EcoFABulous!

On June 19th, in chic and sustainable style, The Green Gala will highlight local produce, products and production on Long Island's East End. With a farm-to-table approach, local farmers, growers and celebrity chefs will utilize and promote the fabulous bounty of the Hamptons.

Browse an exciting array of green-focused auction items, during the cocktail hour, including this necklace I created especially for the event. Composed of recycled and vintage materials including Chinese bone carvings, Indian carnelian briolettes, raffia beads from the Philippines and delicate Japanese deep sea coral branches, it will hopefully encourage guests to give and go green! Read more about this eco-fabulous event and purchase tickets here.

2009 Gala images courtesy of East End Gala.

The Royal Treatment

WHAT designers is a curated website that promotes the work of bold, modern, independent designers. Be sure to check out their Spring 2010 Independent Design Guide called The Royal Treatment in which indie designers put their spin on brilliant blue-hued designs. I've featured highlights here, including my Blue Is Peace Pendant. You're also invited to vote for your favorite design! The designer with the most votes will get a feature in the Summer 2010 design guide.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and blue quartz Blue Is Peace Pendant, $105.00 at Supermarket, Shopflick and CynthiaRybakoff.

Images courtesy of WHATdesigners.

Blue Muse

Blue Is Ocean Necklace

This holiday season, I’m channeling the color blue in different shapes and shades, and searching for meaning. Some get the holidays blues for sure, but blue also has incredibly positive color energy. For your home, blue is a soothing sea breeze or breath of fresh air. For wearing, it’s a calming and confident color. For giving, it’s universal. Blue is simply heaven sent.

Blue Is Versatile Wrap Bracelet/Necklace

Inspired by the sky, oceans, and the earth as seen from space, my Blue Is Holiday collection of sterling silver and semi-precious stone jewels, is a meditation on the powerful evocations and emotions of this globally favored color, which in many different cultures represents strength, trust, and serenity. My blue musings this holiday season were also inspired by the tiny illustrated book by Peter Max with the words of Swami Sivananda, simply called “Peace”, published in 1970. Substituting the word “blue” for “peace”, I created a series of designs that represent the many meanings of the color blue.

Blue Is Peace Pendant

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and semi-precious stone Blue Is Holiday collection, $58 to $225 at Supermarket and Shopflick.

Super Cute

Into The Woods charm bangles $38 each

I just can’t help myself. I love super cute furry or feathered creatures the way some might love a fat baby. I’m currently obsessed with the Sweet Million ad campaign, with it’s sleeping piglets quivering on miniature bunk beds and piles of snoozing kittens dressed in onesies for a long winter’s nap. I grew up in the mythical 70’s pop culture, when graphic representations of wise owls and spotted toadstools were plastered on much of the decorative ware found in my friend’s homes. I carefully stitched embroidered butterfly appliqués to every piece of denim my closet and painted tiny canvases of lush fields sprouting a first grader’s interpretation of those ubiquitous mushrooms and butterflies with my beginner’s set of acrylic paints. As an adult, I have scoured thrift shops, flea markets and even my mother’s cupboard for reminders of that idyllic time, scoring kitschy vintage Arabia Finland pieces, for my collection of pure unadulterated nostalgia.

Into The Woods charm pendant $68

I’m a fairly serious jewelry designer, not generally given to fits of whimsy or pretentious post-modern irony, but I do have a soft spot in my heart for 70’s retro cute. Come autumn in New York City, my creativity is jet fueled by woodland fantasies conducted in brisk weather, as the thermometer tops 70 degrees. Inspired by the changing autumn leaf outside my window and the comforting knowledge that screech owls do indeed nest in the Forest of Central Park, I am overcome by my outdoorsy leanings, shuttering myself from the warm Indian Summer sun in my apartment studio niche, dreaming up cute designs for my little cast of woodland characters.

Woodsy Owl charm earrings $38

Cynthia Rybakoff oxidized sterling silver Into The Woods charm collection $28 to $68, on Supermarket.

Freshly Picked: Genuine Fake

Say hello to this week's Freshly Picked item at Supermarket and check back each Monday for more seasonal gemstone picks. Starting today, my Fake Necklace is a genuine deal at 30% off for one week only!

Engineered in the 70’s to look like the real thing, cubic zirconia is optically flawless and entirely fake. This delicate CZ micro briolette necklace on sterling chain is a timeless design. I love clear CZ, because it sparkles like crazy and it's easy to wear with almost anything. More fashion than flash, CZ has it's own charm and should never be a substitute for diamonds.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and cubic zirconia Fake Necklace from the Post Bling Collection, $55.00, this week only at Supermarket.

Freshly Picked: Crystal Power

This week’s Freshly Picked item at Supermarket is a powerful deal. Starting today, the Fortress of Solitude sterling silver and rock crystal spike necklace is 30% off for one week only.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and rock crystal Fortress Of Solitude Necklace, from the Post Bling Collection, $52.00, only at Supermarket.

NOTCOUTURE #4424

Spotted on NOTCOUTURE, my daily inspiration and fashion filter for all things luxurious and indulgent!

Freshly Picked

Say hello to this week’s Freshly Picked item, new at Supermarket. Starting today, Rock Candy Ribbon Necklaces are 30% off for one week only.

Sweet as sugar and 100% organic, rough crystal in its natural state bears a striking resemblance to that childhood favorite, rock candy! I used to buy mine on a wooden stick at the Amagansett Farmer’s Market, back in the 70’s. The rough, unpolished stones look really cool, like wearing ice on a hot summer day!

