David Webb: An American Jeweler
Author Ruth Peltason recently
visited Saks Fifth Avenue
at Biltmore Fashion Park
for a luncheon event.
Her topic?
Her newest book, David Webb,
The Quintessential American
Jeweler, and David Webb jewelry,
which is available at Saks.
Peltason is no stranger to publishing, having been an art book editor for three decades. She edited Elizabeth Taylor’s book My Love Affair with Jewelry and more recently wrote Living Jewels Masterpieces From Nature. In addition to other art-related books, she has written the more personal book, I Am Not My Breast Cancer.
The day at Saks was all about David Webb, the American jeweler whose designs were new and fresh in 1948 when he opened his small New York shop around the corner from the Diamond District and are just as new and fresh in 66 years later in 2014. Self-trained, Webb died in 1975, but his art lives on. His signature animal bracelets and colored assortment of jewelry, all set in his favorite yellow gold adorned stylish women including Nan Kempner, Diana Vreeland, Jackie Kennedy and Elizabeth Taylor in their heyday – and also many of today’s style icons: Tory Burch, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lawrence and Salma Hayek.
David Webb, The Quintessential American Jeweler was three years in the making and is chockfull of beautiful images of Webb’s designs. Peltason, with a team of researchers, delved into boxes of thousands of original sketches and renderings of specially commissioned jewelry. They authenticated every piece of jewelry that went into the book.
The work was challenging, but “tremendously fun,” Peltason says. “Jewelry is part of our cultural history. When you look at any art form in its day, you see it as something that grew out of the past and leads to the future. Everything speaks to its time.”
By 1960, David Webb jewelry had found its way to the covers of several notable magazines, starting with Vogue. He had all of Hollywood calling – women to wear his pieces and major fashion photographers – Neil Barr and Victor Skrebneski among them – to shoot them. “He became the right man at the right place at the right time. He’s a perfect example of looking at someone in the times in which they lived. The ’60s were fascinating. Webb rides the curl of that wave the whole time. Fashion changes,” Peltason notes, “and David Webb was part of the change.”
Self-taught, he drew from many sources: Mayan art and Greek and Roman art. From Indian jewelry, he incorporated paisley and the teardrop form as well as the luscious color palette. "He knew how to edit his vision," Peltason says.
When Webb opened his shop in 1948, craftsmen made everything by hand. Today, 66 years later, the jewelry is still made by hand. The company is American, and everything is made in America on the premises. “David Webb is the only existing jeweler who can claim that under their own name,” Peltason says.
Webb’s jewelry is about pattern, a modern day interpretation of art deco. It’s exuberant, declarative and bursting with life. And “always modern.”
The David Webb jewelry you see today is still based strictly on David Webb designs,
always with the goal of delivering on the promise of giving customers the very best.
Above, The Vreeland Zebra Earrings:
Diana Vreeland was legendary for many things,
especially her jewelry, and these earrings were
among those identified with her commanding
style. Circular-cut diamonds, black-and-white
enamel, platimum and gold.
Deco Shield Collar and companion cuff: Based on David Webb;s original drawing from the early 1970s. The diamond chevrons and overall symmetry recall the compelling designs of the art deco period.
Left, the Elizabeth Taylor Makara Bracelet: Two stars collided with the making of this bracelet. It was the first of David Webb's animal bracelets (in 1957), and it was also purchased by a Hollywood legend, Elizabeth Taylor.
Right, Fluted Cuff: This cuff is an example of simplicity at its best: the overall mass of the fluting is softened
by the bands of diamonds.
