What do you do with a gorgeous but damaged vintage kimono, an intricate, hand-embroidered Indian sari border scored at a flea market, or a well-loved Mexican blouse brought back from a long ago vacation? TEXTILE GEMS™ brings creative responses to this question by preserving and reincarnating these and other special textiles into unique and dramatic jewelry and frame-able vintage textile art.

THE JEWELRY

Our ever-changing TEXTILE GEMS™ JEWELRY collections are hand-fabricated with enchantingly-detailed pre-1970 ethnic textiles. Since the launch of TEXTILE GEMS™ in late 2002, the jewelry has enjoyed a strong presence in over 40 top museum shops and select galleries nationwide.

Conceived jointly by jewelry designer, Andrew Pastorino with business partner and textile collector, Fran Seigel, TEXTILE GEMS™ is the result of a steep learning curve in textile sourcing and identification along with fabrication methods for the jewelry. "Each textile presents a new challenge, and each one requires unique experimentation to clearly showcase its original artistry," says Andrew who has been designing other lines of jewelry since the late 1980s.

Locating the glorious textiles is a labor of love as well as a virtual time-travel adventure to past decades and far-away places. Research is a major focus of TEXTILE GEMS™ endeavors. Fran is the scout, researcher and purchaser of the textiles -- most often attempting to "rescue" high-quality imperfect textiles, from which she cuts small, charming pieces for the jewelry, saving a larger good-condition section for our collections. Most textiles located range from the 1920s to 1970s, with some being much older.

Most of our jewelry is fabricated with the actual old textile pieces from various cultures (e.g.Japanese kimono, Indian sari silks, vintage French textiles and laces) but for other cultures -- Chinese or African -- the actual old textile pieces may be too rare, old or too thick for our fabrication process, or the textiles may turn dark under our protective resins. So for these reasons, we opt to print detailed faithful replications on silk, enabling us to best showcase the textile's original beauty and intricacy.

After the selected textile crop is cut, it is combined with brass or sterling silver, delicately embellished and encased under 8-10 layers of a custom-mixed, clear epoxy resin (with baking and sanding between layers, and completion with a high-polish finish). Cuff bracelets in 4 shapes and sizes are completely adjustable. Earrings have solid 14K gold posts. The jewelry is highly durable, virtually impervious to scratching, and will live on happily with little or no care.

GREETING CARD PRODUCTS

Textile Gems™ Greeting Cards present highly affordable "zoom glimpses" of many of the charming details of selected older textiles in our collections. We hope you will be as enchanted as we are with the unique artistry featured in each of the cards we publish.

FRAME-ABLE TEXTILES

Our Textile Gems™ Frame-ables are lovingly selected original vintage textile crops -- mostly 1920s to 1970s pieces from our collections -- and are offered to you as original matted/framed textile art. These textiles are most often one-of-a-kind and we normally offer them in various formats at our retail shows, and occasionally to shops by special request.

THE GALLERY

FAVORITES shows a gallery of best-loved jewelry we have created for past collections, many of which are often no longer available, but show special textiles or fortuitous cuts and designs, or items we have sourced and fabricated for specific exhibitions.

INSPRIRATION gallery shows a glimpse of what drives our love for unique textiles -- and thus our work. Here you will find garments and textiles from our personal collection which have captivated us with their artistry and charm, showcasing examples of humble splendor as well as those of elegantly detailed craftsmanship.

ANDREW PASTORINO studied jewelry design at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and is also a musician, who enjoys refinishing vintage drum sets in his "spare time." His previous lines of jewelry (in precious metals, stones and resin enamels) have been featured in select New York City galleries and shops, including the shop of the Museum of Arts and Design. Andy looks forward to creating more unique custom-designed Textile Gems™.

FRAN SEIGEL, an artist rep for many years, is a long-time admirer and collector of ethnic textiles -- especially those gorgeous "humble treasures" created by hand and for domestic use. Andy and Fran collaborate on Textile Gems™ products and Fran is also an enthusiastic researcher of ethnographic motifs and the decorative arts.