JA New York: What inspires your designs?
Tracy Arrington: I like working with simple designs that I would wear every day and am inspired by the contrast of oxidized silver with gold. It really makes the gold pop! I love working with rough diamonds. I think they are really beautiful (the grey ones are my favorite)! I also love labradorite, moonstone, aquamarine, and watermelon tourmaline slices. Basically, good quality gemstones with great facets and fire are like eye candy to me. They feed my creativity and I get overwhelmed with new ideas.
JA New York: Walk us through your design process…
TA: I usually start feeling inspired when I attend a wholesale gem show where I see stones and metals everywhere. My creativity seems to come alive and my mind starts thinking about how to expand current collections or design a new one. When I return I can’t wait to jump in and I often work through the night when everything is quiet and I can jam to my favorite music with a fresh cup of coffee and my cat, Olivia, sitting nearby. I named my first line after her because she keeps me company in the studio when I design no matter what the hour.
I spread out the new materials and let my imagination go to town. I start by choosing a stone and then I think about the best way to highlight its beauty (which often includes gold). I have chosen to work with 14K Gold Fill because I think it is a really good product for the money. I know there are a lot of people out there who don’t understand what Gold Fill is and how well it holds up. It contains 5% carat gold and has 100 times more gold than plating. It lasts for years when properly cared for and we add a matte finish protective sealant to increase the life even longer.
Once I have a metal and stone chosen I start to think about design and fabrication, which could be as simple as combining a series of soldered rings together in an interesting way or as complex as developing a brand new technique with a lot of metalsmithing. I work with the metals until a concept begins to emerge. By the time I have 3-5 new designs I step away. I come back about 12 hours later to see what I think about them. I continue to tweak the design by walking away and returning with fresh eyes until I feel really “attached” to at least 6 pieces. At that point I start wearing them to see how they feel and lay. The next 10-12 pieces come pretty easily to me but the last 6-8 begin to get tough sometimes. At that point it feels a bit more constraining because I am rounding out the collection to have a variety of price points and scales. I usually start out with 24 designs in a new collection and 12 in a mini collection. Once I am satisfied with the designs, they are priced out and tweaked further if necessary. Finally, they are photographed as line sheet and lifestyle images which are given to our stores for their use in promoting our brand. The images are also used internally for social media, an annual catalog, our website, postcards, and tradeshow booth images.
JA New York: What was your favorite part about exhibiting in the New Designer Gallery at the July 2015 show?
TA: Meeting all the wonderfully talented artists in the New Designer Gallery. We really bonded and had a wonderful time together, sharing in our successes and the challenges we face daily. We shared resources and supported each other, all the while having a really fun time.
JA New York: If a theme song played every time you walked into a room, what would it be?
TA: What a Wonderful World by Louie Armstrong