As the year starts anew, I wanted to take a moment to reflect upon the past 365 days – to digest what inspired and excited me the most and share that with you.

The top of the year always brings my most favorite and, hands-down, most inspirational event: the largest gem show in the world, in Tucson, Arizona. It’s an opportunity for me to see all sorts of stones that I can’t even begin to dream up. I’m always coming across something new and tantalizing, and my mind starts going a million miles a minute. When I come back from this show, I’m on creative fire and love sitting in my studio for days on end, playing with all the treasures I bring back.

I saw lots of art exhibitions last year, everything from one man shows of Van Gogh to Picasso, to group shows of western landscape painters to the 1930’s Transcendentalists of New Mexico. And they were ALL massively inspirational, so it is hard to pick which was my favorite…. But, the Transcendentalist Artists created a body of work that was so dreamy and gorgeous. The way they mixed colors together, the ethereal subjects… It’s almost like staring into the heart of gemstones on canvas. I could’ve spent days just staring at each painting!

Architecture and interior design are my passion second to jewelry, and I always have a finger on that pulse. When in New York last June, I had the opportunity to walk through the re-designed Tiffany flagship store by Peter Marino. It was a designers paradise made for jewelry lovers taken to the max: stunning use of giant slabs of turquoise-hued marble on the café walls and floors, paneling of stone-mimicking textured papers, backs of chairs bedazzled to look like they are studded in gems, lamps accented with rocks. The whole building really honored the art of jewelry and stone, with so many secret details.

A trip rafting down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon plus a visit to Vienna, Austria are tied for the most inspirational locations that I visited in 2023. The visuals of these two historically important places are seared into my head, and I’ve been thinking about them ever since. The first was a tranquil, awe-inspiring journey surrounded by Nature-made giant rock formations that seemed so otherworldly and simply humbling in scale. The latter was similar in gargantuan scale with its looming ornate buildings, and was breathtaking to think it was all built from man-made dreams. So while they are seemingly opposite, to me they were equally stimulating and thought-provoking.

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my gratitude for and constant inspiration stemming from the gorgeous place I live in Southern California. I feel truly lucky to be surrounded by nature and wake up in a place every day that brings me a sense of peace and constant wonder. I am absolutely positive that moving to Rancho Palos Verdes over three years ago opened my eyes to a new world that directly channeled into the jewels of my Landscape Collection. And I simply can’t wait to see what the future holds!