SHARYN WOLF

            Since we’ve walked upright, beads have made us beautiful.  My love of African art propelled me into a study of how the beads were made, who made them, how they designated status, that they were traded for almost everything, including slaves.  Wearing these beads is like wearing our history.  They reflect our ongoing connection to those who have gone before us, to the earth, to the ongoing nature of life.

             In the past year, I have been fortunate; two of my pieces appeared in “Vogue”, and Barney’s purchased 28 necklaces from my collection. In November, “Self” Magazine took 30 of my necklaces and bracelets to Bora Bora for a fashion shoot. Sadly, they didn’t take me.  

             My childhood love of rock and bone turned into an adult curiosity in creating these materials as a wearable art form.  Texture, volume, light, and history—fuel my addiction for searching out unusual beads and unusual stories about beads. From a friend on an island in Alaska with ancient walrus teeth to a South Dakota tribe who craft elegant buffalo bone to another tribe in the hills of Thailand who handcraft silver to my friend from the Ivory Coast, Bangally, who is an expert in the beads of his country -- these are my suppliers.