The other day I was on author Erin Morgenstern's website and I came across a post that she had written on our Dragon necklace.  It always makes me happy when someone whose work I really respect buys one of our pieces.  If you haven't read The Night Circus, run out and pick it up.  If you're agoraphobic, under house-arrest or just lazy, order it online or download it to your Ipad or Kindle.

When I searched Erin out on Wikipedia, I couldn't help but notice that she was wearing our Love Conquers All necklace in her profile photo (Copyright 2011 Larry D. Moore)

As a side note, my very first job at age 11 was at a carnival...From Carny to Jewelry Designer: The Pyrrha Story.

Danielle and I recently returned from a much needed vacation in Costa Rica. In between battling scorpions, wolf spiders, jelly fish and Locusts we managed to relax and absorb some sun into our Vitamin D depleted bodies.

Despite the fact that we counted no less than 25 scorpions in and around our house, the scariest moment was when I stuck my macro lens within an inch of this particular specimen.

I thought that this toad was the cutest little guy ever until I learned that dogs routinely eat them and die :(

These locusts are huge! This one was trained specifically to knock over my winning Scrabble tiles.

Is it a stick? Is it a bug? It's a stick bug!

We were walking along one day when an enraged 5 foot long iguana dropped out of a tree by our feet.  It ran by and started attacking a metal fence outside of a restaurant.  Apparently steroid use is rampant in the iguana community.

These Howler Monkeys, despite their small size, are generally regarded as the world's loudest land animal.  They communicate with a very deep and rumbling howl-like bark that can be heard from up to 20 miles away.  We were pretty intimidated by them until we saw them up close.  Poseurs.

Danielle is somewhat of a bug whisperer.  This dragonfly is sporting sunglasses just to impress her.

Emma Swan, portrayed by actress Jennifer Morrison, wears a Pyrrha Swan Necklace as her personal talisman on ABC's new hit show Once Upon a Time.  In heraldry, the swan represents grace, beauty and poetry so we think that it's quite fitting. The show, produced by "Lost" alumnae Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis, is a drama in which the fairytale world and the present day collide.

For a limited time you can watch full episodes of Once Upon a Time online.

This atmospheric 2 minute Pyrrha film features various techniques used in the crafting of our handmade wax seal jewelry set to Abe Vigoda's Dream of My Love (Chasing After You).  I've set the permissions on Vimeo to allow for sharing as well as embedding of the code. Enlarge to full screen and turn up your speakers!

Last week Danielle and I went to see the Gerhard Richter retrospective in London at Tate Modern. Richter is a brilliant German visual artist whose work spans nearly 50 years. The exhibition, entitled Panorama, coincides with Richter's 80th birthday.  Many of Richter's works are not easy to view - the imagery is haunted with violence and war, yet with his trademark blurring he somehow manages to convey beauty as I've never seen it before.

Above: one of Richter's highly sought-after paintings from his Candle series. Sonic Youth used one the candle paintings for their Daydream Nation album. Apparently Richter was a fan and let them use it free of charge.

On view at Tate Modern until January 12, 2012.

Gerhard Richter: Panorama is organised by Tate Modern in association with Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Centre Pompidou, Paris

There's nothing quite like being in Paris during fashion week. Danielle and I spent the past 5 days in The City of Light exhibiting at the Premiere Classe trade show. Despite the relentless heat (I can almost hear your hearts bleed), it was inspiring to be in such a beautiful locale surrounded by so much design talent.

The show was located in The Tuileries in the heart of the 1er arrondissement.

Danielle making notes on one of the many press contacts who attended.

Of course it wasn't all work. We shopped and ate...and ate...and ate.

A couple of dishes from our vegetarian tasting at Maceo.

We even had some time to be silly as is evidenced by my reflection in the window of Colette.

Looking forward to doing it all again in the spring.  For a small selection of new designs check out our shop section.

Well, it's 12:30am where I am so I bid you a "bonne nuit".

