Galleria J. Antonio

A big hello from New York's Lower east side. Fall 2009 is filled with fresh ideas and combinations to outlive what the banks and real estate industry have landed on us. OUCH!!!!!! I sit here with a gallery full of crofters that are running to other states, adjusting their balance sheets, cutting corners and are creating ----new corners. Artist need to work and regurgitate their ideas . Money has nothing to do with what we do or who we are. I am so proud of the people I represent. I am going to share some of the advice I gave to all of them this fall . #1 Look at what you do right ,then, keep doing that. #2 Don't worry about someone or corporation taking your idea. Photo and mail documentation is the poor mans copyright. You will come up with more ideas. #3 Business is driven by cash , not love , so price one thing for cash and the other for love. #4 Art, has nothing to do with cash -so- do it for the sake of the work - not for the cash. #5 Take pride in your product-re

Words by Jesse Gee Photographs by Ken Francis I'm always asked my crafts men and women why I think some of their work sits in the store for a long time and others fly out before you can say "handmade." First of all I always tell them that each piece has it's owner and is just waiting for them to come by and take them home. Also, materials and composition plays a big part. I enjoy gold-filled rather than vermeil parts and clasps. So does, our in-house designer Jesus Guevera . He found that his pieces take on a richer look and can be combined with 14k and 18k jewelry . Also the length of a necklace can make it more attractive. I find that all my petite and short customers love 16" to 17" lengths. They always say " It's so nice to find a piece of jewelry that fits me properly as soon as I put it on. As, do my tall women who need the opera length of 30", to feel comfortable. I found this new stone called Lodolite for this beautiful multi strand

Words by Jesse Gee Photographs by Ken Francis Time is the most valuable thing you own. I say this to people and they all agree and shake their heads Yes it is -everyone agrees 100%       ,     but         ,        what do you do with that time????? Then I get a blank look. The TIME IS GOLD clock series speaks to that very issue. There is no refund on time . It's what you cannot recover as the day goes  , the hour, or the minute or the seconds. Its to be treated with care and respect and you must remember that TIME- cannot be given to people or projects that do not appreciate it. The clocks are functional art ------$350.00.   15" X 21" a real clock (AA) sits in a hand built wooden case and is plush with colors (acrylic) that vibrate with the blurr of seconds and of minutes that represents the fleeting thing we call " our life." Guevara's strokes make you feel the speed in which life can be one way one day and one way the next. I had a lady stand in fron

Words by Jesse Gee, curator Photographs by Ken Francis I first met Stewart Unger in 1974 or 75. When we work at things for a long time Life becomes a blurrrrrr. I was the manager of Gindi 816 Madison Ave @ 68th street. I was the President of the Madison Ave Block Association Merchants and a Maditude (Maidison Ave -retail attitude) person. Ha-ha Stewart was at a metting wearing a vintage watch that I admired and the next day he showed up with a box of rebuilt American vintage watches (Hamilton-Bulova_Waltham-Ect). Bob Gindi had three stores and all three featured the top accessories designers of the 1970's. Bob was a brillant merchadiser but never paid his bills so that combo made for an interesting week. Stewart and I made an arraingment so that he could get paid as the watches sold and the rest is history. He was a great vendor and his smooth low key manner got us through a very stressful Gindi experience. I used to call it Bobbyitis. Years later in the 1980s I ran in

Words by Jesse Gee, Curator Photographs by Ken Francis Its a beautiful day in New York and the sun is playing on all the shinny things in the Gallery.  It makes me feel good that this is what I have chosen as a livelihood.  Galleria J.Antonio is a financial conduit between American craft makers  and the general public.  To see someone's idea, hard work, and training, turned into a product ---- fall into a box and then shopping bag, to be gifted or worn ----- still makes me feel good all over after being in the industry for forty plus years.  I want to use this blog to introduce the Internet audience to the people that make Galleria J Antonio such a great place to be.  Yesterday I got a box from CASA DE LA  SERNA  Seattle , Wa .    The fun part of this job is that its like Xmas every time you undo another box and dig inside its contents, it's yet another Xmas experience. Casa de  la  Serna is a new source that we tried out last year.  Seattle has only two types