About Dazzling Diva

Using antique and vintage beads, Dazzling Diva creates one-of-a-kind original pieces for discerning, radiant women.

Dazzling Diva also can take your own family pieces (like that necklace from Aunt Thelma you can’t stand, but can’t throw out either, or that bracelet from Grandma Grump that’s broken) and breathe new life into it with a bold new design.

Dazzling Diva also will consider requests for custom pieces. Just contact me and let me know what you are looking for, and I’ll take it from there.

From the Designer

As a classically trained professional violinist who has spent the past 25 years performing at the opera, it’s only natural that I look to the women of the stage as inspiration for my jewelry. The term "Diva" sometimes evokes the image of a demanding prima donna, but I prefer to think of the original Latin meaning: "goddess" or "divine one". The opera singers to whom I look up from the orchestra pit possess grace, elegance, poise, talent, and strength, and can lift the listener to another world. They have the power to transport me, as I'm playing with them, to another universe. Perhaps that is why opera is so "hot" these days...it's a visual, aural, social, and frequently for me, a spiritual art form. 
                  
I’ve had the privilege of meeting and getting to know some of the greatest singers of the times. Some, I’m honored to say, have become friends. I have much admiration for these women as they breathe new life into the music of the old masters with their own, individual interpretations. What's old is new again. The music and storylines remain classic, but sometimes a stage director will update the setting by advancing the timeline in order to draw a parallel with today's audiences. This is one of the reasons I have a fascination for antique and vintage beads, and have chosen to work exclusively with them to create new and exciting designs. What's old can be new again.

In addition, my violin is an antique, and I frequently think about its history—where it's been, and who has played it. When I purchase beads, I wonder the same thing. These jewels are charming, and might have a nick or two here and there; that's what makes them more interesting to me—kind of like women as we mature.

My passion for jewelry making is an extension of what I do with my music. I've made some interesting pieces for colleagues from broken or damaged antique strands, or from vintage necklaces that have fallen apart. I've custom made pieces for some of the luminescent singers that have graced the opera stage.  (Don’t forget to check the “applause” section of this Web site to see the comments my jewelry elicits.)

I knew from the start that the name of my new business would be related to music or, more specifically, opera. Too much of my soul is embedded in that fantastic world. Dazzling Diva came together one night with a little help from my daughter—naturally, comfortably, as these things often do. I was struggling with a word that would compliment "Diva" when she asked, "What's wrong with Dazzling Diva, Mom?" 
And so it goes...