Only In Store: Maria Rudman

The story of Maria Rudman is quite amazing. She started out a Swedish beauty, gracing the cover of many of fashions top magazines. She then turned her hand toward designing jewelry, but not your typical gold and diamonds sort. Maria wanted her jewelry to reflect her home country of Sweden's rich cultural history and traditions. She incorporated many of the decorative elements of it's native people, called Sami. The Sami peoples are native to the lands of Scandinavia. They are a nomadic tribal group who lived in kata's (tipi's) similar to Native Americans. In the same way the Native Americans at one time followed/hunted the Buffalo herds, the Sami did the Reindeer. This is where the tale of native craftsmanship mixes with modern fashion. Maria took these ancient decorative pieces and instilled a new spirit to them. She brought a twist in color and pattern while sticking with traditional fabrication. To this day Maria employs modern Sami artist to create her amazing pieces. They are mostly in the form of Reindeer leather bracelets with silver or pewter wrap patterns. They have Reindeer horn/bone or solid silver buttons as closures. Here are some detail shots of pieces we carry from her current season. Click on them to see the beautiful detail!

Also in Maria's latest collection are a number of stunning pieces handcrafted by a specific Sami craftsperson. She sticks rigidly to traditional materials and fabrication, and creates them how they were created in the beginning. Amazing pieces. Here is the little bio Maria has sent to us about her. "While Susanna is wiring the pewter-thread Maria Rudman is listening to her story about the lucky bones (made into keyrings for you). Until 1953 Susanna followed the reindeer herds together with her family across the land above the Arctic Circle in Sweden. The family lived according Sami traditions. They were fishing, picking berries, herding their reindeers, making handicrafts, and taking care of the nature that has been lent to them. The family lived in a kâta, which moved to several locations each summer. Among all their personal belongings, carried in the chest pocket of their woolen « kolt » (coat), or hanging from their belt, you would always find the Lucky bones. They were as much used for functional reasons as a Lucky charm.Today Susanna is 78 years old, she is still preparing and tanning the hide used making the embroidered bracelets and bags, shown in the MARIA RUDMAN selection." Here is a picture of Maria and Susanna together while she creating these special pieces. These pieces are signified by a rainbow tassel and are signed and in some instances numbered by the artist. Here are some pictures.

*Some items we carry are either only available in store or have not been uploaded to the website yet. If you have questions or inquiries on anything pictured above, please feel free to contact us. 212.925.0882 [email protected]