Designer Spotlight: Sugar Gay Isber

By Paige McKirahan

This week, we have decided to spotlight a designer that is not only prominent in our collections, but prominent in jewelry lover's collections over the globe. Gay Isber, affectionately nicknamed Sugar, is a Canadian jewelry designer based out of Austin, Texas. As a seventh generation Texan, she planted her roots in the south with Gay Isber Designs, her namesake jewelry and product design company. As the creative force propelling the business forward, she has been crafting jewelry for over 15 years; she has been featured in national and international media, and has created pieces for everyone from royals to rock stars. She has even been dubbed “a guru of the fashion and jewelry industry” in her home state, which eventually pushed her to receive the Designer of the Year award in 2016. Now that we know of her great successes, let’s learn more about her inspiration, background, and her beautiful creations!

(photo credits to shoplc.com)

Sugar is a self-proclaimed jewelry lover who advocates for conversational pieces that are enjoyed more with every wear. As a creator, she is uninterested in what other designers are producing and focuses more about how her materials inspire her or how she can continue advancing her skills; she feels that she is truly only as good as her last piece.

Gay began her amazing journey by starting off as a painter after graduating with a Master’s Degree in Humanities and Visual Arts. She wanted her paintings to be show stopping, and concluded she would stop art show traffic by creating a bracelet that emulated her artwork’s colorful aesthetic. By the show’s conclusion, she realized that most of the patrons were more interested in her bracelet than her paintings, prompting her to make the transition from art to jewelry. Despite this, she has continued painting as a hobby and many of her jewels look similar to her art.

As a full-time creator, Sugar says that she dreams about jewels and has worked with so many amazing people that make the effort worthwhile. Aside from designing pieces for Michelle Obama, Camilla and Prince Charles, Lady Gaga and Martha Stewart (to name a few), she has also created a line for Harley Davidson and have participated in fundraising events for the company benefiting breast cancer. She participates in a vast amount of charity fundraisers and sells her jewelry at those events, through The Shopping Channel, through her mailing list, and independent retailers. In addition to her career as a designer, she also has been teaching at Austin Community College since 2012 where she offers private or group classes.

Whether it be a custom piece or a simple design, Sugar’s jewelry is eye-catching and commonly features bright colors, beautiful gems, bead work or metallic accents. Looking for some Sugar of your own? We have enough to fill a candy store! Head over to our collection to find some great Gay Isber pieces that are sure to sweeten up this holiday season!

(All biographical information taken from gayisber.com)

I don't know about you, but to me jewelry means joy. My dear grandmother planted this seed in my head when I was a little kid. I was always intrigued by the most wonderful hidden treasure box in her closet; it was a French old metal box with red velvet linen full of sparkling and beautiful unique pieces in each of its little compartments. Playing with her jewelry box was mesmerizing. There were rings, earrings, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, watches and a multitude of other bejeweled accessories. Due to our French heritage, we always referred to it as Bijoux. Real or costume, all jewelry was love at first sight and it grew into a passion for life.

Later during my young adult years, I got to do a lot of traveling around the world and I had the pleasure of experiencing some truly amazing places. I always wanted to carry that magical, unique beauty of each culture back home with me. How could I possibly do that? The answer was simple: through jewelry. Every piece tells of history and has its own special story, like a piece of art. There is nothing better than jewels to show what the culture is about; it has the power to transport me to the place it was created without leaving my own home.

Besides the power of bringing so much cultural information with each design, its personal, its timeless and it will always fit! Everyone can wear bijoux over and over, endlessly. Knowing that even my favorite bold styles easily fit in any suitcase size was just the icing on the cake. That being said, it is easy to assume I built quite the large private collection.

For the past couple of decades, I have had the chance to dive in and learn more about the history of these incredible accessories. I admire and treasure jewelry of all styles. Interested on learning some more about these magnificent accessories? Here you can read some other blog posts we published on: Rings, Bracelets, Necklaces, Earrings and Brooches.  

Want to see our current collection that has grown from a couple hundred pieces to thousands of unique pieces of art? Check out and buy your new bijoux loves here!

The Met Museum Presents Jewelry: The Body Transformed

By Paige McKirahan

In the wake of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s most successful fashion related exhibit since its conception (talking about you, Heavenly Bodies Exhibit!), we here at TalkingFashion we have been excited to see what was next for the art-filled attraction based in New York City. Lucky for us, the topic for their new display covers none other than jewelry throughout time; museum patrons will be able to view over 200 pieces from dated 2600 B.C. to the present. The exhibit, which is titled “Jewelry: The Body Transformed”, opened on November 12^th and will have a 15-week run in the iconic museum.

If you are lucky to see the exhibition, you will be faced with an exploration of how “jewelry acts upon and activates the body it adorns” from a historical perspective. The pieces are chiefly taken from the Met collection and many portions of the exhibit pair the jewelry with sculptures, prints, and photographs in order to enhance their story. Jewelry from around the world will be organized into galleries by the part of the body they embellish starting from the top of one’s head and hair; to the nose, lips and ears; neck and chest; and lastly waist, ankles, and feet. 

After the exhibition is separated by body part, the remaining galleries are arranged thematically. The Divine Body is focused on early conceptions of jewelry and its previous link to immortality. The Regal Body will look at the use of jewelry as a status symbol. The Transcendent Body moves away from a rank-based evaluation and looks to jewelry’s historical link to the spirit world, where it was said to conjure spirits, appease gods and conjure ancestors. The Alluring Body gallery will celebrate how jewelry evokes romance and desire and the final portion, The Resplendent Body, will focus of elegant pieces designed for luxury settings. To see other magnificent pieces currently on display, head over the The Met's exhibition page. If you are looking to do more than just appreciate historical jewelry, head over to our collection and purchase a piece beautiful enough to be in a museum!

(all image credits to metmuseum.org)