DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT
METRO-CHIC DAVID YURMAN’S NEW JEWELRY CONVEYS DOWNTOWN NEW YORK’S LIVELY ARTISTIC ENERGY
D avid Yurman is constantly sketching new jewelry designs, sometimes on a napkin at a café and other times at his desk or the kitchen table. Those drawings were the starting point for the brand’s stylish new Mercer collection, which was inspired by downtown New York’s bustling rhythm and artistic energy and named for the street in SoHo. For the Yurman family, every jewelry collection is a personal expression. The Mercer collection pays homage to David and his wife Sybil’s downtown roots. In SoHo, they began their careers as artists: back in the 1960s and 1970s, they were among the neighborhood’s early residents — David’s first studio was on Sullivan Street and Sybil worked at the Max Hutchinson Gallery on Greene Street. Their son Evan, the company’s president, grew up on the streets of SoHo and along the Tribeca waterfront. “There was something carefree but still endearingly grave about the work that came from there then,” said Evan about the downtown artistic vibe. “The work ignored the old boundaries separating art from dance from music from architecture, and instead found fresh ground in the interstices between art and life.” The neighborhood’s dynamic energy fueled the family’s lasting passion for art, design, and craft, and breaking boundaries.
Evan Yurman
DESIGN IS A FAMILY AFFAIR Each member of the family has creative input on every new collection. That family spirit caught the attention of actress Scarlett Johansson, another native New Yorker and the brand’s ambassador. “What’s really touching about the David Yurman story is this familial love and passion,” said Johansson. Recently, she layered on different jewelry pieces, which Sybil pointed out were each designed by one of the Yurmans. “Sybil was so excited to see the pieces all together,” she said. “The pieces are very much like a family, just this mesh of beautiful things that is different but goes together.” Johansson grew up seeing David Yurman’s advertising campaigns and jewelry around New York City, which shaped her own jewelry style. “You would always see the beautiful black and white photos and it was this effortlessly chic woman whose jewelry was part of her everyday life. She had this glamourous appeal but was never trying.”
Scarlett Johansson
30 FREDRIC H. RUBEL MAGAZINE
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