Fair Trade Jewelry - Custom for Your Store & Exhibitions

Dunitz & Company's been at it for a long time! And one thing we adore is collaborating with our clients on custom designs for your stores and art exhibitions.  Back in August, 2021, I wrote a blog post sharing some of our custom projects we had created up until that point. Here are some others from recent times, not in any particular order.

 

In 2022, Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted a Van Gogh exhibit.  Through Vincent's Eyes: Van Gogh and His Sources was a very well attended exhibition. We collaborated with the gift shop buyer so she could offer earrings that featured the artwork actually on display. This one of white flowers on a pale green background was one of my favorites. They offered dangles and studs of each of the custom designs we made for the show.

The Dayton Art Institute presented a wonderful exhibit, so I was told, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec: The Birth of Modern Paris, which closed in January, 2024. Sadly I live too far away and couldn't get there to see it. The store buyers at the museum wanted to offer some earrings that featured one of the artworks that was up on display. This is what we came up with.

 

 

 

 

We've created several custom earrings for the Michigan History Museum and when they staged an exhibit showcasing the work of beloved artist, Mathias J. Alten, we were there to help. Several of his wonderful paintings became earrings! These shown here are my favorites.

But it isn't only about the paintings. The Michigan History Center also manages many regional museums. The earrings here feature the Tawas Point Lighthouse. Did you know that Michigan has the most lighthouses in the United States? More than Florida or California.

Back in 2022, the National Building Museum in Washington DC showcased Notre Dame de Paris with an interactive exhibition. We scoured every image of old paintings we could find and created these for their gift store. It's always fun to take a souvenir home after visiting a museum and these were a perfect choice for many museum visitors.

We've worked with the Detroit Institute of Arts for many years. Did you know I am originally from Detroit? And my aunt was a docent there for many years during my youth. This museum has a very special place in my heart and when I ship our fair trade jewelry for their store, I have to share widely to my Detroit based friends and family.  The DIA presented an amazing Van Gogh exhibition late 2022-early 2023. It was actually postponed because of the Covid lockdown. It was really fun to create dangles, studs and pins using paintings from their permanent collection. They sold a lot of the earrings we created for this show. That's good for everyone. We love it when these special projects provide a lot more work for the artists we work with in Guatemala.

For years the buyer from the Museum of Flight in Seattle and I had been discussing what we might create together for their store. From mid 2023 through January 2024, Art & Flight featured work of several talented artists. Seattle artist, Angelina Villalobos created two amazing murals for the museum. With her permission, the earrings shown on the right were created. Fun right?

What happened next? The staff at Museum of Flight thought it might be fun to offer stud earrings that look like paper airplanes. If you visit their website, you'll see a paper airplane serves as their site cursor. That's so cool! The earrings shown here can now be purchased at the Museum of Flight's gift store. They can also be purchased from us directly for your store.

 

 

Sometimes a store owner wants to show off their own amazing artwork. And in the case of Julia Mooney, a talented watercolor artist and owner of My Fair Trade Lady in Haddon Heights, NJ, this was the case. She had created a wonderful painting of the local train station. And on earrings, these make a terrific gift and souvenir. She provided a high-res image of her painting, and we created earrings. You too can purchase a pair here.

The truth is all you need is a good idea, and we can help you create just about anything. We have a lovely customer who is crazy for all things music. And so are her customers. In her case, most of her jazz fanatic clients are in Taiwan. Sora Designs had exhausted the musical instrument studs we offer.  We created custom bass violins, electric guitars and accordions for Sora. These have been turned into earrings, lapel pins and you name it.

Don't forget to revisit our original blog post where I highlighted other custom creations Dunitz & Company has made. We even laser cut out the state of Missouri for one of our clients. Our minimums are low. Our quality is excellent. And if you're already a Dunitz customer, you know our prices are more than reasonable. What are you waiting for? I'm here to help you create your next custom project. -ND

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 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.

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. Voilà. 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. 

 

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. 

 

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