“Lee’s jewelry goes global; continues to please local fans”

Lee’s jewelry goes global; continues to please local fans

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 02:58 AM PST

Editor's note: This is part of a series of articles on local artisans, crafters and their wares aimed at helping readers select holiday gifts for even the hardest people on their lists.

Her jewelry has been featured in Lucky, Bazaar and Cosmopolitan magazines, to name a few. Her customers include Alicia Keys, Joss Stone, Mandy Moore — and Smashing Pumpkins/Hole bassist (as well as Hudson resident) Melissa Auf der Maur.

Who is she?

Shana Lee, a Gallatin resident with a storefront at 315 Warren St. in Hudson and a jewelry business with customers across the globe.

Lee's designs incorporate Native American, Egyptian and African elements with an edgy, punk elegance. Her jewelry has been sold all over the world, and 80 percent of it is made by Lee, by hand, in her studio.

Most of Lee's pieces are made from silver, 90 percent of which is recycled, and many combine silver and deer or cowhide. There are literally hundreds of pieces to choose from, from hand-hammered rings and bracelets to heavy statement necklaces to simple stud earrings.

"I put in a lot of intention and there's a lot of reason behind everything," Lee said. "Where the line of an earring hits in relation to the jaw ... the work is very specifically trying to make somebody beautiful without looking like they tried — just a simple, elegant line, effortless. That's what I'm going for."

Although she went to college for production, Lee has always designed and sold jewelry, as early as in fourth grade, when she moved with her family to Brooklyn and started selling her designs on the street.

At 15, she started a "more serious business" with polymer work and continued selling. She started metalwork about ten years ago, and has had her most serious business for eight years now.

"I just do it because I love it and it's the thing, I guess, I was meant to do," she said. "It's all I want to do."

Lee has had a Los Angeles showroom and sold to 120 stores at the height of her popularity. She opened a showroom in Hudson three years ago, then the storefront a year later.

Lee said it was the pyramid studs, and stylists who she met selling jewelry in Brooklyn who wanted her designs for their shoots, that lit a fire under her business.

The studs have "probably been in 15 magazines," and they're one of her best-selling items. Available in gold, vermeil or sterling silver, they mimic the studs you'd find on a punk rocker's leather belt or collar in a feminine way. "The industry would say I've definitely helped jewelry go in the direction of the 80s punk genre it's been up against recently," she said.

In Hudson, best-sellers include Lee's dot studs, which are flat, silver dots that look like "mirrors on the ear." They're available for $15 to $30 in sterling silver. Local women are also partial to her S-hoops, which are "s-curled hoops that have almost a little bit of tribal flair, but then there's something so classic — I think that makes sense in Hudson."

Lee's new collection was just released — so "we will see now what is the bestseller," she said.

Pieces take between a half hour and six days to make, depending on their size and level of complication — for instance, she makes a necklace with 280 solder joints, which requires some time and labor.

Some pieces are unisex, but Lee said her clientele is mostly women, from age 14 to 101 (her oldest customer ever, who purchased a very heavy pair of earrings) who are "sincere ... oftentimes in a good place in their life, celebratory, honest, loyal."

Locally, you can find Lee's designs at her store at 315 Warren St. in Saratoga Springs at Silverado (64 Woodlawn Ave., Saratoga Springs), at Sanford and Smith Fine Art in Great Barrington, Massachusetts (13 Railroad St., Great Barrington), or online at www.shanalee.com.

To reach reporter Francesca Olsen call 518-828-1616, ext. 2272, or e-mail folsen@registerstar.com.

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