After wisdom tooth surgery, my nurse, who had five minutes prior been sedating me with laughing gas, asked if I wanted to save my crooked, extracted tooth—the thing that caused me days of pain, a swollen cheek, and an unfortunate lisp—as a "keepsake". I must have been staring at her blankly because she continued, "Well, you know, some people like to hang onto the memories..."

Five months later, the tooth fairy never came and the bloody tooth's become a fixture in my room. Gross, I know—but jewelry designers Jill Martinelli and Sabine Le Guyader would likely see it as an objet d'art. After all, the pair—who both worked odd-jobs in dentistry while growing up—have been known to craft rings out of rotted teeth and other decaying objects, finding a macabre beauty in the discarded. They met while studying metalwork at Massachusetts College of Art and realized that, in addition to their shared experience in dentistry (what are the odds?), the two also shared a similar vision: jewelry doesn't have to be polished, pretty and new to be beautiful.

This mantra epitomizes Lady Grey, the jewelry line they've launched out of their Brooklyn loft. Using organic and hand-carved materials like bones, teeth, skulls, thorns and branches which are cast and oxidized in silver, bronze, gold and chrome, each one of their immaculate pieces has an antiqued feel; as if it lived for decades in your grandmother's attic or in a shipwreck on the ocean's floor and emerged with a hauntingly beautiful finish. Oh, and it's Julia Restoin-Roitfeld-certified—we hear she asked the girls to create something special for her fashion icon mom.

Tapping into themes of mortality and anatomy, skulls and crosses artfully adorn sterling silver and vintage chains, while pairing perfectly with the stackable "Bone" Bangles. If all that sounds too grisly, the gorgeous graphic quartz necklaces wink at something prettier, while still capturing the girls' signature spookiness. Indeed, Lady Grey proves that all that is gold does not necessarily glitter.

For more information please visit www.ladygreyjewelry.com; see the pieces in person later this month at our Styles 2008 Fashion & Awards Show in New York.

-Kristi Garced

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Similar Topics:accessories, debut collection, fashion, jewelry, Styles 2008

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