Friday, August 6, 2021

Your Ideas and Visions. On Our Fair Trade Jewelry.

Many of you know Dunitz & Company's fair trade jewelry made from recycled wood. What you might not know is we've been creating custom work for many of our retail partners. We have so much fun collaborating with them. Check out some of the projects we've worked on recently.

American Gothic Earrings
American Gothic Parody Earrings. I created this with the help of Photoshop and the input of Lou, the gift store buyer at Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. She knew these would be a great seller for their Parody exhibit this year.  I even used our fair trade face masks as inspiration. We did change out our typical flowers for corn stalks.





Heritage Square Museum Pins
Hale House at Heritage Square Museum is iconic.  We created pins of this wonderful Victorian house using the photos provided us. Museum goers and docents now proudly wear them. It seems most of the time I'm so excited about sending stores their orders, I forget to photograph the custom pieces. This pic was actually posted on Google by the museum. 

 

 

I'm crazy for fine art. Did you know I studied Art History at the University of Michigan? I'm sure the seeds planted by my education are what inspired me to create our Famous Paintings jewelry collection. This collection has sold incredibly well.  And museum stores everywhere offer them. What's been particularly exciting for me is when museums decide to feature art that is in their own collection. We've created several custom pieces for the Detroit Institute of Arts. Recently we put their own Van Gogh's on earrings and pins. Here are a few examples.

 

We adore these earrings. We collaborated with George Washington University's Textile Museum. These earrings feature details from pieces in their collection.

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes it's about famous landmarks in a tourist town. Not too long ago we created a few custom designs for Mermaid in Elora. Yes, that's right. In Ontario, Canada.  This town is famous for their painted doors, Tooth of Time and the Elora Mill.  Here's a pic of the Elora Mill on earrings.




 

Got a sports team you're crazy about? Nittany Quill of State College, PA has been selling our jewelry for several years. This year they took a stab at creating earrings that showed off team spirit. Penn State is all about the Nittany Lion. And as fans like to say "We Are." Fun, right?






During Covid a sense of humor has been imperative. Dunitz & Company created some "Expressions Jewelry" recently. Our retail partner Grass Roots Fair Trade of Anckorage, AK figures if you say it with a bit of humor you can say just about anything. And clearly their customers agree. They've sold and sold these earrings we made just for them.






Peoria Riverfront Museum is having a wonderful exhibit through September 6, 2021 featuring none-else but the glorious T-Rex. They've sold our Famous Painting earrings well. But with T-Rex taking over, they needed to offer something a bit different for the crowds coming in. VoilĂ . We did it. I'm sure their docents are looking very adorable these days.





Zee Bee Market in St. Louis, MO has a host of giftables for locals and visiting tourists. Julio, Zee Bee's owner & I worked out some great designs using their beloved Fleur-de-lis symbol. He was so excited that we could carve out the shape of his great state, he decided to offer these cute dangles in both black and white. 

 

 

But what about flag of Missouri earrings? Zee Bee wanted to offer that as well. And if you like colorful, these are ideal. 

Are you getting the idea? If you're a store owner reading my blog, we can create some spiffy earrings appropriate for your area. And don't forget, these are all made with recycled Eucalyptus wood board and ethically made for us in Guatemala. 

 

Map Earrings from Dunitz
Last year I hunted for and found a couple of vintage Atlases with lots of very good maps. I then had samples made which I debuted at the wholesale trade shows. I showed dangles and studs. Rectangles and Hearts. Los Angeles. New York. Baltimore. And since then we've created map earrings for stores in big towns and small ones. We've shipped others to Buffalo, Coronado CA, Austin, Waco, Holland MI, Princeton NJ, Arlington, Crested Butte -> and the list goes on. 

 

Light House Earrings

And some times your town is so small, you can't be found clearly on the map. What do you do when your store is in Islesboro, ME?  You create studs featuring a lighthouse. We know The Dark Harbor Shop has great ice cream. We now know they also offer terrific earrings.

 

  

So there you have it. A mini display of Dunitz & Company fair trade custom earrings. What can we mastermind together for your store? -ND