Where to start. A building? A jeweler? A piece of jewelry? Eenie
meenie tippa teenie… A building it is.
Once upon a time in a far away land called Manhattan there was an
architect who went by the name of Willam Van Alen and he was
requisitioned by a chap by the name of William Chrysler to build him
a building which he would one day bestow upon his children. And so
William the First built an Art Deco building for William the Second
which ranks today–I believe–as the fourth tallest building in New
York City after One World Trade Center and the New York Times
Building and the Empire State building but which–however–ranks as
the number one tallest ‘brick’ building on the planet. It also ranks
as perhaps one of the most famous Art Deco building in the world.
Automobiles were one of the influences of the building of the
building. The gargoyles resemble the Plymouth’s hood ornaments. The
corner decorations of the 31st floor resemble the hubcaps of the 1929
Chrysler. I suspect–though not quite sure about this–that if you
stick an ignition key into the front door of the lobby and push the
pedal to the metal and gun the engine for all it’s worth you and the
building will go careening about the streets of the city. wind in
your hair. blaring horns and screeching tires protesting in your
ears. with a city-be-damned attitude set to your jaw and reckless
abandon glittering in your eyes.
Which brings us via a most magnificent segue to a lady by the name of
Hanna Bernhard–a Parisian jewelry designer. Her “Massive Jewelry”.
Nothing petite about her product. The piece you are about to see
stands nine inches high. Nothing cheap about it either. We’re talking
in the vicinity of $1500 smackeroos which is huge bucks when taking
into consideration that it’s costume jewelry. We’re talking Swarovski
crystal… paste. glass elements and base metal. And lastly. nothing
mundane about her style either. She was followed by the same elite
goup of jewelry collectors who followed Schiaparelli and Scemama and
such.
And then a skip and a jump. a leap over the insignificant… and we
arrive to the pi=ece-de-resistance: The bejeweled pin of The New York
Chrysler Tower–made by Hanna herself–of which I spoke in the
previous paragraph. Take a ruler… measure out nine inches. and then
try to imagine wearing this doodad upon your bodice. It’s taller than
your sixteen point nine ounce bottle of Poland Spring Water. The
halter used to hold the dress up over the body holding the pin would
have to be made of spring steel to withstand the downward pull of
gravity. Or so I would imagine. The weight of the piece is not
mentioned. The woman who wears this would–of course–have to be in
top notch athletic shape. Toned muscles. Mighty pectorals. All that
stuff.
So. Have I titillated your curiosity? Have I stirred the embers which
will ultimately slake your thirst for knowledge. In essence. do you
want to see? Yes? no?
You know where. You know what. The visit to the image… also known
as the viewing experience. You know how to get there. Home page.
http://www.tyler-adam.com. Scroll down. Left side. Tidbits. Click.
And there for your sensory optic pleasure you will see a bejeweled
version of The Chrysler Building. nine inches high. quite interesting
to say the least. and a work of mechanical wonder when pondering what
it took to keep in firmly anchored in place upon one’s torso.
And there ya have it. That’s it for this week folks. Catch you all
next week.
Benjamin Mark