Lisa August

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Our First Anniversary Year in Review!

Today, September 16th marks our one year anniversary as the fully functioning Lisa August! It's been a year of highs, lows and learning. It has never been boring, it is usually a little scary, it's been fun many times and sad at times. Without further adieu, the following is a little stroll down memory lane through images.

This picture was taken on September 5th, the day I came here and never left. It was a beautiful NY September day, and I spent that time helping the movers and letting in our coned, the alarm company, our electrician and a whole bevy of contractors. Lenore joined me at the end, and I'll always love this picture, a calm moment between me and my new partner, everything ahead of us.

The days were long and exhausting but it was fun and exciting to get to move into this clean slate. Everything felt so new, but all of our belongings were so familiar at the same time.

The downstairs caused the most worry, and we were nervous about all of our large equipment fitting. This is when a little less than half was inside, and none of our material had been brought over. Everything fit perfectly and the guys keep it so neat down there, it was a relief.

The electricity caused the most stress. I've forgotten almost everything I had learned, but I had to talk to so many electricians and experts (my boyfriend's Dad who helped me out so much the first time we met) on how we were going to provide and disperse all the power throughout the building, I really started to get it! Power and electric took up a good ten days of my stress though. It all worked out in the end which is all that matters.

Things finally settled down early October. I remember staying one Friday night with Lenore and Claudia and we had wine and thai food and worked at our leisure and it was really nice. I remember feeling excited and like a proud owner.

That early fall we got to see so many beautiful sunsets, I'm looking forward to getting to see that again, the only good that comes from earlier nights. We have officially gone through every season at Lisa August, I love to see how the light changes in a year. (and of course those extreme NY temperatures)

Speaking of which, what a winter! I felt like that winter defined us and took over our lives! I feel it will be a repeat, but really, it can't be worse than last year! I do love Christmas decorations and preparing our spring line though. Come January is when I'm over it!

Ah, the gas leaks on 57th street. Lisa August is located on 57th Street in Woodside, and this is some street let me tell you. There is always some sort of action on it and we have had our fair share of gas leaks. Like two right in front of our building and at least two surrounding our building. We had a really nice new sidewalk when we moved in, and then it was dug up TWICE. This was the first and smallest hole. The rest were more like trenches. Gas trenches. It was quite interesting and quite cold. Never a dull moment.

No dull moments here! We like to celebrate our birthdays here, and we do it right. In fact we'll be having a little party here today to celebrate the anniversary, so please no phone calls after 4 today!

Spring was a nice time for us. We were busy, the weather was nice and I designed our fall line.

The summer was quiet and a very hard time for us at Lisa August. Augie, our namesake and inspiration passed away. Most of you know that we were a family business for many many years. My Mother and my two Uncles owned the company that my Grandfather founded and loved so much. All of our employees here loved Augie and worked for him before they worked for anyone else, so it was a hard time for all of us and still is. The name of our company means more to me than ever and I hope to make him proud more than ever.

Then August came and it was showtime. It was a rough show season, but it's over now and fall is in full swing! I'm interested to see what this year brings at Lisa August. I think we did pretty well for our first year, so bring it on terrible two's we're ready for you!

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Our Best Picks For Fall

Trade show season has come and gone, and it's time to recap what is selling best for us. In case you did not make it to the shows, or you just need a little ordering guidance, this post may help you in your time of Lisa August need!
Of course some of our old standbys sold really well, like our tortoise hoops, cuffs and chain, but I would like to introduce you to a few new styles and colors that did really well too.

Our bestselling large filigree cuff is back, of course and it looks great in our Fall 14 jewel tones. I'm especially loving it in our rich navy, a great winter wrist staple.

Wine has sold nicely for us, and it's particularly nice in our bib chain, which also sells really well in tokyo, safari and navy. This is a great staple.

Speaking of jewel-tones, I incorporated the navy and tortoise with wine, spice and forest I can't think of a better piece for fall, it can go with so many colors and silhouettes, and as always the necklace can be doubled. A truly versatile piece!

I went for the 'winter white' this season, as it was supposed to be popular and yes our pearl was popular at the shows. The first few customers I saw asked if it was for Spring, and I said no, it's winter white. Some people liked it and some didn't. I thought, Oh no, what have I done! But then a lot of people got behind it and loved it. So, you can either love it or want it for later, I happen to love it, but you can decide for yourself!

Our new Geometric cuff was a hit! Every year or so I like to come up with a new openwork tapered cuff the taper makes them so comfortable and the large design is always bold and fun. I've been wearing one in pearl and spice already and love them both!

