Neil Lane's jeweled creations have become favorites with celebrities walking the red carpet. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Goldie Hawn, Reese Witherspoon: You name the star, she has donned a Lane creation, and probably has been photographed wearing it. Lane says that when he left New York for Hollywood 20 years ago, there wasn't the same obsession among designers with dressing and adorning the rich and famous.
When I came here, Hollywood wasn't really happening. It was sort of sleepy, he recalls. The fashion, styles, and glamour were not what it is today.
An artistic painter long fascinated by period jewels, Lane set up shop in California in the 1980s and began designing and selling his handcrafted pieces. Today his jewels are sold in his Los Angeles store, in Saks, and in the Dubai branch of London's chic Harvey Nichols. Lane is known for his romantic, pretty, and elegant pieces that move and dangle.
A particular favorite of both Lane and his clients are his heart-shaped diamond earrings. Like all of Lane's designs, the earrings are made by hand rather than from casts, as is the case at many large shops. The craftsmanship is one of the reasons that a pair will sell for between $15,000 and $20,000.
Because each pair is handcrafted, no two earrings will be identical. In fact, no two stones will match perfectly, either. But that suits Lane fine.
Earrings do not have to be matched exactly because they're on different sides of your face, he points out. And if they're not cookie-cutter and not matched, you will see that it's handmade jewelry. Lane uses diamonds from various parts of Africa including South Africa, as well as Brazil, Australia, and Canada.
He also uses old stones in his work, which most likely originated from Africa or South America. The stones will be recut and shaped as needed. The backing for his heart-shaped earrings is platinum.
The metal must be hand-melted and formed into a ball, and then it is put into a press and milled. Lane likens shaping the metal to doing hand laundry with an old-fashioned wringer. There was a barrel, and they had a grinder they put the clothing through to wring out the water.
This is the same thing, he says. These are two steel bars that you have to grind. You put the platinum in, and it squishes it.
And you keep on flattening it out. Lane designs 99% of the jewels sold under his name and has a team of a half-dozen assistants to help create and sell his designs. Production is either done in workshops by groups of 10 or 15 or in cottage-industry format, meaning workers make parts that are combined in a workshop.
That old-fashioned workmanship underscores the handcrafted nature of each piece. So when you put on a Neil Lane jewel, you're getting not just something beautiful, but unique.
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