Danielle and I were really excited to have the opportunity to see the Alexander McQueen exhibit in New York last week, but when we arrived at the Met we were pretty sure that it just wasn't meant to be.  After buying our tickets we remarked at how quiet it was until we ran smack into a line that snaked around the perimeter of the museum, breaking only to continue in another room, and another. We were devastated.  We'd waited so long to see the exhibit and we'd run out of time - our plane was leaving for Vancouver the next morning. Now please don't hate me for what followed this realization.  We asked an official looking man who was hanging about how long the line was and he told us that we were looking at a good 4.5 hours; he told us that if we came back the following day when the museum opened that our chances would be a lot better.  That wouldn't work for us, we told him, as we had to go home.  Detecting a "foreign" accent, he asked us where we were from.  "Vancouver, Canada", we replied in unison.  He glanced sideways and took a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I have family from Canada", he said, "and I feel a certain obligation", he continued.  He wrote something down on the paper, handed it to us and told us to take it to the front of the line.  We were incredulous.  We thanked him profusely and made our way to the most inspirational exhibit we've ever seen.

From the moment we walked in it became clear that it would be a highly visceral experience. The thematically rich exhibition was divided into six different sections: The Romantic Mind, which featured some of his oldest work in the early 90s, Romantic Gothic and the Cabinet of Curiosities, Romantic Nationalism, Romantic Exoticism, Romantic Primitivism and Romantic Naturalism.  Ideally I would have spent the day there but the crowds were pretty overwhelming.  We were able, however, to get up close to most of the pieces to admire their intricacies though I resisted the urge to reach out and touch.  I didn't expect to have such an emotional reaction, but by the time I was halfway through the final room I was overcome with sadness at the loss of such a talent.  I highly suggest that you pick up a copy of the hardcover book that accompanied the exhibition - it's filled with photos, quotes and all things brilliantly McQueen. By the time I bought mine it was already in its 4th printing.

We recently had the opportunity to shoot our latest look book in Leighton Buzzard (yes, Leighton Buzzard), a town in England some 50 miles outside of London.  Since we first introduced our seal jewelry collection we've wanted to do a photo shoot in the country that most of our 19th century waxes originated from.

It was a super hot and lovely day  - although at times I felt like a character from Withnail and I plucked from the city and dropped into the English countryside.  I spent a good part of the day walking through farmers' fields (their bulls conspicuously absent) dodging meadow muffins with my trusty cider in hand.

We ended the day shooting inside of a folly (a sham ruin built to look like a building that has fallen apart) that was likely constructed in the 19th century. This location was awesome with the late afternoon light filtering through the cracks in the stone; it was truly magical and I think we managed to channel a heavy dose of 70's rock 'n' roll mysticism.  Lord Zeppelin would be proud.

On Thursday we celebrated the Pyrrha Los Angeles Flagship store's one year anniversary with (vegetarian) sushi, sake and champagne.  Julie Benz of Dexter, No Ordinary Family and the recently greenlighted CBS series A Gifted Man, was kind enough to co-host our event.  Julie attended our opening party as a fan of our jewelry so it seemed fitting that she help us celebrate our first anniversary. We also gave a sneak preview of our new 18k fine jewelry collection which will be available in store in August.

In attendance (wearing her Pyrrha "Good Fortune" wax seal necklace) was another Dexter alumni, Jaime Murray.

Danielle with Jaimie Alexander (Sif from Thor)

Me and Matt Dallas...or as it was referred to online, "Matt Dallas with guest".  Maybe I just seemed a little too relaxed [drunk] at my own party.

Although Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) had rsvp'd and Alyson Hannigan (Willow) was one of our first customers into the store, Clare Kramer (Glory) and Julie Benz (Darla) were the closest we got to a Buffy Reunion...

We sold a commemorative fox head stick pin with entire proceeds going to the ASPCA and 25% of the rest of the night's sales of our wax seal jewelry also benefitting the animals.  Did I mention that we love animals?  Anyway, thanks everyone for a great first year!

The quality mark on a item of jewelry is supposed to denote what metal the piece is comprised of but it's a little known fact that anyone with a stamp can mark any piece, regardless of the actual content. In Canada and the US, only jewelers with a registered trademark can legally stamp their jewelry with a quality mark (ie 10k, 14k, 18k or .925) which must be applied to the piece along with a trademark stamp. In the UK, each piece of jewelry must go to the assay office for regulated testing and stamping of the metal before it can legally be for sale.

Despite this fact, many hobbyist jewelry designers routinely sell their illegally marked pieces to unsuspecting consumers. With the escalating values of gold and silver, this is becoming more of an issue than ever. If designers don't abide by the trademark laws, what's preventing them from being truthful about actual silver or gold content? A registered trademark stamp along with a quality mark is your only assurance that the maker will be held accountable for the metals being used. Caveat emptor.

