San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
MODULAR COLLECTION FOR ANY MOOD
San Francisco’s Annette Lasala Spillane founded TARA (The Artisan Row Accessories) in 2016 with a mission to design a series of timeless jewelry collections that would last for years.
In the process, her ethical luxury label is reinventing the way in which women wear fine jewelry.
“What people love about the brand is its flexibility — the fact that you can build on it over time, that it’s a collection that builds on the last,” Spillane says. All the pieces are hand-crafted in the Philippines mainly by female artisans. “When women wear TARA, they are contributing to a good cause, and they are making an impact on other women’s lives.”
Born and raised in the Philippines, Spillane moved to the United States when she was 24 to pursue a business career. As a senior manager at Ernst & Young, she always had a strong attraction to high-end jewelry, filling her drawers with
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necklaces, rings, earrings and bracelets she would buy during her trips around the world. One day, while she was packing for another trip, she realized that she wasn’t wearing even half of the jewelry she owned.
“I thought, ‘What If I can carry all these fine accessories in a single box? Without deciding what to bring with me or not, but instead just carry them all?’ ” the entrepreneur remembers thinking.
Now TARA is innovating with its modular jewelry system of eight to nine pieces that can fit in a single box and can be adjusted to any situation and any need: work meeting, road trip, gala, girls’ night out or honeymoon.
The sets, which can range from $778 to $4,500, are unique in that each piece is interchangeable and can be assembled according to the wearer’s style and taste. There is always an alternative way to wear TARA. “Jewelry is an emotional experience, and I want to design jewelry that looks like you have collected in a period of time,” she says. On Monday, June 25, TARA will launch its new Solstice collection, which includes a set of nine pieces made of rose gold, abalone diamonds and mother-of-pearl, that can be converted into earrings, rings and pendants.
“I was inspired by the last solstice we had, and while I was watching it from my window I thought: What if a woman can wear the beauty of what is happening now on her finger?’ ” Spillane says.
“So I designed it.”