Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/112444
JIM GRAHAM Lagos: The Legend Steven Lagos On the occasion of his 35th anniversary, Catherine D. Anspon talks shop with jeweler Steven Lagos at the place where it all began: Neiman Marcus Houston Galleria. Your first Neiman���s trunk show? My first PA at Neiman Marcus was at this store. I���ve been coming here for 25 years, and I consider myself a Houstonian. Houston is probably one of the top jewelry markets in the country. As a jewelry designer, this is nirvana. I love doing big jewelry, so I come down here with the things I���ve made, and the comment is: ���Can you make this bigger?��� Your philosophy on jewelry. It���s actually super interesting. Jewelry is part of people���s lives. So it���s not like fashion. It���s meaningful. People cherish their jewelry. I don���t think that anyone really passes their Louboutins down to their daughters and granddaughters. You know exactly where you got each piece of jewelry, when you bought it, exactly where you bought it. You know the artist, maybe even the person that sold it to you, the shop. Maybe it was a life experience or a place you were traveling. It���s that kind of a product. It really gets intertwined in people���s lives. 2 This new Asian collection feels like something from the last emperor; it���s just so sophisticated. You can picture a grand lady in a cheongsan dress wearing these. So Art Deco, old Shanghai. What inspired you to do these pieces that are so different from your other work, employing gold and in this case hand-carved jade and diamonds. This is actually where my roots were. I only did gold jewelry for the first 10 years. And then I started doing the Caviar design in sterling when the price of gold shot up in the ���80s. And that design really took off and became such a big part of the business ��� The new Couture collection ��� These are special, rare materials [used to] create pieces that are limited-edition, and not part of the core Lagos line, but [in this case] formed from hand-carved jade, diamonds and 18K gold. 1 What do you usually do in Houston? Go out and eat Tex-Mex! My friend owns Berryhill���s, which I love. But I���ve been all over town. I���ve been coming here for so long. This is like a second home. I love it. I���ve been to the rodeo ��� I have about 13 pairs of boots, so I���m official. For the rest of the tale of Lagos, peruse papercitymag.com. 3 1. Lagos 18K-gold micro-Caviar wrap bracelet with ruby pav�� tips. 2. Lagos 18K-gold and diamond earrings with carved oval jade. 3. Lagos black-jade, 18K-gold and diamond drop earrings. All Lagos designs shown, Couture collection, through Neiman Marcus. Prada From our SPrING collectIoN Jimmy Choo, Chlo��, Manolo Blahnik, Nicholas Kirkwood, Reed Krakoff, Pedro Garc��a, Stuart Weitzman, Marc Jacobs, Mulberry, Tory Burch Highland Village ��� 3930 Westheimer ��� 713.623.8034 ��� 800.881.0144