Lace Roses in Sarasota, Florida

Last week I took a little break and visited some friends in Sarasota, Florida. Julie and her husband Vinnie are artists and designers who create museum installations through their company, Ciulla Designs. Julie makes gorgeous gold jewelry based on archaeological designs and Vinnie creates fantasy collages - bathing beauties riding manatees, water skiers pulled by NYC taxis under the Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Julie bought a couple of pairs of Naemeh Shirazi's lace earrings and suggested I visit and show some of the Stevie's Artisans' work at some Sarasota shops.

We get together whenever they are in NYC - usually dinner at Al di La Restaurant in Park Slope - but I have been longing to visit them and see the mid-century modernist home they live in. They bought and have been restoring Paul Rudolph's masterpiece, the Umbrella House. The house has an elegant glass jalousies facade with lots of built in cabinetry features inside. The "umbrella" is a trellised canopy system that shades and cools the house - remember, houses weren't as extensively air-conditioned in the 1950's and 1960's when this house was built.

I met with Liby (Elizabeth Rice) at her home furnishings gallery/shop - she loved Naemeh's silver vine leaves earrings & pendants and also really liked the Ivette Urbaez silk screened dress I was wearing (red tulip dress) I met with the manager of her apparel/accessories shop - Terra Nova and Cheryl Ralya seemed to like the lace jewelry more and agreed Ivette's tulip dress, fire escape tunic, and teal roses & thorns skirt would go well in the shop. How exciting for Naemeh and Ivette! I left jewelry samples with Julie to show to the buyer at the Ringling Museum gift shop. I think Naemeh's rose pendant and earrings would really compliment Mabel Ringling's "roses"

artwork/accessories collection.

So, what else did I do in Sarasota because I didn't go for all work and no play. Julie and Vinnie have a lovely pool in their back yard and we also swam in the Gulf - warm and a really cool green color - unlike the aqua blue of the Mediterranean or the Caribbean. Julie and I went looking for alligators at the Myakka River State Park - no gator sighting but lots of hero and oak trees dripping with Spanish moss. I sat in at a rehearsal of the Key Chorale, the community chorus Julie sings with. (For years, Julie and I sang togther and served on the board of the Brooklyn Philharmonia Chorus.) The Key Chorale are fabulous and they are performing terrific music - Britten's "Saint Nicholas Cantata."

The day before I left I had lunch with Julie and friends from either the chorus and/or her rowing group - all terrifically interesting ladies in business, the arts, and some retired. Cheryl rows with Julie & Vinnie and Mary Chadsey creates amazing majolica pottery in her studio Mariooch. We are talking about her joining Stevie's Artisans Urban Folk Art.

Fashion on the Street

A Chance Encounter

A couple of Sundays ago two friends (Sharon Fahlstrom & Vigdis Eriksen) and I were on our way to see an exhibition at the New Museum on the Bowery when I had one of those great chance moments. You might even call it a New York moment. I was half way down the stairs to the Borough Hall subway station when I saw a flash of one of Ivette Urbaez's silk screen designs going by. "She's wearing one of Ivette's dresses. I need a picture," I shouted to my friends.

Vigdis whipped out her camera while I ran down the street to stop the girl and beg her to pose for a photo. After I caught up with her, I blathered on about Stevie's Artisans - my company - I represent the artist who designed the dress she was wearing, etc.

Her look was very cool. She was wearing Ivette's racer back tunic/dress: gray cotton with a black abstract silk screen print of fire escapes. She had accessorized with a cotton scarf and she was wearing sneakers with electric green laces.

She was totally happy to let me take a few photos because she said she absolutely loved the dress, loved how well it fit and was amazed because she always had such a hard time buying dresses. She told me she also loves the shop where she made her purchase - Lily on Court Street in Brooklyn.

She was so gracious and I forgot to ask her name. So I thanked the mystery Ivette fan and then we all went on our ways. A very serendipitous chance encounter!