Work in Progress

Lenore at the front door, me photographing her in the reflection

 Every morning I get to Lisa August Headquarters, turn the key, and I'm filled with a sense of pride that I'm opening a door that leads to something that's mine (ours, Lenore).  Each day is a little different, some days are very hectic, and you feel like you didn't get anything done, other days are quiet, and you feel good about what you got done.  I'm learning to try to take what's thrown at me.  The best thing that I do for myself is make a list at the end of each day so I know what I need to do when I get in in the morning.

The first floor, where the guys work, where a lot of the magic happens

 This is our downstairs, and we are very happy with the way it turned out, this picture does not do it justice.  We were really worried about the fit, but the tumblers, plastic, power presses, saws, beveling machines, sanders, polishers, you get the point, all found a home.  You wouldn't think the finished Lisa August product needed all this heavy machinery, but it does!

The stairs to get to the second floor

Now, we do have an elevator, that really is hardly ever used.  We all take the stairs.  I think it's great exercise,  I try to climb them as much as possible.  

Lenore at the top of the stairs

 The second floor is where the ladies work.  We have our offices and design areas, our assembly area, our stock, storage and our kitchen.

In the Kitchen

 Our kitchen is cute.  The table and chairs are from my grandparents.  As I type the table is being sanded, and then stained.  We replaced the seat cushions this morning.  The seat cushions prior to this were the ones I sat on as a child at dinner time at my grandparent's house-needless to say it was time for new ones!

Augie's Area

We brought Augie's old work table with us and a lot of his things that he didn't bring home.  I made this little area of his vintage tools and other miscellaneous odds and ends.  I'm a fan of this little nook, because of course we would never be here if it wasn't for him or his modest beginnings.

How it's Made: Our Filigree Cuff

So, my Uncle Mike helped me make the "master" and the "holder" for our very popular large filigree cuff last week, something I desperately need to understand how to make.  The master and the holder are what we use to engrave out the pattern on our filigree cuff (and really, any of our cutout pieces).  It's very important to get these pieces to come out precise, in order for the bracelet to look good.  The following pictures should help you to see all the work that goes into our filigree cuff, because if you don't know, it's actually quite interesting.

 First you have your box of bracelets that have been tumbled for a week, ready to be engraved.

 While you follow the pattern on the "master"...

You're also cutting the bracelet out in the "holder"...

 There's your finished cutout pattern.

And there's your finished bracelet after we take it downstairs, it gets heat up and hand bent into the cuff shape.

So there's your little look into how our filigree cuff gets made, by hand, all right here in Woodside!

What's Happening

Things have slowed down a bit, and I think we're getting into our groove finally.  I took a few pictures around the place, just to give a little glimpse into some of the things we do here in a day.  Way more to follow, because, there is a whole lot going on here for sure!

 These are the colors I'm feeling for Spring/Summer 2014.  I've been working on a chunky bright group, with the brights on the top of the photograph, and next I will be working on a ladylike pastel group and a neutral group this week.

 One of my favorite moments so far happened two Fridays ago when Lenore, Claudia and I stayed a little late to get some things done.  I had bought a bottle of white wine, and was bummed when I realized we didn't have a wine opener-big peeve of mine!  It's about a 7 minute walk to the stores in Woodside, and I couldn't really waste 15-20 minutes for a bottle opener.  This was back when things were still somewhat in disarray, and Claudia asked-don't we have a tortoise one that you guys made back in the day?  I walked right over to my roll top desk, opened the top drawer and there was our tortoise corkscrew.  Awesome.  It was a small victory, but at that time, victories were few and far between.  Team work: that's what Lisa August is all about. 

 These are the vintage parts I plan on making my one of a kind pieces with, they're out of the bag, and I'm going to begin playing very soon!

 These are our bestselling 2" cuffs in jade and gator drying after being dipped into acetone.  The acetone gives it it's shine, although they usually still get polished after this step.  One side gets dipped, dries, and then the other side gets dipped also.

This is what our chain looks like after getting dipped.  The chain is dipped after it has been assembled.  Dipping the chain seals the links, and then the chain gets tumbled for smoothness and shine.
So there's a little glimpse into what we do here, consider this a mini golden ticket...

Don't Forget Paris 2014!

I was a fan of the Paris shows.  There were lots of accessories and color palettes that I loved, and there was a lot of play with textures that I really liked and also noticed with the NY shows.  These are some of the looks that stood out to me:

I liked the color combinations that Andrew Gn used: bold and subtle at the same time, and I'm a fan of his Picasso inspired clothing.  I don't always like bold graphicy clothing and accessories, but his color palette softens the whole thing up enough that it works for me.

 Chanel is always good for accessory inspiration.  There's always some acetate involved, and there's always a nice color palette and oddly juxtaposed textures.  I've been watching a lot of Will & Grace lately, and is it wrong that Karl Lagerfeld kind of reminds me of Karen's maid Rosario??

 I'm a fan of the colors/prints/textures used by Dries Van Noten.  Also, I'm noticing lots of gold jewelry and hardware.

 Elie Saab had really beautiful and feminine dresses, I really loved them all and they came in gorgeous colors.

 The Isabel Marant show was nice, she uses the material beautifully, and those shoes are awesome!

 Alexander McQueen show was over the top, but fun to watch.  Sometimes over the top really bothers me.  There was lots of gold on the runway again.

I LOVED the Valentino show.  I think I loved almost every piece.  I love the hair and jewelry too.  Everything was so luxurious and grand, and meticulously put together, and had that whole Cersei Lannister vibe. 

And there you have it!  Need to go design now!!