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Only someone of Lee Brevard’s audaciousness,
talent and connections could re-define the
often stuffy parameters of fine jewelry
design, as he did when he opened the House
of Brevard in 1980. Lee, trained as an
artist, applied to jewelry design the same
aesthetics he used when creating a work of
art—color, texture, proportion and balance
were paramount—not the value of a gem.
Jewelry design, before Brevard broke the
mold, centered on presenting valuable gems
and gold in the most formal and impressive
setting possible—often regardless of whether
the piece was wearable or appropriate for
the casual modern life-style that took hold
in the seventies. Pearls, to Lee, were one
kind of texture and color to be used in
symphony with multi-colored semi-precious
beads. His necklaces, which combined yellows
(citrines) with blues (turquoise, or
tourmaline) with opalescent pinks and creams
(pearls), caused a sensation in Los Angeles,
attracting a star-studded clientele to Lee’s
studio.
An example of Lee’s philosophy that design
must be paramount, (including the quality of
the execution of the design), is the first
of over fifty commissions he did for
Elizabeth Taylor. A connoisseur of the first
order, Elizabeth presented Lee with a
challenge, design a necklace and earrings of
citrines, fancy colored diamonds and
platinum, in any way he saw fit. Lee met the
challenge by creating a new, multi-tiered
cross shape for the earrings and as a
pendant for the necklace, then setting the
gems in the platinum as if they were sunk
slightly into its surface, and were floating
there. Most importantly, he gave the
platinum a subtle, uneven matte finish that
made it look hand-pounded. The result was a
necklace and earrings that harkened back to
the days of Roman emperors, yet was
thoroughly original, and inherently modern,
in that the pieces could be worn with a
dress, pants and a silk shirt, to a pool
party or the academy awards. The design
itself was of gasp-inducing beauty and
originality, enhancing the value of the
stones and platinum beyond their mere dollar
value. Elizabeth Taylor was thrilled, and
Lee Brevard became a household word in
Beverly Hills, Biarritz, Aspen, New York and
London.
But Lee was not only interested in designing
breathtaking commissions for his famous
clients, he was also fascinated with the
idea of designing pieces that could thrill
the friends he had that lived more modestly
and casually, and had less to spend on
luxury items. To this day, some of Lee’s
most popular designs, (such as his “old
Money” and “endless hoop” earrings) are sold
at Neiman Marcus for price points from
$80-$200. Both he and Bryan Moss’s designs
are translated into pieces of 18 carat gold,
platinum, or silver, or a combination
thereof.
Lee’s most significant innovation to jewelry
design may just be his emphasis on “jewelry
for living”—jewelry that can be comfortably
worn while swimming, sleeping, showering. He
hit upon the idea of the “endless hoop,” a
thin gold or silver hoop approximately one
half inch in diameter, that he then adorned
with an infinite variety of tiny or slightly
larger “charms”, or “pendants.” The beauty
of Lee’s idea is that the hoops are
delicate, elegantly simple, and tasteful,
yet become exciting and flirtatious when a
charm dangles from them, catching the light,
catching your eye. The charm draws in the
eye of the beholder, yet doesn’t overwhelm
the beauty and delicacy of the ear, the
neck, the jaw line of the wearer. Like all
of Lee’s designs, his endless hoops manage
to enhance the beauty of the wearer, rather
than trumpet its own value or become a
glaring distraction. The charms that Lee
hung from his hoops, like the “Thunderheart”
(made for Nicole Kidman who wore them in the
movie she starred in with Tom Cruise), and
the “Old Money” symbol, (a flattened donut
that looks like a hand-carved wheel from
ancient times, the edges worn smooth and
unevenly), each has a distinctive shape,
simple and strong that translates well into
the small scale. As it is with every Brevard
piece, these charms are “finished” on all
sides, a costly and unusual gesture of
commitment the House of Brevard makes to the
quality of its pieces, and also to maintain
the integrity of the shape and texture they
create. (Most jewelry is finished only on
the sides and top). Lee sold his endless
hoop earrings individually rather than in
pairs, so that his clients could mix and
match them as they wished---a pearl for one
ear, a tiny diamond Signature Cross for the
other. Again, Lee’s decision was based on
his clients’ lifestyle as well as the
beautiful, subtle effect the use of two
different charms could make. Lee found it
attracted a second look from the eye of the
beholder, as well as making a subtle
statement about the wearer. Lee encouraged
his clients to mix and match; he wanted them
to find their own favorites and create their
own statements. Today, the House of Brevard
still sells “endless hoop” earrings
individually.