Pick from four super-bright colors, and get ‘em while they’re in season. Check back each Monday for more freshly picked items!

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and rough rock crystal Rock Candy Ribbon Necklaces from the Post Bling Collection, $48.00, this week only at Supermarket.

Superwoman

We all know that behind every Superman is a Superwoman. Clark, we appreciate your penchant for red and blue, but what about some rocks for her? What would make a strong statement? You definitely need to avoid green. Maybe something organic and futuristic looking in a crystal spike formation?

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and rock crystal Fortress Of Solitude necklace, $74.00 and earrings, $38.00, from the Post Bling Collection at Supermarket.

Dripping Diamonds

Can luxury be democratic? Should we still buy it and wear it proudly? I think we can, but priorities have shifted dramatically in 2009. My new collection, appropriately entitled Post Bling, is based on more humble materials that either are real or fake versions of that ubiquitous rock, the diamond.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and raw diamond Dripping Diamonds necklace, $228.00 and earrings, $68.00 at Supermarket.

Inconspicuous Luxury

So we’ve entered a post-luxury era. What to wear now that we’ve all lost our shirts? Luxury is still desirable, of course. Who wouldn't want beautiful, high quality things if they could afford it? And things are starting to look up, but conspicuous consumption is so Ancien Régime. Time to take it down a notch, regardless of your wallet size.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver and CZ Fake Necklace, $78.00 and Fake Hoops, $44.00 at Supermarket.

100% Organic

Oxidized sterling silver colorblock torsade with antique Chinese turquoise, tiger's eye, carnelian and malachite

I've been collecting beads from around the world since 1973. Sometimes inspiration is as simple as a color story and rummaging through dozens of clear boxes and drawers filled with thousands of semi-precious stone beads in every color, size and cut imaginable. The result, a one-of-a-kind collection of beaded pieces, each stone with a story to tell.

Oxidized sterling silver colorblock bracelet with antique Chinese turquoise, tiger's eye, carnelian and malachite

The GreenPiece Collection debuted in the Summer of 2008 at The Parrish Art Museum Shop, as a seemingly randomly patterned assemblage of vintage beads chosen for their uniquely unadulterated color and form. The collection focused on an earthy palette of high quality semi-precious stone in luxe-bohemian style with superb and rare examples of greenish vintage turquoise. Crossing all lines between fashion, art and craft, GreenPiece is really about the visceral beauty of making things by hand.

Selections from the GreenPiece Collection are available only by special request at cynthiarybakoff.com, $138 to $995 .

Shiny Disco Balls

clockwise from top left: Donna Karan via style.com, Cynthia Rybakoff Disco Bubble Earrings, $124 at Supermarkethq.com, Luc Gensollen chandelier

The bubble has gone oversized, sleek and shiny. The post-luxury era beckons the return of a more understated and affordable precious metal, sterling silver. Molecular clusters of silver beads have a futuristic look. The effect is sci-fi chic meets disco diva meets atomic mad scientist.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver Atomic Bubble Bracelet, $298 at Supermarkethq.com

Here's a first look at my new sterling silver Bubble Collection, now available exclusively at my Supermarket shop, where it's easy to buy great design online! Bubblicious earrings, necklaces and bracelets from $14 - $298, with most pieces under $100. Check back over the next week as I add more items...

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver Disco Bubble Necklace, $188 at Supermarkethq.com

It's Me Cathy

I am still swooning from part one of Masterpiece Classic's new adaptation of Emily Brontë's brutal and passionate story of uncivilized emotion run amuck on the solitary windswept moors, Wuthering Heights. Fortunately I can watch it again and again at pbs.org.

I awoke this morning with the operatic voice of Kate Bush in my head, and had to watch her 1978 “Wuthering Heights” video on YouTube, an odd geisha style ballet pantomime of the story, which satisfied my craving for more of the turbulent and ultimately thwarted love affair of high-spirited Cathy Earnshaw and her dark brooding Heathcliff.

I imagine myself a modern day Cathy coming home at last, dressed for blustery weather and grey skies on the Yorkshire moors in a flowing empire waist ecru linen dress with a cropped fitted wool jacket in periwinkle blue, my long raven hair untamed by pins or clips, my neck adorned with a neoclassic cameo pendant in sage green and white jasper ware on a modern biker curb chain dipped in shiny 24k gold.

Cynthia Rybakoff vintage green cameo pendant in modern 24k vermeil setting, edition 1/1, $575, by request at CynthiaRybakoff.com.

Shining Example

Spotted on NOTCOUTURE, item #3567, my sterling silver handmade chain with royal purple ribbon ties. The site concept is simple and effective: a visual filtration of ideas + aesthetics + amusements. I recommend frequent visits to check out the latest in international fashion and design trends.

This necklace, which can be worn as a belt, is from the Link Collection, which launched in 2005. The entire collection of earrings, bracelets and rings is based on a single beveled link design, inspired by nautical chain. Each piece consists on individually cast links which are polished and connected one at a time. The monotony of pure silver is broken occasionally by saturated bursts of semi-precious stone color. You can see select styles in the silver gallery on CynthiaRybakoff.com.

Cynthia Rybakoff sterling silver handmade chain necklace with purple ribbon ties, $1,380, by request at CynthiaRybakoff.com.