Jillery designs began on a whim in a loft in Greenwich Village. Artist Jill Fagin had previously designed jewelry as a hobby in high school and college. In 1987, fresh out of NYU film school, Jill began a career as a stylist in the film industry. The next year her budding film career was interrupted by the screen writer's strike and Jill revived her hobby by designing and manufacturing jewelry out of her apartment to make ends meet. Her jewelry line was advertised in the simplest of ways – her friends all wore it. A short time later, she and her friends were out on the town and they were spotted and photographed by a reporter for Woman's Wear Daily. That led to the first of many articles about Jillery. Her designs quickly caught on and Jill began selling to stores and fashionable galleries in the New York area. What began as a hobby soon became a sensation. Later, Jill shifted her attention from jewelry to house wares and focused on transforming ordinary, and sometimes dull household items into fun, funky and most important – functional art.
Jillery designs combined metals and colors and set a style standard that no other artist of the time could replicate. The thread of Jill's designs is the use of aluminum throughout every piece. What keeps the work unique is Jill's unwavering commitment to a "hands-on quality approach to all of her designs and products. Each piece is hand-made by skilled artisans in her Greenwich Village studio. Jill is the originator of this sophisticated, yet whimsical style.
As the Jillery line of products has expanded from jewelry to judaica, stemware to serving pieces, and from bar ware to baby, so has its popularity. Jill's distinctive designs can be found in museum shops, galleries, and fine stores across the United States.
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