here we go

Hi,
The day is finally here that I am starting this blog. I’ve been keeping a diary since I was a kid, and this seemed like the logical next step. If you like fashion magazines, if you are getting married and thumbing through wedding magazines or attending bridal shows, you might have seen some of my jewelry designs. If you look verrrrry carefully on the ears of Howie Mandel’s models on "Deal or No Deal" you’ll see my earrings almost every night. If you are shopping in a big city in the US or Japan, you might see my jewelry in a store or boutique somewhere.

Designing jewelry is my thing. I’ve been fortunate, as my parents thought it was perfectly normal for a kid to give Barbie a new look with a haircut and a new dress that I begged my mother to sew for her. They were amused when I asked for clothes and a rapidograph pen for my birthday. When I gave the dog a makeover (at age 8) my father thought he better bring home some art supplies and started teaching me the fine points of art and design. He was a talented painter and sculptor and he kept us all fed and happy by owning a Madison Avenue advertising agency, back when they were actually on Madison Avenue. He loved going to work every day, and told me to find a job that would do the same thing for me. I just read an article about Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway among other things, and like myself, Kamen’s father was:

"his personal hero, though he was an illustrator who had no technical inclinations at all. But Kamen's father was a hard-working man, who instilled in his son a granite-hard work ethic. Kamen recalls him saying, "You'd better pick something you like to do . . .if you pick a job that you are not passionate about, you are wasting your life."

Dad’s guidance paid off, and I ended up graduating from Parsons School of Design in New York City. He never raised an eyebrow when he saw my math and science grades, and I really thank him for that. Being a Parsons graduate in New York allowed me to find some great jobs (and some not-so-great ones, too). But here I am, working hard and loving it, part of a fantastic team at Roberta Chiarella, Inc. where we are happy and proud to bring our creations to market.

I’ll talk about what it’s like to live and work in New York, and how I get my inspirations for the jewelry you can see on my website. We’ll look at fashion and what’s going on in the industry and on the street. I’ll give you a special report on St. Petersburg, Florida in a few days. I’m going to bring a few select pieces to HSN, and have two shows this coming week. Tune in on Tuesday, July 29th at 11:00 PM PDT (2:00 AM in the east) and again on Wednesday, July 30th at 4:00 PM Pacific time, 7:00 in the east. Check back here again, as I will be putting up lots of interesting stuff as fast as I can type, cut and paste. -roberta