I'm getting pretty tired of hearing about companies whose products have been "chosen" for the various award show gift bags. Sour grapes? Sadly, no. In fact, every other day I'm solicited to pay for the "privilege" to be involved in the Emmy's, Sundance, People's Choice Awards etc.  In my opinion, paying a PR firm a sizeable fee to put your product in a bag that no celebrity has requested hardly constitutes news. The harsh reality is that the majority of these bags get taken home by managers, agents, publicists, personal assistants and chauffeurs.  Of course, there are exceptions...but unless your product is in the neighborhood of a Rolex, you likely aren't one of them.

If a bag (BIG if) manages to find its way into a particular celebrity's hands, the likelihood of them actually keeping, using or most importantly, being photographed with the items is miniscule. Each of these awards shows have many "official" gift bags as well as countless gifting suites promising celebrity interaction.  Celebrities are busy people who get heaps of free stuff sent to them without them having to trek out to a rented hall in a hotel, so the likelihood of your dream star becoming enamoured with your product is very slim.  You may see Tori Spelling but Brad and Angelina will not saunter over to your table.  If your idea of success includes Guy in Elevator #2 walking away with free product, then by all means, hand over your hard earned cash.  If you are a young designer, there are far better ways to spend your money.  If celebrity gifting is something that you want to explore there are companies who can ensure that your product does in fact make it into the right hands (whether it stays in those hands is a crapshoot).  It's a better idea to focus on good design and distribution and let your celebrity roster grow organically over time. Ultimately, you'll gain more respect if you don't give it away for free ;)

Last month we were lucky enough to catch the tail end of artist Anish Kapoor's "Turning the World Upside Down" exhibit in London's Kensington Gardens. The four sculptures, composed of curved stainless steel, mirrored surfaces reflect their park surroundings on a scale that has to be experienced to be truly appreciated.

Sky Mirror (shot from the side I prefer which technically makes it a ground mirror). The perspective was so awesome that I wanted to hop the barrier and stage a guerrilla midnight Pyrrha photo shoot.

Sky Mirror Red

Non-Object (Spire), 2007

C-Curve, 2007

These pieces really inspired me to bring back our bubble line, so don't be surprised if you see it in our LA store sometime in the future...

Buying jewelry can be very confusing and it's important that shoppers are able to make informed decisions. There's a big difference between an of the moment necklace that you wear out to a club and an heirloom piece that you want to see passed down to your grand children.

Gold dipped is a term that's used a lot lately in the jewelry industry - it's actually really just marketing lingo.  It sounds a lot more romantic and more precious than gold plated, which is what it actually is. Considering that the melting point of gold sits at just under 1700 degrees fahrenheit, anything immersed in it would simply melt.  The truth is that gold dipped jewelry is generally base metal jewelry that has been electroplated with around 1/1000 of a millimetre of gold. I won't go into the specifics of what the solution is comprised of but you can easily google it. If you are going to buy this type of jewelry be aware that the plating will eventually wear off.  The good news is that if you really love the piece your local jeweller can re-plate it for you.  A lot of these plating solutions contain cyanide, (it won't transfer to your piece but it's not good for the environment), but you can find those that don't.

Gold vermeil is made by plating gold on top of sterling silver - the plating tends to be much thicker than "gold dipped" jewelry although the value still comes from the sterling silver.

Gold filled (aka rolled-gold) jewelry is not filled with gold at all but made by binding a thick layer of gold to a metal such as brass or copper; the gold content is 5% as per federal regulations and generally will not wear away. If you're looking for something that will last always choose gold filled over gold plated.

Silver plated jewelry, like gold plated, is made of a base metal like nickel that has a microscopic plating of silver on top of it.

Sterling silver is 92.5% pure silver which has been alloyed (combined) with copper (usually) to strengthen it.  Given the softness of silver, I don't recommend buying pieces in metal clay that are attached to a chain with a jump ring as they are prone to breakage.  The only way around this is to solder a sterling silver jump ring onto the piece after firing and many of today's jewelry artists are hobbyists, not jewelers, and therefore unable to do this.  Caveat emptor.

Also, try to buy jewelry made in Canada, the US, UK or other European countries who have stricter laws (jewelry manufactured in places like Thailand and China can contain lead).  Don't assume that because you're buying "designer" jewelry that it's made domestically. Always ask.

Well, I hope that you found this blog educational and that you're well armed for your next jewelry purchase.  For lasting heirloom quality pieces, check out our wax seal jewelry collection.

