Getting it together after 30 years!

This has been a momentous year for Abra Couture! 2022 marks our 30th year is business! Way back when, in 1992, I was a newly minted college grad living in NYC.

I was a true hustler, dragging my jewelry around to boutiques, Saturday night streetcorners (drunks love to buy jewelry!), and ye olde flea markets. It was a lot of fun, but it was tough too. It made me very tough, tolerant, and gave me a wicked sense of humor.

Chutzpah: (gutteral Hootz-pah)a Yiddish word used in East Coast colloquial English. It basically means you have major Cajones or um, you are very gutsy almost to the point of foolishness. Well, I had Chutzpah in spades. I saw ideas and designs, went into any store I could, saw how things were created. My goal was to take various influences and create something totally new, and very New York.

I did, and 30 years later, I still love when people surprise me with their style, perhaps pushing personal style boundaries, because as we know, when you wear something special, you feel special.

The plain janes become la dee dah ladies. The style mavens in Advanced Style blogs feature my work to inspire others to follow. My pieces migrate to the necks of those famous and... infamous. Occasionally, my lovely doyennes will post a pic of a TV personality, a newscaster, or some hotzie totzie it girl sporting the classic Abra Couture necklace.

I love it!!

Right now, I am working away on redoing our website, making it easier to navigate and seamless from start to finish. I am mastering social media, a bit at a time, to broadcast my events and the previews.

After 30 years, just maybe I'll get it together this year! Or...maybe sometime in the next year?

Abra Couture's 30th anniversary wholesale show!

Come join me at our 30th anniversary show, American Handcrafted, held at the Philadelphia Convention Center 2/19-21, Booth 1807! We have the new ACJ line, featuring low-mid priced polymers and resins and gemstones. We will also feature some bestsellers and some amazing deals! Free shipping with $300+, free gift with every order, and no minimums to worry about! Plus treats from our Amish friends at Reading Terminal Market..yum!

30 Years of Abra Couture Jewelry!

It has been quite a journey. Here are some interesting tidbits you might not know.

- I was trained at Rhode Island School of Design and took classes at FIT and Parsons.

- I made jewelry in high school and in college for expenses

- I sold jewelry on Saturday nights in Soho and on Bleecker St. with a wheelie cart and and a cardboard box covered in a velvet curtain. Keeping it klassy!

- my first actual "show" was PS 41 Greenwich Village flea market held Saturdays in the school yard. The table was $35!

- my first real craft show was Crafts On Columbus, at 80th Street in NYC.

- my first store to carry my work was Wearable Energy, on Houston and Broadway in Soho. Frances Colon was the buyer and designer of high end clothing, and sold out of my inventory in a day.

- I made jewelry for various club personae in downtown NYC.

- I have worked with interior decorators, purse designers, clothing designers, and department stores.

-I have sold work to galleries and boutiques in many countries

- I have helped launch several designers through mentorships.

- I have won an award for Best Booth Design (ACC, Baltimore, 2019)

- I work with cotton balls and paper and resin because the end result is nearly weightless jewelry. This is because I love big jewelry, but can't stand the weight.

- My famous handmade butterfly chain was made at the suggestion of one of my customers in order to make pieces fully adjustable.

- My inspiration for my collars came from Christmas wreaths.

- I have put several kids through college and trade school.

Some memorable moments:

- a man dumped his entire collection of pipes on my table at a craft show and insisted I sell them. Yeah, ok...

- a lady dumped her huge purse on the floor of my booth for no apparent reason. She kept saying she was famous. Hmm...

- I had a lady change her baby on my show chair without asking. Eww.

- I had a man sit down next to me, wearing 3 toothless chiwahwahs held in baby carriers around his chest. He talked a bit to me, then fainted (and died). I had to call an ambulance to pick him up. And yes, I still had to serve customers!

- I was doing a long slow trade show in Boston. The last minute of the show, I was spotted by a buyer at a major chain store. They wrote almost 60k in business in one order for all of their stores. See? You never know!

- I has to call 2 of my cousins to help me take orders in NY because I couldn't write orders any faster.

- My best retail show total was 5 figures in 3 days. Westport, CT. I also had my worst case of shoplifting there.

- I fell in love with my husband on our date at Bookbinders Oyster House in Philadelphia. My fellow exhibitors at the trade show I was doing, mentioned how "glowing" I was.

- all the gals on my row in Handmade in NYIGF were pregnant at the same time! I was 4 months along with twins. And had terrible morning sickness while working!

I feel very fortunate to have great support in my life, and I have paid it forward many times over. So a huge thank you to our customers, and I am grateful for your continued involvement with us, even in the midst of these crazy times we live in. I hope to see you at my wholesale show in Philadelphia (American Handcrafted, booth 1807, 2/19-21) or at a summer show tba!