Photo: Angelica Frey
A pair of local artisans — one dealing in leather and the other in jewelry — have put down roots on Williamsburg’s Grand Street strip. Fitzgerald Jewelry recently moved from North 11th Street, its home of 16 years, to 251 Grand. Fitzgerald is a hybrid business: “We’re a gallery, and a school and we have our own collection of jewelry,” owner Michael Fitzgerald told us.
Photo: Angelica Frey
The new space allows for more room: the front of the store is dedicated to the gallery, and it shows the work of both Fitzgerald and his wife Hiroyo as well as that of artists they represent. The back of the store is occupied by a studio where everything is made onsite and where there are classes and workshops in wax carving, silversmithing and goldsmithing.
Photo: Angelica Frey
Originally from Ireland, Fitzgerald has been making jewelry for over 20 years. When we asked him to show us his work, he directed us to a set of airplane-shaped pendants. “I started making these as a reaction to the whole 9/11 thing and I did not realize that until I sold some pieces to a lady who bought airplane earrings for her daughter because she was scared of flying,” said Fitzgerald. “Then I realized she was buying them as talismans, to protect her; her husband had been killed in the Twin Towers.”
Both Fitzgerald and his wife combine nature and metal in their creations by creating abstractions based on leaves and flowers.
Photo: Angelica Frey
Photo: Angelica Frey
When Fitzgerald Jewelry moved to its new location on Grand Street, the commercial unit, formerly occupied by a restaurant, already had a tenant. Her name is Isabella, a green-eyed ginger cat that has been living in the basement and hangs out when jewelry classes are in session.
Fitzgerald Jewelry will host a grand opening on March 21.
At 231 Grand Street, meanwhile, leather design company Insiders1 is planning to open next week.
Founded in 1999 by former art director Sigal De-Mayo, it offers a collection of bags, totes, wallets and now even silk charmeuse scarves sporting colorful images of New York cityscapes, all made from Italian leather.
“We mainly do [accessories] with New York images, because tourists love New York images and locals also like to see places that they know and they relate to,” said De-Mayo, who is Israeli. Insiders1, however, also sports a fair share of imaIges of Europe and, more recently, pictures taken during a tour in Brazil. De-Mayo finds inspiration for her images just walking around the city, mainly taking photos with her iPhone.
Photo: Sigal De-Mayo
When De-Mayo moved to New York, she started promoting tours of the underground scene, i.e. places you can’t find in tourist guides. Back then, she promoted her activity online and people took an immediate liking to her pictures. They asked her if they could have pictures on t-shirts, so she stopped giving tours and started devoting herself to art again. Then she changed medium and started printing on leather. When her partner Fabio Otalora joined the company 10 years ago, he improved the smoothing of the image. To this day, they manufacture everything in a factory located in the Navy Yard, ten minutes from their home in Fort Greene.
Photo: Sigal De-Mayo
The new Grand Street store is their first permanent store: till now, they’ve been active in the Grand Central and Unions Square holiday markets for the past eight years and at the Artists and Fleas in Chelsea in the past 18 months. De-Mayo, who really wanted a store in Williamsburg because she deems it the coolest place in the city, was directed by a real estate agent on Bedford Avenue to Grand Street, which was defined “up-and coming.” They’re taking over Soap Cherié’s space, as the natural bath and body luxury shop moved to Bedford. Last but not least, at 147 Grand Street, a sign on the window of Self Hair Salon announces an impending move: as of April 2015, they will relocate to 364 Bedford Avenue.
Photo: Sigal De-Mayo
Insiders1 will host a grand opening party on March 22 from 4 to 10 pm.
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