Holiday Open Studio, Trunk Show with Kingmond Young, Etsy Holiday Shop

Trunk Show w/ Kingmond Young Photography - just added!

Mark your calendar! We've just added a last minute event to our holiday show schedule for folks in the Bay Area!

Join us for a Meet the Artist reception as part of the 3rd annual Bernal Holiday Stroll with Kingmond Young Photography, the photographer who did the studio photoshoot this summer, and changed our lives.

Kingmond's photos capture the elegance of our work with an artistic vision and a timeless elegance. The chance to see Kingmond Young's studio and body of work is not to be missed!

Thursday, December 6, 2012, 6-9pm
Kingmond Young Photography
416 Cortland Ave, San Francisco, CA 94110

3rd Anniversary Party and Holiday Open Studio

Celebrate with us at our Holiday Open Studio AND - 3rd Anniversary Party!!!

Sat. December 8 and Sun. December 9
10am - 4pm at
19 Caleta Ave in San Anselmo, Ca.

Preview our 2013 Collection and get up to 50% off discontinued designs at our Holiday Open Studios! Whether you seek affordable gift options or red-carpet-worthy statement jewelry you will love the new collections! Come see the new designs before any retailers get them and shop directly from the Compass Rose Design Jewelry studio!

As our special guests, you will receive an exclusive 20% Open Studio Discount on our whole collection.

* Bring us your antique doodads! Give old junk-treasure a new life with our Junk Drawer and Pocket Watch Retirement Program (read more)
 

 

Etsy Holiday Shop in SoHo

If you missed our last blog post, here is an update on our vintage railroad button cufflinks being featured in the brick and mortar pop-up Etsy holiday shop in SoHo, New York City.

image courtesy of ww.etsy.com/holidayshop

Our vintage railroad cufflinks were part of a collection curated by Jesse Thorn, of Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, and the menswear blog, Put This On.

image courtesy of ww.etsy.com/holidayshop

DNAinfo.com in New York just did a story about the Etsy holiday shop and has a few great photos.

Upcoming Events

Trunk Show at 416 Gallery
w/ Kingmond Young Photography
December 6, 2012, 6-9pm
416 Cortland Ave
San Francisco, Ca.

Compass Rose Design Holiday Open Studios
December 8 & 9, 2012, 10am - 6pm
San Anselmo, Ca.
email for directions

Nightlife at the Academy
December 13, 2012, 6-10pm
California Academy of Sciences
55 Music Concourse Drive, San Francisco, Ca.

Marin History Museum Holiday Fair
December 14, 2012, 5-8pm
1026 Court Street, Court Plaza off 4th St.
San Rafael, Ca.

SHOP NOW and save 15% with secret code: VICTORIA15
 
Find Compass Rose Design on Facebook  for deals and give-aways!

National Button Society Conference, Modern Man Portland, Trunk Show

Did you know that there exist a subculture of fellow humans who identify as Button People? We just got back from the National Button Society Conference in Portland, Oregon.  If you were wondering where all the grandmothers disappeared to during the second week of August, we can explain.

Since 1939, The National Button Society has been meeting and collecting and sharing history - through buttons. It was good to connect with people in their 70s and 80s who took us under their wings like a flock of mother hens.

There were buttons of every shape, era, theme and size - just hundreds and hundreds of buttons dating as far back as the 16th and 17th centuries. Prices ranged from $1 to almost $1500. It was a serious business with plenty of room for newbies and amateurs like us.

Buttons are in the top 10 most collected items in the U.S. Perhaps buttons appeal to collectors because they are so terribly portable and often affordable, but also because they represent the history of fashion, art, architecture, military conquest, sports, and social trends.

The military themes, braided loops, epilets, tassels and other trims we still see in fashion today have their origins in late 18th century France.  The lavish trims sported on military uniforms worn during the Napoleonic wars (1793-1815) infiltrated French fashion for both women and men, a legacy that has lasted more than 200 years.

 

The above buttons, from the 1890s through the 1920s are referred to as "gay nineties" with glinting glass centers. The nostalgic term originated in the 1920s, harkening back to a time of Oscar Wilde, Aubrey Beardsley, society scandals and the birth of the aesthetic movement and art nouveau.

Buttons also represent a history of industrialization - innovations in manufacturing and engineering. 

By the 1860s, manufacturing techniques and industrial presses made beautifully detailed tinted metal buttons possible. Buttons also hold a record of popular cultures, with scenes from classic tragedies, popular plays and operas. Visible in the photo above, we see the Trojan hero, Hector near the bottom of the photo. Near the top center of the photo, bowing in the crook of the crescent moon, we see Pierrot, the 17th century Italian pantomime, kneeling before his sweetheart.

 It was wonderful to be in Portland, visit McMenamin's Edgefield with its wonderful gardens and fabulous beer, and now we are glad to be home with so many new buttons and ideas to work with!

We also visited our friends Chris and Emily at Modern Man Barbershop in Portland. Downstairs is a SUPER classy and elegant barber shop where you can get a REAL shave.

Upstairs is a whisky bar run by Chris's parents, and it's awesome. I love the two spaces in one concept - a sophisticated but unpretentious walk back through time.

In other news - we just had our first trunk show last weekend and will be definitely planning for a Christmas event. It was a delight to see old friends and new fans - and fun to dress up our house as a boutique!

And Finally... another photo from the Kingmond Young Photoshoot!  

Visit Compass Rose Design Jewelry at our upcoming events!

Tiburon Arts Festival
August 25 & 25, 2012 in Tiburon, Ca.

Willits Kinnetic Carnivale
September 8 & 9 in Willits, Ca.

Urban Air Market
September 16, 2012 in San Francisco, Ca.

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