It seems that everywhere I look I see Jeremy Renner wearing pieces from our wax seal jewelry collection but Pyrrha is never credited.  When I first saw the Vogue Magazine Contributor photo of him wearing our "My Life is a Prayer" necklace and our "Never Despair" necklace layered together I was thrilled.

Soon after this appearance I was alerted to the fact that Mr. Renner was flashing his "Never Despair" wax seal necklace in GQ.  Though I was thrilled that the Pyrrha tag was showing, I was bummed out that, again, Pyrrha didn't get credited.

These discoveries lead to more sleuthing and more disappointment like this Film Ink cover promoting his movie The Town. Around his neck?  You guessed it, Pyrrha.

Then he wore his Pyrrha wax seal necklace in a video for Flaunt.

And it continued...

I won't bore you with more photos (I've got them) because I'm sure you get the picture.

Anyway, if you haven't already, check out our latest collection of wax seal jewelry in our shop section.

The New Year is all about self-renewal. In the month of January we try to slow down and re-evaluate the things that are important to us; we often choose this time to pay more attention to our self-development. Let us know what resolution you've managed to keep so far by tweeting it to @pyrrha_jewelry and you could win our Renewal pendant.  This wax seal pendant features a lark, (a symbol of hope, happiness and creativity), sitting on a stump (a symbol of rebirth). We'll pick three different winners on January 10 who will receive this pendant (valued at $185.00) in either sterling silver or bronze.  In order to win, you must be following us @pyrrha_jewelry .  In the spirit of the contest please make your resolution truthful.  Happy New Year!

I was catching up on Weeds last night when I noticed that Mary Louise Parker's character Nancy Botwin was wearing a couple of Pyrrha wax seal necklaces.  Ironically, she was wearing a Cross pendant as well as an Armorial pendant despite the fact that she's clearly not religious.  We'd been waiting for our pieces to show up ever since she sent her stylist in to our LA store to buy several pieces for the show and for her personally.  We don't currently have any of the Armorials up for sale on our site but you can buy our wax seal cross necklace.

Why not have a look at all of our wax seal jewelry?

We're thrilled to have won Western Living's Designer of the Year award for fashion and jewelry. We've worked really hard this year expanding the Pyrrha collection of wax seal jewelry and opening up our store in Los Angeles and we really appreciate being recognized for it. Thanks. Read the full article here: http://www.westernlivingmagazine.com/HD/0910.DOTY.Winners.Fashion.html

Have a look at our wax seal jewelry collection.

Photo: Martin Tessler

Join us from 6pm to 10pm at the Pyrrha flagship store on September 10th, 2010 to celebrate Fashion's Night Out with cocktails and a live performance by Automatic Loveletter.  We'll be donating $20 from the sale of each piece of jewelry sold during the party to Education Through Music LA http://www.etmla.org - a charity that helps underprivileged kids learn music.  Every $75 donated will give an entire semester of music to a child.  If you live out of town (which would be the only valid reason to not come to our party) you can still help because we'll be donating $20 from each piece sold on our website during the same time period.  The performance will take place at 7:30pm in the courtyard that we share with Sigerson Morrison. Watch for our tweets from the party throughout the night at http://www.twitter.com/pyrrha_jewelry and feel just like you're there ;)

Generally I'd be one of the last people to knock a spiritual journey but when the road to enlightenment is littered with so much crap I just have to speak out.  The public has been bombarded with no less than 400 authorized product tie-ins related to Julia Roberts' new film Eat, Pray, Love - everything from fashion through furniture. Clearly a huge disconnect with the message of the movie.  Now, I'm not so naive as to think that Pyrrha would still be in business if people didn't buy things but there's a line and I will not cross it.  For those of us who are searching, we're unlikely to find the answers in a slew of offshore manufactured consumables.

A few weeks back a stylist picked up some of our wax seal necklaces for Julia Roberts to wear in her latest movie.  We try not to get too excited about this sort of thing since it often doesn't pan out but lo and behold here she is wearing our Aurora and Cupid intaglio necklace on the set of Larry Crowne.  I don't know if it's a coincidence or if we're on Julia's radar but her husband Daniel Moder bought a wax seal pendant from our Los Angeles store a few days later for Julia for Mother's Day.  Here's a close-up of the bronze Aurora and Cupid wax seal necklace. Here are some more photos from the set of Larry Crowne.