One of the deceptive, yet more impressive
feature of Lee Brevard’s and Bryan Moss’s
designs for the House of Brevard are their
distinctive shapes that are simple, bold,
memorable, yet never heavy or awkward. The
secret to these pieces, (whether in the tiny
scale of a charm for the endless hoop, or
pendant-size), is that most would look at
the shape, say the donut shape of the “Old
Money” piece, and think it is simple. But
the shape is only one aspect of what a piece
by Brevard has going for it. On “Old Money”,
Lee spent hours perfecting the texture of
that piece into a one-of-kind roughness that
he achieved by working the original wax mold
with his fingers. He then heated the wax so
that his fingerprint pattern, (which is an
integral part of the texture) would then
meld slightly so that the surface of the
piece would become smoothly irregular. Lee
then spent even more time focusing on the
donut hole in the “Old Money” shape—in fact
he created two distinct “A” and “B” shapes
for the left and right earring, which gives
the earrings an even more hand-carved,
distinct aura—hard to detect when one
glances at the earrings, but something that
imbues them with character and uniqueness.
Each one of the pieces that emerges from the
tortuous design process of the House of
Brevard is guaranteed to have that level of
creative thinking invested in it, which is
why the pieces seem “simple,” classic,
exciting and unique all at once. Few
designers have the eye and perseverance to
use texture to the dramatic effect that Lee
and Bryan have in their work.
Bryan Moss became Lee Brevard’s casting
expert and collaborator in 1992, the moment
when the House of Brevard finally became the
vision Lee had for it—a place where the
constraints of fabrication, casting and
setting no longer bound him to what was
known as possible. Lee was frustrated with
the limited expertise he had found in the
casting and fabrication of his ambitious,
unusual designs, and Bryan, trained as a
sculptor, having cast for Van Cleef & Arpel,
(one of the finest yet more traditional
jewelers in the world), was ready for a new
challenge. Immediately, they realized their
aesthetic (organic, simple) and their
priorities, (colors, shape, balance over
cost, or showmanship) were simpatico. Most
importantly, each one of them was driven by
a desire to work on original,
groundbreaking, and therefore laborious
collections.
Bryan’s years of experience in metallurgy,
as a “bench man” fabricating pieces for
another jeweler, and as a master “casting”
expert added a depth of knowledge and
creative problem solving to Lee’s efforts.
Bryan showed Lee new ways to create the
distinct textures that set apart Brevard
pieces, from working with the more ‘plastic’
sculptors wax, (for Lee to create more
complex and delicate pieces), to metal
reticulation which Lee used to great success
in the textured surface of his Marina Cross
collection.
Bryan’s degree in gemology and his
connections from teaching at the Gemological
Institute of America (the finest school of
its kind in the United States) gave
Lee access to even more unusual stones, and
an in-house expert to vet the quality of
every gem considered for inclusion in House
of Brevard pieces.
In 1994, Lee Brevard unexpectedly died,
leaving Bryan Moss and two dedicated
artisans, Frank Galambos, a master stone
setter and Antonio Villanueva, a master
“finisher” at the time when the House of
Brevard had finally hit its stride. Frank
and Antonio stayed on when Bryan Moss became
the head designer. Together, the three of
them continue to push the envelope of
jewelry design, with highly successful
collections like the Nomad Cross collection,
and the Palmyra men’s collection where Bryan
mixed a new gold alloy to achieve a softer,
more subtle peach shade of 18 carat gold
appropriate for men. Like Lee, Bryan is
willing to dedicate an extraordinary amount
of time to the creative process—into making
compellingly simple shapes into subtly
extraordinary, evocative pieces. Each must
achieve the two main rules of Brevard
design: something that can be worn
comfortably, and pieces that are works of
art where color, texture, proportion and
balance are paramount.
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