A Kind Of Magic by Sarah Hue-Williams
The atmosphere in Elizabeth Bay is creative and cosmopolitan. It’s a breeding ground for small business start-ups and ‘one man bands’. The community in and around the area are keen supporters of this type of environment, allowing creativity and entrepreneurship to flourish. It’s what makes the area so special. Sarah Hue-Williams is one such creative inspiration. Originally from the UK, she moved here 14 years ago and fell in love with the Australian attitude of ‘network to give, not just to get’ and Elizabeth Bay as her home.
Sarah Hue-Williams is an award-winning freelance gemologist, jewellery historian and lecturer. She divides her time between London and Elizabeth Bay. Her third book “A Kind of Magic” has received rave reviews since its launch in late 2017. For this book, she’s teamed with Peter Edwards, a London jewellery shop owner and specialist in the works of the Master Designers of the first half of the twentieth century.
The book looks in detail at some spectacular and impossibly glamourous artefacts from the roaring twentieth century, lady’s jewelled cosmetic purses. In particular, an exceptionally private collection owned by Freddie Mercury’s sister, Kasmira.
In the Twenties, purses were regarded as indispensable, indulgent accessories for sophisticated lives lived in the fast lane. Magical in their design, manufacture and exquisite decoration, many were crafted by the top jewellery houses of Paris or by innovative artist jewellers, each taking hundreds of hours to complete using sumptuous materials, precious metals, lacquer and enamel, gemstones, mother-of-pearl and jade.
The unrivalled workmanship and imagination that went into these portable beauty kits, to say nothing of the feats of ingenuity that were involved in their interior fitments, will never be recreated. With a timeless modernity they survive as astonishing reminders of high times and great opulence, as true icons of elegance and as symbols – almost a century after their creation – of the essence of Art Deco style.
Accompanied by images and vivid descriptions that evoke the era when they were made, the 48 cases shown in this captivating book tell the story of the 1920s, and provide a suitably glittering insight into the history, fashion, and style of the Golden Age of Glamour.
This particular collection has very kindly been promised, as a gift, to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, where everyone will be able to enjoy them. All the profits from the sale of this book will be donated to the Mercury Phoenix Trust – a charity which fights HIV/AIDS worldwide.
Read reviews from Vanity Fair and SMH
Enquiries to: Sarah at huewilliams@gmail.com, http://www.jewelleryjourneys.com/a-kind-of-magic.html