So, it’s been almost six months since we hatched the plan to greatly expand our product line and focus exclusively on jewelry. So much has happened since then! Due to the great success of our Kickstarter campaign, it was all made possible, and the new line is here. Check it out in our online store.

We’ll be launching our full new jewelry collection at the upcoming January 2011 New York Gift Fair. Come by our booth and get a first look at it in-person!

The new pieces have started rolling in, and we’re super excited about them.

(1) Pantone boxes, $28 each, available at aplusrstore.com
(2) Stila eye shadow, $38, available at sephora.com
(3) Ramen, French Toast, and Tortilla chocolate, $12 for 3, available at amazon.com
(4) Candy wallet, $16, available at shopexit9.com
(5) Nesting bowls, $50, available at momastore.org
(6) Reveal watch, $100, available at yankodesign.com
(7) Cutting board, $28, available at momastore.org
(8) Smencil scented pencils, 5 for $6, available at smencils.com
(9) Apple notepad, $4.50, available at curiosityshoppeonline.com
(10) Giant gummi, $12, available at fredflare.com

(1) Music balloon speaker, $45, available at yliving.com
(2) Black cards, $16, available at ebmerc.com
(3) Animal calendar, $25, available at momastore.org
(4) Adventure matches, $3.50, available at curiosityshoppeonline.com
(5) Tool bottle openers, $20 each, available at yliving.com
(6) Animal ring, $75, available at aplusrstore.com
(7) Shock pen, $8, available at shopexit9.com
(8) Almond hot chocolate, $9.95, available at chocolat.com
(9) Notebook paper embroidery kit, $14, available at curiosityshoppeonline.com
(10) Bella rain umbrella, $96, available at fiveanddiamond.com

Awkward Moment Cards – Now you can start uncomfortable conversations for a more comfortable price – also marked down from $15.00 to $9.00, for a set of 5. Get them here.

Dow Jones Hanky – One thing’s for sure, the economy still ain’t what it used to be. Hence why you’re loving this sale, right?! Well our beloved Dow Jones Hanky has also just become a little more accessible, down from $28.00 to $16.80. The perfect gift for the stock-market watcher in your life, available here.

Happy holidays everyone!

Money To Burn candle, $9.00 each

Awkward Moment Cards, $9.00 for a set of 5

Dow Jones Hanky, $16.80 each

We’ve been long-time admirers of Adrian Buckmaster and Deity Delgado’s work. He’s the photographer, she’s the stylist and make-up artist, and the scenes they make are magical. A little while back, we interviewed Adrian about how he got into photography, and he told us his inspiring story. This season, as Design Glut just launched a few new products and we were in serious need of new photos, we finally had an opportunity to work with them. It was such an awesome experience in creative collaboration that I thought I’d share some of the behind-the-scenes here.

We didn’t have a real concept for the shoot in mind, and Adrian talked us through many options. Finally, from the fog of vague ideas, a concrete plan emerged. Adrian has done several shoots with painted backdrops that blur the line between fantasy and reality, which we love. He even paints the backdrops himself! Talk about multi-talented.

Inspired by Adrian’s paintings, as well as Edward Gorey’s drawings and Alice in Wonderland, we came up with the concept for a painted backdrop of a huge present. A few days later, Adrian sent back photos of his full-scale interpretation. We were thrilled! He actually painted part of the giant present on the floor of the set, so that when the camera is the correct angle, it looks completely 3-dimensional. Look at how the present appears to be popping off the wall where the backdrop meets the floor. SO FREAKING AWESOME.

The backdrop literally set the stage for the whole shoot, and created a magical, surreal world. Here are the final images, featuring Liz and Kegan with the Balloon Necklace, Vanity Bookmark, Jar Tile, Money To Burn Candle, and World Links Necklace. Enjoy!

Kickstarter is an amazing platform to fundraise for creative projects, and we’re currently running a campaign to make our new jewelry line. As of tonight, we’re at 53% of our goal with just 9 days left to go. Eep, nerve wracking! If you like these designs and support Design Glut, please pre-order now so we can stay in business and keep bringing you awesomeness in the future! Click the link to see even more designs from our new line, as well as all the great rewards we’re offering everyone who contributes.

Pre-order select designs from the new collection on Kickstarter.

Photo by Michael Valčić

All of your stuff is so happy and clever! I’ve always been really drawn to it. When did you start making Objet d’Art?

I’ve always made art, since I was a child, but after college I liked the idea of these small, functional products that were affordable. I was really inspired by seeing an exhibition of Yoko Ono’s work, where she had all these small, miniature things that you could obtain at a reasonable price. And, I think the first object like this that I made was an artists’ book that I sold at Printed Matter, which used to be in Soho. It was a short story on folded-out rice paper, that went inside a match box. So once I started making these small, precious objects it just sort of kept rolling.

Can you talk about how your work has progressed? When did Optimism come along?