Want to see more of our wax seal jewelry?

First I want to thank Hanahlie and Caleb for helping to design the space with us and for keeping cool heads when things seemed like they'd never get finished in time.  So without further ado may I present the Pyrrha flagship store at 8315 West 3rd St. Los Angeles, home of our wax seal jewelry collection.

It all came together minutes before our opening party...

Evening Light:

Custom cases designed in conjunction with our good friends Hanahlie and Caleb and built by Brent Follett.

Daylight:

Caleb and I spent many, many hours finding and lugging the hundreds of books that were required to build this.

A very cool 19th century dollhouse that I couldn't resist buying.  Apparently found sitting in a field of grass.

Heather hanging some necklaces in the dollhouse.  Actually, the truth is I just thought it would be a cool photo.

Not sure what this was before we turned it into the men's display case.  These his and her mannequins are from the 1800's and are beautifully deconstructed.

Happy that I found a spot for these awesome Art Deco chairs.

Fritz Henningsen couch.

Hans Bellmann chairs.

Old medical magnifier.

Bocci chandelier.

The flower boxes outside of the store have some really cool succulents planted in them.  As of this post no one has stolen them.

Our hope has always been that people would develop a personal connection with our wax seal jewelry.  When we learned that Julie Benz of Buffy, Dexter, Desperate Housewives and now ABC's newest No Ordinary Family fame had a Pyrrha design tattooed on her wrist we were thrilled.  That's a serious commitment to a sentiment!  She wears the matching Winged Heart pendant around her neck.  Below is her very cool and understated white "Tout Pour Vous" tattoo paired with her Pyrrha dagger bracelet (my apologies for the less than stellar pic).

Here's a nice pic of Julie with her Winged Heart pendant.

This great tattoo inspired by our Scissors "We Part to Meet Again" pendant is the only other fan tattoo that we've seen. Any others out there that anyone wants to share?

OK, maybe that title is a bit of an exaggeration but the Grammy's came and went with nary a Pyrrha wax seal pendant in sight to grace Ms. Swift's neck. After meeting with Taylor's stylist we learned that she would be wearing one of two dresses - one of which the gold and sapphire winged heart wax seal pendant we made for her would pair nicely with and the other that would be a difficult match with jewelry.  She chose the latter.  Oh well.  As a consolation we have a couple of pictures of her taken a few days earlier in a rarely seen Lion in Shield pendant. She's also pictured below in our Two Eagles Wax Seal Pendant signing an autograph. Check out our wax seal jewelry in our shop section.

We don't even have that one up on our website.  If you really need to buy one that she wears you can get this one

Two Eagles Wax Seal Necklace

We only went to one Grammy after-party but it was chock full of eye candy.  I wish I'd taken some pictures but at least some of the outfits are burned into our memories forever.  Never leave home without your sequins.

This past Sunday Danielle and I had the pleasure of visiting Animal Acres in Acton, California.  As many of you already know, a few months ago we sponsored a rescued horse, a sheep, a goat and a Turkey (which we shamelessly named Pyrrha).  These were the first animals that we've connected with since our cat Horton passed away a couple of months ago so it was a pretty emotional experience.  When you're petting a farm animal you become acutely aware of how much they need and enjoy affection and that they're really no different than dogs or cats.

Vegetarian or not, it's a wonderful experience and I urge everyone who can to pay them a visit.  You can find more info on this paradise for animals at www.animalacres.org.

Every January we begin our new year in New York preparing for the AC Show (a trade show focused around accessories).  It's cold and windy here and we're ill equipped with our our unlined boots and Vancouver coats that don't do up to the neck.  We love to walk the city from end to end but with weather like this we've been foregoing any exercise for the warmth of countless cabs.  Tomorrow is set up - the day that we find out whether our crate made it to the site or not.  It's a lot of work and a fair amount of stress but we manage to find some time (and head space) for some shopping and lots of eating.  Today we hit Barney's (lightly):  I bought an Opening Ceremony sweater and Danielle picked up a cognac silk shirt dress.  Tonight we treated ourselves to the tasting menu at Kajitsu, a vegetarian Michelin starred restaurant serving Shojin cuisine, an ancient Japanese cuisine developed in Zen Buddhist monasteries.  Pictured is a gorgeous clear broth with grilled mochi, tiny turnip, carrot and daikon ribbons.  Oishii!