.

12. HOW DO YOU WANT TO FEEL WHEN YOU WEAR YOUR JEWELRY?

Bella: Like myself!

JB: Confident

13. LAST PIECE OF JEWELRY YOU BOUGHT AND LOVED?

Bella: My husband purchased a Smiley Brooch by Everett Hoffman for my birthday. He picked it out not realizing that I have been coveting this piece and that I featured it in a show at NYCJW last year.

JB: I bought a pair of Dongyi Wu earrings - red checkered fabric earrings - that I have been wanting for a few years. I’m glad to finally add them to my collection!

14. THE BEST JEWELRY GIFT YOU’VE RECEIVED?

Bella: Art Smith earrings for my 40th birthday.

JB: Before my grandma passed, she gave me her wedding ring. It’s my most valued possession.

15. THE THING YOU ARE COVETING NEXT?

Bella: Anything by Silvia Furmanovich.

JB: A carved Mother-of-Pearl ring by Danni Schwaag and a painted canvas earring by Julia Walters.

16. WHAT IS YOUR SPIRIT ANIMAL?

Bella: Eeyore.

17. FAVORITE FOOD?

Bella: French fries.

JB: Candy.

18. LEAST FAVORITE FOOD?

Bella: There are very few things that I do not eat and not worth mentioning.

JB: Yellow squash.

19. WINE OR CHEESE?

Bella: Cheese.

JB: Wine.

20. COFFEE OR TEA?

Bella: Tea.

JB: Coffee.

21. YOGA OR BOXING?

Bella: Yoga.

JB: Yoga.

22. FAVORITE SEASON?

Bella: Summer.

JB: Spring.

23. FAVORITE CITY?

Bella: New York but if you mean a city I do not live in then Paris.

JB: NYC.

24. SUPERPOWER OF CHOICE?

Bella: No F***s to give

JB: Flying.

25. SECRET SKILL?

Bella: I have a crazy memory for faces and names– going back to elementary school!

JB: I can’t tell you cuz then it wouldn't be secret.

26. WHEN DO YOU FEEL STRONGEST?

Bella: After exercising.

JB: When I’m seeing a project or idea finally come to life.

27. YOUR BIGGEST FEAR?

Bella: Probably death.

JB: The world’s so messed up right now that lately, I feel so lucky to have the life I do. I feel like the fears I have can’t be justified. I’ll be fine, but lots of folks won’t be.

28. HOW DO YOU PICK YOURSELF UP FROM A LOW DAY?

Bella: I hug my daughter and husband and put on some music that will get me to dance.

JB: Call a friend.

29. WHAT PIECE(S) OF JEWELRY MAKES YOU FEEL HAPPIEST?

Bella: Always the last piece I bought.

JB: The ones from friends and family.

30. WHAT PIECE(S) OF JEWELRY MAKES YOU FEEL STRONGEST?

Bella: The aforementioned Melanie Bielanker necklace with a hair portrait of my daughter.

JB: The ones I got rid of. Those stories are too long to tell here!

31. WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE YOUR YOUNGER SELF?

Bella: Stay away from people who are selfish and aren't nice to you.

JB: Be patient.

32. WHAT IS ONE THING PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO LEARN ABOUT YOU?

Bella: My daughter helped me answer this questionnaire AND I don’t own too many articles of black clothing- I hate the way jewelry looks against the color black.

JB: I love puzzles.

33. WHAT DOES ‘JOY’ MEAN TO YOU?

Bella: Doing things I love with people I love.

JB: Being surrounded by people you love and loving yourself.