AGTA Member Profile - Suzy Landa, Jewelry Designer
This AGTA Member Profile is part of an ongoing collaboration between AGTA and Diamondoodles. What is overwhelmingly apparent from my time attending AGTA events is that the community of AGTA Members is what gives AGTA its unique flavor and diversity in the jewelry industry. By exploring the culture and philosophies of the diverse AGTA members and their businesses through in-depth on-site interviews, I hope to provide new insight into the world of colored gemstones and the global jewelry community.
There’s a well-known adage that, “Patience is a virtue”. This saying suggests that being able to wait for something calmly and without frustration is an admirable quality and we should strive to obtain. On the other hand, it was Suzy Landa’s drive to make what she wanted to make instead of what she was being taught to make in her first jewelry class that led her to the jewelry design career she has today. That, and a more than gentle nudge from mentor Cindy Edelstein.
Suzy is known for her classic-meets-quirky colored stone jewelry, from her knobby bubble motif to her signature matte brush finished gold, and always the most flawless and well-matched gemstones. You will never convince Suzy to try her hand at the perfectly imperfect included stone trend because when it comes to gemstones she’s a purist. Many of her pieces are classic in form – tennis bracelets, halo drop earrings, eternity bands – but her approach to mixing stones and an infusion of whimsy into each design transforms these classic styles into jewelry that is uniquely Suzy Landa.
When you grow up as a kid passionate about making things, then you know how sacred the “craft closet” is as a space. Whether it’s filled with the standard scissors, crayons, glue, construction paper and fabric or the more eccentric pipe cleaners, googly eyes, and assorted found objects; visiting the craft closet is like a religious pilgrimage for a curious child. Suzy grew up snatching scraps of colorful wire from the electricians working on the telephone poles in her neighborhood to braid into bracelets and stacking her fingers with washers as rings at her grandfather’s hardware store. She easily saw ways to transform these everyday objects into festive adornments.
Suzy in her office picking and paring stones for a new piece of jewelry.
An Australian opal from Suzy's gemstone collection in front of her Benjamin Moore 'Orange Juice' office walls.
She was constantly surrounded by color and design during her childhood in Los Angeles. Her mother was passionate about art and decorating; influenced by Mies Van Der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, and the decorative arts. This passion drove her to pursue her love of the visual by taking art, sewing, and cake decorating classes and she passed her love of making on to her children as they created collages, mobiles, and other projects together. She was also the keeper of the aforementioned beloved craft closet. Describing her childhood home, Suzy recounted how her mother had painted each door in their house a different saturated hue and was delighted with how people would smile instantly upon entering their home. Initially Suzy was embarrassed by her mother’s eccentric embrace of color when she realized none of her friends’ houses were technicolor. Tasked with decorating her first apartment, Suzy outfitted her space exclusively in shades of white, cream, and beige. Upon completing the decor she realized how much she missed the bursts of color her mother had infused into the house she grew up in. Today, her front door is painted Benjamin Moore “Orange Juice” and her bedroom is chartreuse.
Pink tourmaline among an assortment of Suzy Landa's gemstone collection.
A handful of Suzy Landa rings, each with a pop of vibrant color. Image courtesy of Suzy Landa.
A wide array of gemstones that Suzy Landa has collected over her career.
These formative experiences with craft and color are what kept Suzy creating even while she was working at a career in the film industry. In 2003 her friends gifted her a metalsmithing and wax carving classes at The Craft Student’s League in New York City. Learning the introductory skills in class, she would daydream of gold chains not the silver bands they were making. During her free time she started making tassel necklaces with gemstone beads and 22k gold. These pieces sated her daydreams as her hobby and skillset grew. She wore one of her self-made lariat necklaces to a friend’s wedding. An acquaintance was smitten with the piece from Suzy’s personal collection and commissioned a piece of her own. Fortuitously, the piece was worn to a party at Diane Von Furstenberg’s home. After the piece was well-received at this event, the friend decided that Suzy needed to make more pieces and she offered her a $5000 loan to make more pieces for a private trunk show in Los Angeles where she could sell her new designs.
Top to Bottom: A pair of mixed pink tourmaline and diamond earrings (image courtesy of Suzy Landa), marquise-cut peridot tennis bracelet & peridot with bubbly diamond halo earrings, Rainbow bar pendant seen at The Couture Show 2018 in Las Vegas, and a stack of mixed-shape diamond and colored gemstone eternity bands (image courtesy of Suzy Landa).
Even with this unintentional foray into the jewelry industry, Suzy still didn’t see herself as a designer or her jewelry as more than a hobby. It wasn’t until she met Cindy Edelstein at an MJSA show that she started to consider otherwise. Walking the MJSA show with Michael Tobak, Suzy spotted Cindy sitting at a table at a near empty booth looking like Lucy from Peanuts offering 10 minutes of career advice for $10 to designers. Experiencing a lull in conversations, Cindy called Suzy over to talk with her and they ended up discussing Suzy’s “business” for an hour and a half. Repeatedly Cindy would tell Suzy that she should do this with her business and then that would help her to do that with her career. The entire time Suzy kept correcting Cindy saying, “ No no, this isn’t a business, this is just my hobby!” The conversation was left alone for a bit until Cindy and Suzy ran into one another on 47th Street. Paying no mind to her past rebukes, Cindy again asked Suzy how her business was going and suggested that she apply to exhibit in the Design Center of the JCK Show in Vegas. Even though she had still been making jewelry at the Craft Student’s League for fun and friends, Cindy’s suggestion stuck with her and Suzy decided to apply. She had no collection, no business, and had never met a retailer, she nevertheless applied. To her surprise, Suzy was selected as a Rising Star for the 2004 JCK Design Center. Then reality set in. She realized that she had three months until the Vegas show and had to produce an entire collection. After calling her father who informed her in no uncertain terms that he wasn’t interested in financing her hobby, Suzy applied and received a small business loan of $100k. In preparation she called past Design Center Rising Stars to ask for advice. Most of her questions fell on deaf ears of designers who were skeptical of this newcomer with no chops. Even Suzy saw herself that way. She didn’t consider herself a designer or an artist. Even now she sees the title of designer as too “highfalootin’”. After this initial success she still felt like the little girl who had won the art contest for best bicycle decoration at the local contest she won as a kid. Fortunately, at JCK others did not perceive Suzy or her jewelry as a fluke and she was the only one of the five Rising Stars that year to write orders.
A one of a kind colored gemstone ring by Suzy Landa
Avoiding the tropes that come along with the title of “designer” is part of what makes Suzy and her jewelry so charming. Her designs maintain a sense of playfulness that can be lost when jewelry designs get overworked or materials are treated as too precious to be enjoyed. In her words, “If you can’t wear that big outrageous whatever [stone] with your jeans, then I wouldn’t encourage you to buy it!” This attitude is refreshing as consumers struggle to find the way fine jewelry fits into their lives.
The designer in her peeks through when you begin to discuss gemstones and materials with Suzy. Suzy is quick to recognize that certain stones sell better than others, but this hasn’t stopped her from pursuing colors and combinations that spark her imagination. She is incredibly meticulous with her selection and often has stones recut to match one another even more perfectly. Nevertheless, she still buys a majority of her stones from the dealer who sold her the first faceted stone she set into a ring as a student.
Add More Color To Your Life™
A rainbow of Suzy Landa rings.