Designers take collaboration to a new level with clothing and a jewelry line.
During the three-year run of Station 1 restaurant in Woodside, which shuttered in 2013, regulars were drawn to many things about the restaurant: its seasonal menu, charming setting (the building was previously a firehouse) and unique tableware. The latter was the handiwork of Lisa Neimeth, a San Francisco ceramist whose backyard studio has its own quaint backstory — it was once a chicken coop.
To this day, Neimeth still gets inquiries from former Station 1 diners about her dishes. One such communication has proved especially fruitful: In 2010, Lauren Roskoph reached out to purchase goods directly from Neimeth.
“The heft of the plates themselves, combined with the organic forms, joyful colors and drawings/etchings gave me an instant appreciation for her work,” says Roskoph. When she visited Neimeth in her showroom — also located in her backyard, not far from the chicken coop-cum-studio — the ceramist immediately noticed the “amazing jewelry” that Roskoph was wearing, recalls Neimeth.
It turns out, it was Roskoph’s own design, created under the brand Lauren & Gracia Jewelry. “I instantly loved the marked, almost primitive look and weight of her carved silver pieces and the way they interacted with the strong leather and compelling clasps,” Neimeth says.
Their mutual admiration of each other’s work has led to the recent launch of a joint jewelry line, the Lauren Roskoph and Lisa Neimeth Collaboration. Although it debuted with necklaces, now rings and bracelets are in the pipeline. “Jewelry can be like wearable talismans, and I think of my tableware as functional talismans that tell a story and evoke a sense of ownership,” says Neimeth. “So I always had this notion that it would be so cool to cast these objects that I press into the clay into silver and have the tangible, wearable result.”
Indeed, the collaboration is based on objects such as an old Mexican plaster bird, vintage hand charm and branch she came across in New Mexico — items that Neimeth usually relies on to create impressions in her plates. She and Roskoph cold-molded the found objects, yielding wax versions of them. They then carved and sculpted the wax to add texture and character.
“Once we carved the wax objects to create the feel we were looking for, it was synergy at its finest, passing the waxes back and forth until we found the sweet spot,” says Roskoph. “It was amazing to work with another artist who shares a similar aesthetic but expresses herself in a different medium.”
Using the lost-wax casting method, the wax objects were cast in sterling silver. Finally, the finishing work was done in Roskoph’s studio in Saratoga. The silver objects were paired with naturally dyed leather and hand-sculpted silver beads that she also uses in her jewelry collection, that both artists felt echoed the feeling of the objects. “The end product is a handmade piece of wearable art using sterling silver and hand-knotted leather as the medium,” says Roskoph.
The capsule collection is now available on the Lauren & Gracia site or by contacting Neimeth. “When you closely share a vision of quality, craftsmanship and design, it just opens up possibilities for other work together,” says Neimeth. “We are thinking napkin rings, flatware and belts next!”