I started the Optimism project when I was in college. I had done a senior thesis, which was our gallery exhibition for the end of the year…

Did you study design?

Design and art and creative writing. You could mix it all up, where I went to school, at Clark University outside Boston. I had written a short poem about an event that happened between my father and I. When I was a little boy, we were outside the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan. And my father was really a character – came from a very working class background, and worked hard to become a young urban professional, and had a unique sense of humor. So it was just after they passed the recycling law in New York, and you would see these homeless people collecting cans. And my father, empathizing to some extent, walked over to a homeless guy and handed him his soda can and said, “Here you go sir, here’s your 5 cents.” And the homeless man said, “I’m no sir.” My father said, “I don’t have the patience to argue with you,” and walked away.

So, I’d found a quote that said, “An optimist is someone that tells you to cheer up when things are going his way.” I wrote a poem with that line as the intro, and for my senior thesis I designed a line of soda called Optimism. It had the poem listed as the ingredients, and it was displayed as a six-pack. I made these buttons to support the launch of the “product”, as if it was a real brand. I like things that blur the line between consumerism and art. The buttons took off like wildfire. I gave them away, and it was this huge thing on campus. The buttons came to exist entirely separately from the original project.

They took on a life of their own.

Exactly. I made 500, and then I stopped. I moved to New York, and then I started making them again after 9/11. I’d always been interested in public art and things that appear in unexpected places. Some wise people in the art world once asked me what crazy ideas I had, and I said, “Well, I have the idea that this logo I designed could go on the back of a Metrocard.” A woman said, “I love that idea, hold on!” And she opened her purse and went through her rolodex, and gave me the number of the head of the Arts for Transit program at the MTA.

That’s crazy! And so exciting.

Yeah, so I called her, and to my shock, this person took the call! She said, “Oh, that sounds interesting, send me something.” I put together a press kit, sent it, and it came to life. There was some red tape, but we got here.

When I first approached them I thought, “Wow, if they do 100,000 Metrocards that would be so cool.” Well, they’ve done 20 million cards.

Have you gotten feedback from people?

Sure, and it’s been incredibly gratifying. I get random emails – especially when the cards first came out, it was fairly often. I’ve received, directly, only the most positive support for the project.

Well I’d hope so! Does anyone think, “I hate optimism.”

You never know! I’m sure you guys read blogs where people talk about your work. I accept all those things, especially in the context of the MTA.

Everybody has something negative to say about the MTA.

Exactly. So I get it, and I like the irony and the push-and-pull of of having “optimism” being supported by the MTA. Because they need it more than anyone! And they knew that.

Photo by Carolyn Nardiello

Let’s talk a little bit about other projects you’ve done. I just saw the “Forget” spray on Supermarket, which I hadn’t seen before.

Spray To Forget is a functional, conceptual, aromatherapeutic product, designed to help edit one’s consciousness. It allows the user to purposefully forget undesired memories and replace them with desired memories. I got a wonderful reception to that, and had a lot of fun making it. It’s conceptual, but I researched different essential oils that would calm the nervous system and help people let go of tension. I studied people who believe quartz crystals hold metaphysical properties, and I steeped the water with crystals. So I think it has the potential to work as a true healing device, but it also can be decorative art, or kitschy… However people take it.

Where is your work going now?

After doing 20 million Metrocards, I now wish to do precious, one-of-a-kind items. That’s what I’m working on now. They’ll probably involve type, and they’ll probably be personal, but that’s all I can say!

So you’ve gone through this really interesting journey of starting with very personal work, making it very public, and then going back to the very personal. What advice do you have for others who are just starting their creative journey?

I was very inspired by the artist that just passed on, Louise Bourgeois. She said, “I don’t make my art for other people. I make my art for myself.” In some ways, the Optimism project was art I made for other people.

It was very exhibitionist. Buttons are an advertisement, right?

Totally. But what I learned from the Louise Bourgeois quote is that art can be an incredibly personal, spiritual catharsis. So that’s what I’m going through right now.

That idea seems very much in line with the Spray to Forget.

Yes, and now I’m continuing in that direction. I’ve Sprayed to Forget whatever I needed to forget, and now I’m growing into a new space.

She’s managed to turn her cheeky sense of humor and fabulous fashion sense into a wildly successful business, at the crazy young age of 27. What more could we ask for? Check out more of her work at http://a-morir.com

Let’s start at the beginning – when did you start bedazzling and befabulousing sunglasses?

I will show you the first thing I bedazzled. It’s my Motorola flip phone from when I was sixteen. Which I like to keep around for when people say, “It’s not durable.” This is eleven years old.

Fast forward to a couple years ago – I’d just quit the marketing industry and gone through a life change. I was working at a boutique to kill time before starting grad school at NYU for a Masters in Costuming History. I wanted to either work at the Met or be an authenticity expert for films and TV.

