Giving Thanks

I've been thinking a lot this Thanksgiving season for all that I'm thankful for, and it's a lot.  This has easily been one of the most challenging years of my life, and fortunately it has left me feeling grateful.  

I'm so grateful for my family and friends, who have been supportive, understanding and excited while we transitioned from Bellissima to Lisa August.  I'm especially grateful to my Grandfather, without him this never could have happened.  

I'm grateful to sketchy NYC real estate deals that fell through, because we never would have ended up in our building, and I can't see us in any other building at this point.  

I'm grateful for our co-workers for coming with us and adapting to our situation with such ease, even when things were so up in the air we didn't know if they would come back down. 

I'm grateful to have a jewelry line that people want (even in this economy), and customers who not only stood by us patiently for the past year while everything got sorted out, they cheered when we returned.  

I'm grateful to my manfriend who I began dating at the height of all the craziness, who calmly listened to and even seemed sincerely interested in my drama, and advised us with our building when we needed the advise.

I'm so grateful to my father who is the hardest worker I know, and probably the most generous person I know.  He has his own business, yet comes here on his day off and builds us shelves, tables and does whatever else we need for things to run smoothly.

Most of all, I'm grateful-ssimo to Lenore, my Mother, who I'll never be able to repay or emulate.  She's one of those people who should have been put on Oprah and showered with gifts and pampered for all that she does.  She has always been the perfect Mother and a best friend, but she has also always been a very hard worker and business owner.  Now I get to be partners with this business owning machine, who has some how gotten better with age.  Sometimes I feel like I'm the older one and she has more energy than me! Thanks, partner...

Oh, and I'm grateful I get to be Lisa August!

Open for Business!

Finally finally finally, we have our retail and wholesale stores up and running at Lisaaugust.com...

I was beginning to think it was never going to happen, but it has happened, and I know how to add products, woohoo!  So I have styles to sell as retail, to our beloved fans, and styles to sell as wholesale to our loyal boutique owners.  I also plan on adding eye glass chains and one of a kind pieces to the retail site, with an option for our wholesalers to buy both types of items. 

If you are interested in becoming a wholesaler, you need to set up an account, like anyone else, and then email us, and we will give you wholesale accessibility.  Email us at : sales@lisaaugust.com...

Some of my favorite featured items:

 I love our beveled bangles, I love keep it simple with just one or stack them up with the other bangles in my arsenal. 

 These are our biggest filigree earrings, a fun statement, especially in our emerald green color!

 I love our 'pagoda' earring.  It's long and kind of streamlined, it has a great swing, and they're still lightweight!  These look great both in neutral and bright colors.

 Our buckle cuff, a signature look, is perfect in Green Horn, a tres chic classic color!

 I love our filigree cuff, I love our lapis, no bracelet will ever go better with jeans than this one!  Sorry, but this is only available to our wholesale customers at the moment.

 Our cabochon stud earrings are really starting to take off.  Maybe they aren't as statement making as our other earrings, but sometimes you need a good stud earring, also available to our wholesale customers for the time being.

 Our multi-link chain our longest statement making chain, and I particularly love it mixed with tortoise, black and our safari finish.  Available to our wholesale customers only.

Finally there's our triangle bib chain, probably my favorite design from this season.  It's 'edgy' looking, but still very comfortable, I was so happy it laid right when I tried it on after I made it!  Available to our wholesale customers only!

Happy Shopping!

No Junk in These Trunks

I'm happy to announce that Lisa August has been asked to be in a few trunk shows all just in time for some holiday shopping!  

The first one is happening in November right around Thanksgiving at The Lake Forest Shop, so if you live in the Chicago area, you should check it out.  The shop itself looks beautiful and has a very rich history, the doors opened in 1922!

http://thelakeforestshop.com/

Next up is a Champagne and Shopping event at The Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens in Jacksonville, Florida.  It's for two days, Thursday and Friday, December 5th and 6th.  Wish I could fly down for this one, it looks like a fun event!

http://www.cummer.org/store

Last but certainly not least, because I'm particularly excited about this one: also happening on December 5th, right in my neighborhood in Astoria at Lockwood.  Lockwood is a gorgeous lifestyle shop that recently opened, and it is just an amazing place.  You want everything in the store, and I'm very proud to have Lisa August jewelry featured there, right in my favorite part of NYC!  So, come and see me Thursday December 5th at Lockwood, I definitely won't be missing this one!

Check out the facebook even here: https://www.facebook.com/events/254320331386535/

I will also be coming up with some one of kind designs for the Lockwood sale, and I'm sure I'll be posting about it in the future.

Something New

So I've been procrastinating just a tad about using the computer/engraving machine that we make our new samples (amongst other things) out of.  This engraving machine and the computer were my Uncle Mike's babies.  He's the one who used it, mastering it and all it's idiosyncrasies.  When we became Lisa August, I inherited the important job of using this machine and using it correctly.  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous and apprehensive about using it.  I try to stay away from things that rely on precision and cost a lot to fix. 

"Lucky" for me there have been boxes in the way, kind of keeping me from using the engraver.   Last week when my new shelves came in, and I cleared the boxes, and the new table top for the engraver was put it, it was time to get serious.  I've come up with two new filigree designs for next season, and I just had to scan them in, clean them up and make the samples.

The first one is complete, and I'm very happy with it,  I think it may be a winner!

The beginning stages of the designs.  The outer borders are existing dies we have in house.

The pencil drawing I was happy with on the left, the line drawing I created in adobe based on it.

My new area, very happy with it!

The finished product, again, very happy with it!

So now I just have to make up this sample in the colors I'm showing for spring, and wait for the semi-precious beads I ordered to see which one I want to use for the finished product.
Oh, and I need to go ahead and make the other style too, guess I should stop blogging and start sample making!
PS- I hope you've enjoyed this sneak peak, which won't be 'unveiled' until January!