Jewelry

Crescent City Moon Pendant

$400

Crescent Moon Pendant

The Crescent City pendant and earrings are an addition to the Moonlight Evening in New Orleans Collage collection, which include the ring and four different style bracelets. The bracelet and ring designs were a huge hit. I never got a request for a matching pendant but I felt it would be nice to have a whole collection. I couldn t figure out, for the longest time, how to put the bracelet s concept into a pendant. Squares, ovals and circles were too plain and I wanted something special. One night, I was walking out of Loyola University s library, when I looked up and saw this beautiful crescent moon shining brightly above me. I held my hand up to the moon to pretend that I could grab it. I was wearing my Moonlight Collage ring when I did that and almost immediately I imagined the design in my head. I ran back inside the library and sketched the design… and the Crescent City pendant was born.

Obviously, I could not fit everything in the pendant form, but there s enough to represent the best of New Orleans and match the rest of the collection. Locals and people from out of town have purchased this pendant and told me what it means to them, and every person s story is unique. I hope this piece means something special to you, and that you keep New Orleans close to your heart wherever life takes you.

Moonlight Collage Cuff bracelet

$600

Left side view

Center

Right

First and foremost, I must thank Ms. Janice McCormick, an acquaintance of mine, for inspiring me to do this piece. She came to me with the concept and I created it.

New Orleans may mean something a little bit differently to everyone. But to those that have truly grasped the true emotional feeling of what it means to be a part of this community, especially after hurricane Katrina, New Orleans is so much more than just a dot on the map. The culture here is unlike any other place in the entire world. And if you give New Orleans a chance, you will one day understand the priceless value this city has to offer. I chose specific landmarks and designs for this bracelet because they represent our culture and some very important history that took place here.

Did you know that the St. Louis Cathedral inspired Walt Disney s design for his Disney World Castle? Did you know that the Superdome is the largest fixed dome structure in the world? Did you know that the French Market has been at its existing site since 1791? There is so much history to learn and so much culture to absorb in this city, and I wanted to make a bracelet that represented just that. I hope when people wear my bracelet or ring, whether they are local or not, that they keep in mind what this city has overcome and what a wonderful place this is. Since I designed the ring, rarely will you ever see me without it. I have traveled to the other side of the world and when I think of home, I always have my home at my fingertips.

The Roman Candy Man

$70

Roman Candy Man

The Roman Candy Company began as a family treat with a recipe that dates back at least four generations. My great grandmother, Angelina Napoli Cortese, made the candy for family and friends at social and special events like Christmas and St. Joseph s Day. Her son, Sam Cortese, who was a street vendor by trade since the age of 12, would on occasion bring the left over candy on his fruit and vegetable wagon to sell the next day. Roman Candy always sold very well and people began to ask for it, so Sam decided to try to sell candy on a regular basis. The problem, however, was that his mother didn t have time to make candy everyday, still tend to her other children and do all the things that mothers do. Sam realized he would have to find a way to make his Roman Candy as he rolled along and sold it. In 1915, he went to a wheelwright named Tom Brinker and together they designed the wagon that is still used today.

The Roman Candy gourmet taffy initially sold for 5 cents a stick and stayed at that price until 1970. After his death in 1969, Sam s grandson took over the business and it continues to this day. The wagon and mule can be seen rolling through the streets of New Orleans, uptown, downtown and occasionally even in the suburbs on an almost daily basis.1

I honestly cannot say how old I was when I first tasted the delicious taffy from the Roman Candy man; I was very young. I grew up in Metairie but moved to Kenner when I was 11. While I lived in Kenner, I had not seen the Roman Candy man for years. Then I started high school at Ursuline Academy, and the Roman Candy man and I met once again. I looked forward to hearing the end of the day school bell so I could run out and see if the mule and cart were out there. I started designing jewelry when I was in high school, and it didn t take long for me to create a piece of jewelry inspired by this wonderful tradition. My personal favorite? Vanilla.

New Orleans Streetcar

$80

New Orleans Streetcar

Streetcars in New Orleans have been an integral part of the city s public transportation network since the first half of the 19th century. Service began on September 26, 1835. The longest of New Orleans streetcar lines, the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar, is the oldest continuously operating street railway system in the world, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Today, the streetcars are operated by the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority RTA . The wide destruction wrought on the city by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent floods from the levee breaches in August 2005 knocked all three lines out of operation and damaged many of the streetcars. Service on a portion of the Canal Street line was restored in December of that year, with the remainder of the line and the Riverfront line returning to service in early 2006. On December23,2007,theRegionalTransitAuthority RTA extendedservicefromNapoleonAvenuetotheendofhistoricSt.CharlesAvenue

the Riverbend . On June 22, 2008 service was restored to the end of the line at South Carrollton Avenue & South Claiborne Avenue.1

Once the streetcars were operating again after the storm, the locals saw it as a sign of improvement and progress. I remember one day, I drove through the streets of uptown New Orleans and I saw a streetcar in operation for the first time after the storm. A tear ran down my face because to me, it showed that this community grew a lot stronger. The streetcars are so much more than just a means of transportation. In the eyes of the local people, it is history running up and down the streets every day and a symbol of tradition. This is why I created the streetcar jewelry… to remind locals and tourists the priceless value the streetcars add to our city. On the jewelry you will find Rolling since 1835 New Orleans ononesideand 504 ontheotherside. 504 is the telephone area code for New Orleans.

St. Louis Cathedral