One day I bedazzled a pair of eyewear for myself. I was like, “Oh, I’ve got these stones, I need new glasses, let me just… ” I wore them into the store i was working at, and literally they were like, “Um, why don’t you sell these?” I made four, and they sold out really quick. They were in the New York Post, and were on Mariah Carey. Rihanna and I met, and she bought four pieces, and she kind of helped champion it. When the biggest pop star in the world wears your most unique design… She wore the chain ones out, and it was very shortly thereafter that this blew up. It was really that quick.

In seven months I’d quit grad school, quit working at the store, and I’ve been doing this full time since July ‘09. It was just the thing, at the time, that made sense for me. And so I did it.

How great is it to be able to say, “I started a crazy eyewear company, that’s the thing that made the most sense!”

People that I haven’t seen in a while ask, “What do you do now?” and when I tell them they’re like, “Well of course!” I guess bedazzling is kind of my destiny.

That’s the title of the interview right there.

Yes!

How have you managed to get so much acclaim and your pieces on all these celebrities?

It’s funny, because I come from the marketing world, so you’d think I’d be really good at email blasts and reaching out to people. I do not do any of that. I’ve never sent out an email blast. This is probably the first season that I’ve actually emailed my line sheets to buyers. Last year I think I opened 17 accounts, and it was all because boutiques emailed me saying, “We love your stuff, do you wholesale?” Yes I do!

This all really just came to me, because I was doing something nobody else was doing. I’ve been really fortunate in that sense. And that’s how I always want it to be – I want the work to speak for itself. I think that’s why all the celebrity press happened quickly and has continued to happen, because the work does speak for itself.

What has been the hardest part of the business stuff to learn, once you started doing this full time?

Apparently I’ve got a really good sense for business, or so my accountant tells me. I feel like it’s a lot of common sense. But the legal formalities, like registering with the state, are tricky. Luckily there are books that are written about that.

Other than that, time management. Figuring out a good life balance has probably been the trickiest. For a long time I didn’t go to the gym, I didn’t go out, I didn’t see my friends. I was just here working. Which is part of what you have to do at the beginning. When you start a business, you spend basically every waking moment on it. Even if the business is doing well, and you’re not worried where the next bit of money is going to come from, it’s still the only thing that you do. “Why don’t you come to my party?” Bitch I have shit to do! I have emails to send out! The business completely envelopes your identity.

I always have this thing, this thing that’s much bigger than I am. But I love it – this is the stuff I would be doing in my free time anyway. I wouldn’t do anything else – I would just roll around in glitter all day!

Do you see yourself moving into more costuming? Looking around the studio, you have the helmets, masks, bras… all kinds of stuff.

Yes and no. It’s very difficult when you start off as one person and you control everything. If you look at any major business, there’s way more than one person working there. Even the most incredible “one-person operations” have three personal assistants, and there are teams of people running the show. I want to get there, and once i do I can focus less on actual manual production, I’ll be able to expand into designing more. But I don’t want to overextend myself. I’d rather focus on being the best at custom independent eyewear. I want to be the best eyewear designer that you know of.

Do you do a lot of custom pieces? How much of your work are things people commission?

I’d say it’s like 25% commissioned work, 75% what I already designed. It’s interesting because the pieces that are commissioned sometimes later turn into my new lines. All of the weird show-piecey stuff, like the helmet or the mask, were commissioned. A lot of the Lady Gaga stuff was commissioned. Her team will say, “These are your inspirations. We need these accessories, in this color, using these elements. Can you do this by tomorrow?” And I’ll be like, “Yes I can,” and then I’ll start to cry, but I’ll get it done.

What’s your favorite pair of glasses right now? What are you most excited about?

I’m most excited about the d’arcy [pictured below]. I feel like once a season, so far, I’ve done something that really pushes the envelope. This is the fourth collection I’ve put out. The first season was the very first four styles that I did, which was like the “aha!” moment. The second season was when I did the chains, and I was really happy with that. The next batch was when I did the Barracuda [black glasses]. People are lucky if they get one noteworthy piece in a lifetime. I was recognized as a master in design at a Nike conference, and on the top of every weird end-of-year best accessories list, from InStyle to Rolling Stone. And I was kind of like, “Really?! Awesome!” So the d’arcy is the style I’m most excited about now, where it looks you have a nose-to-ear chain.

All of your designs are a jump past eyewear – it’s eyewear mixed with things you know from other places.

Exactly. That’s my weird subversive humor.

How do you find your design inspiration? What’s your process? Even though I know it’s hard to put into words, because it’s kind of a thing we just do…

Yeah, if you are an authentic creative you just sort of do it. It’s harder for me to cook a meal properly than it is to come up for an idea for eyewear. It’s a whole mix of things – it can be I found a really good frame and want to do something with it because I like the shape, or I found this great material and I want to incorporate it into something, or I think up something I don’t think has ever been done before and challenge myself to do it.