This is our clover cuff pictured in forest, it's a great new deep green color of ours, and the clover cuff has continued to be a great seller for us.

These are one of our top selling earrings, they are big, lightweight and fun, especially when you want the hoop look without wearing the hoop. We now have them in spice, and they look great!

This is a new multi-colored chain. This combination is in Tokyo, Safari and Black. These colors mix so nicely together. They are rich and subdued and will go so well with so many winter staples.

This is our new bib necklace! I love this piece, tortoise and crystal go so well together. It's casual elegance at it's best, which really is a great way to describe any tortoise jewelry.

This is our cutout chain link neck. I love the cutout links, it's unique and just adds a little whimsy. I'm also loving the color combination of pearl, black, navy and tokyo. This chain and the other two multi-colored chains in this post are all available in the three color combinations I've posted. Good luck trying to make picks, they are all fun fall and winter combinations.

Last but not least is our 'dainty' earring. We love this little earring, and apparently a lot of our customers did, it was one of our best-sellers. Small styles are never our best sellers! There is just something perfectly cute about it, I can't decide what color i want to make it in for myself. I'll probably go with the tortoise or the pearl though.

I have a lot of our wholesale items up on the website, and soon I will have all of it up. If you would like to view it on the site, please create and account and we will set you up as a wholesale client. If you would like to receive a hardcopy or be emailed a current catalog, or you just would like to place an order, please email us at: sales@lisaaugst.com

Happy Almost Fall!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

We are Vegan Tortoise and We've been here for years!

I'm back in the office after 4 long days at the NYNOW gift show in New York. I'm tired and a little cranky. Cranky because there seems to be a trend out there that has inadvertently hurt business for us. Horn jewelry. I think it's pretty safe to say faux-tortoise jewelry and accessories have been around for a while, considering my family alone has been producing it for over 50 years. We aren't trying to be horn, and we don't want to be horn.

For years, while I was growing up and helping my family at trade shows, we would hear buyers saying, 'Oh, it's plastic' and they would walk away in disgust. The stigma that we used plastic was tough to overcome but we did, faux-tortoise has been popular for years, and I know all of our customers love and appreciate our jewelry. This material, cellulose acetate may be plastic, but our factories in Italy take great care in creating these rich painterly effect colors, and our acetate is light weight and durable and so comfortable to wear. Again, this is appreciated by all of our fans and has been for years.

In the past 6 months, all of a sudden the charms of lightweight faux tortoise has been lost. People want to wear clunky animal bone. I have had numerous conversations in the past 4 days where a buyer will ask if it's horn, I say no it's acetate and they b-line it out of there. This is all fine and dandy, this part doesn't bother me, our jewelry isn't for everyone. The part I have a hard time with is that people seem to think we are selling jewelry that is trying to be or copy horn. We sell faux-tortoise jewelry, and I think it's been around long enough where that doesn't need explaining.

I'm also a little surprised that there are so many people out there comfortable with wearing real horn, and I sincerely hope the horn being sold here is truly cruelty free. Since we are proud that we are selling (gulp) PLASTIC, and not real animal horn I've decided I will start referring to our material as vegan tortoise when at shows, as acetate is a plant-based material, totally cruelty free and not harmful to the environment.

Having to stand there at the shows with a smile on my face while people look down on your product is not a good feeling, and I have to just remember that most of those people are uninformed, and that there are plenty of buyers out there who appreciate a quality product that is handmade by a small business in the United States and to boot, does not involve animal bi-products. I'm very proud of what we do here, and I promise no more rant posts!

Thursday, July 17, 2014

He Put the August in Lisa August

My grandfather, friend, inspiration and namesake to Lisa August, Augie Moschitto passed away this morning, after 90 truly amazing and accomplished years. He has been a key player in my life for 34 years, and as the memories jostle around in my head, I'm filled with happiness that I had him, and sadness that I can't ever try to make him laugh again.
If you knew Augie, you know the man that he was, and if you didn't know Augie, I'm sorry you never got to meet him. He was charming, handsome, nurturing, intimidating, full of love, devotion, off color jokes and one liners. Most of all he had a determination like no other, up until the end.
I wrote this piece about Augie 4 years ago and I would like to share it, because he loved it when I wrote it:
As a young girl, I loved to visit my Grandfather’s factory on my days off from school. There I got to separate pieces of plastic in all shapes and sizes and colors. (note: this was in the 80s, and we were the makers of those huge layered barrettes that were the height of fashion) I would put each shape, size and color in a different box, and to me, this was magical. Later on, in high school and college, the factory served as a summer job. Upon graduating college with a degree in photography and no money and no idea what to do next , I became my Mother’s assistant. With my innate need to be creative I soon began designing for their newly launched jewelry line, Bellissima. I will never forget the feeling of the first time the line was a success at a show. Something I created was desired by the public! Creating something tangible for others to appreciate is a great feeling, and I know that this creativity and passion is something that I get from Augie, my grandfather.

Augie is the son of Italian parents who immigrated to Brooklyn in the 1920s. When he turned 18, my young and skinny Grandfather shipped off to sweltering Arkasas, where he trained for the army and eventually got on a boat and sailed to Africa. This was a young man like so many in WW2 who had never left his backyard, and now found himself in Africa. They entered Europe through Italy, not exactly the desired first glimpse of the motherland. His troop was captured by the Germans at the famous battlefield Anzio, south of Rome. Because my Grandfather spoke Italian, he proved to be useful as a translator. He says this was the moment he knew he wouldn’t be killed. Once they left Italy, his Italian was no longer an asset, and my grandfather and the other soldiers were placed in work farms throughout southern Germany. He remained a POW for nearly two years until the war was over. He likes to say he owes his life to his good looks, as the farmer’s daughters were in love with him.

I often think about what these two years must have been like for a 19 year old in a strange land, with captors who spoke a strange language. To never know what the day would bring, if he would eat, or if he would ever see his family again. I have such a deep respect for what he endured, and I also find myself thinking, we wouldn’t be here, this business he created from nothing wouldn’t be here.

Back in the Post-war US, Augie began to work as an apprentice at well-known design houses in New York. He trained as a stone setter in the optical industry, and with that same material, he started his own company. Augie became one of the leading producers of hair accessories in the United States, and enjoyed much success. All of his success was achieved through hard work and a passion for what he was doing. Perhaps something he learned on those German work farms. He lived and breathed what he did, and it paid off.
In the 80s, when I was a child, Augie bought a beautiful apartment on a little island off the Gulf of Mexico in Florida. With it’s private white sandy beaches, and crystal clear water, this became my family’s destination when they could get the time off. We all consider it paradise. Weeeellllll, not all of us. Augie is not a fan. If you ask him how he is when he is down there, he responds: “I’m BORED to death.” How’s the weather? In his grouchiest of voices: “Beautiful” and then he just wants to know what’s going on at the factory. I guess you could say it’s true love. He is now 86, and still, after one of the most grueling New York winters I have ever witnessed, he wants to be in Jamaica, Queens at the factory instead of in sunny Florida. I told my family the other day, you know, he speaks more fondly of his time as a POW than his time as a snowbird in Florida. What does this mean? I’m not really sure, but he’s a pretty tough guy who makes really pretty bracelets.

Life certainly has changed since I wrote that old blog post, and when Lenore and I started Lisa August, we just knew Augie's name had to be involved. So this company is for him, we are both so happy and proud to keep his legacy alive.

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Summer in the City

Well, we are really starting to get inundated with that unavoidable deep south heat and humidity we seem to always get in NYC, hundreds of miles north from the actual south. As we get ready for our three day weekend celebrating our independence, I am happy to be finished up with my fall 2014 catalog. Just as odd as it was to be excited about the spring line when it was a bitter 18 degrees out, it's strange to be thinking of fall all day when I'm ready to start crying like a small child because I can't be in a pool.
Never the less I do love this fall line, I think it looks fresh and different, but there are still all of our signature pieces our fans love. We are still also well-stocked with our spring/summer line, so whatever season you are feeling right now, we have you covered:

Feeling ready for fall already?? See the line first at Cornucopia Showroom in Atlanta.

The Atlanta Gift Show is already upon us! The dates are July 8th through 15th, showroom 8S332 AmericasMart building 3.

As always we will be exhibiting at the Javits Center in NYC this August at both the ENK Accessories Circuit August 3-5th and the NYNOW show August 16-20th.

Still shopping for summer? We are well stocked and still shipping immediates. so if you would like to order or replenish contact Claudia, who will definitely be able to help you!
Tel: 718-426-6800 fax: 718-426-6810 email: sales@lisaaugust.com

Friday, June 6, 2014

Friday Fun Day

Lately at Lisa August we have been very busy, and my designing has been put on the back burner a little more than I want it to be, so I took this gorgeous not too hot not too cold 'summer Friday' to just design for the fall line. Let's call it Lisa August ME Time...I'm really liking some of the styles I've come up with, and I think they are very Fall, very fun and very easy to wear!