Riviere Fall & Winter 2014

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Branding in Memphis The Grizzlies, Soulsville USA, and Mednikow

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Mednikow Legacy A timepiece to pass from father to son

Road Trip to Soulsville Stephen Webster visits Memphis

M e m p h i s , Te n n e s s e e

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© D.YURMAN 2014

Dear Readers,

Riviere Magazine is the lifestyle magazine of Mednikow, and we publish it as a means of presenting the Mednikow brand in a way that is not possible otherwise. In Riviere, we have the luxury of space and time to devote to the designers we love, the charities we support, and the education and expertise that defines who we are and separates us from other fine jewelry stores.

The Mednikow family arrived in Memphis in 1891 and began selling jewelry from a small studio in downtown Memphis, and for nearly 125 years, we've grown with our city. In 1995, we opened a store in Atlanta.

More stores are on the horizon.

The Mednikow brand continues to

grow and

flourish in both Memphis and Atlanta.

The Mednikow brand stands for beauty, quality, and integrity. Everything we do is filtered through the lens of these three qualities. A fourth quality, harder to quantify and describe, but a hallmark in all that we do is "imagination"—for without creativity, neither our store nor our jewelry would measure up to our clients' expectations. When a customer has a wish or a challenge, it takes all four wheels of our brand moving in synchronicity to provide an elegant and luxurious shopping experience.

Why do people gravitate to brands?

Because brands represent a guarantee of certain standards. Even in the internet age, when there is more information than ever before available to consumers, jewelry is still somewhat of a blind purchase. We guard the Mednikow brand closely because our customers trust us to deliver the quality that Mednikow stands for, even if subtle differences are not readily discernible and may not be apparent for years. My grandfather and great-grandfather would roll over in their graves if I did otherwise.

I recently sat down with the "brand guardians" for two other Memphis institutions: Jason Wexler, President of Business Operations and Chris Wallace, General Manager of the Memphis Grizzlies and Calvin Stovall, CEO of the Soulsville Foundation. Like Mednikow, these organizations know their brands and work diligently so that everything they do is consistent with building the brand for the long term. Even as different as these organizations are, you will find that there are certain common themes that are consistent among our approaches. One of these is a great love for Memphis and the people of our community. Each of us expressed the heartfelt opinion that it is not enough to be about or for Memphis, we must "be" Memphis.

The Mednikow brand continues to grow and flourish in both Memphis and Atlanta. My children are years away from deciding if they want to be in the family business, but if they choose this path, you can be assured that they will be well-versed in what it means to be a guardian of the Mednikow brand.

Respectfully,

Jay A. Mednikow

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POIS MOI COLLECTION

Table of Contents

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A RIVER OF DIAMONDS

PEARLS OF EXPRESSION

The Blu City and the romance of the riviere

How did this wild and unique organic gem ever become knotted to the notion of "prim and proper"?

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BRANDING IN MEMPHIS

THE MEDNIKOW LEGACY

MEMPHIS MEDNIKOW REDUX

A round table discussion with Jason Wexler, Chris Wallace, Calvin Stovall, and Jay Mednikow

A classic and tasteful watch to be passed from father to son

New dĂŠcor and renovation of the Mednikow Showroom

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48 ATLANTA MEDNIKOW Mednikow expands its showroom and welcoms Migliore, Ltd.

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ROAD TRIP TO SOULSVILLE

THE WORLD OF RAY GRIFFITHS

Stephen Webster visits Stax

Spontaneous yet thoughtful answers provide insights into the designer's jewelry

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73 DREAM COME TRUE

THE PASSION OF COOMI

EVENTS AND PARTIES

A Midsummer Night's Dream receives rave reviews

Jewelry designer Coomi shares her feelings on what inspires her

Mednikow jewelry brings glamour and fun to the party

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Contributors

PHOTO BY JEFFREY HERMAN

FRANK J. OTERI Composer / music journalist Frank J. Oteri is a crusader for new compositional ideas and the breaking down of barriers.

MACHUNAS, his “performance oratorio in four colors” based on the life of Fluxusfounder George Maciunas created with Lucio Pozzi, was staged in Lithuania in 2005. Other compositions have been performed in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall and Seattle’s PONCHO Hall where John Cage first prepared a piano. Pianist Guy Livingston, the PRISM Quartet, and the Los Angeles Electric 8 have released recordings of his music. He is the Composer Advocate at New Music USA and the Senior Editor of NewMusicBox. org which he founded in 1999. He has also written articles for other publications including BBC Music, Chamber Music, Ear Magazine, Symphony, and the Grove Dictionary. In 2007, Oteri was the recipient of ASCAP’s Victor Herbert Award for his “distinguished service to American music as composer, journalist, editor, broadcaster, impresario, and advocate.”

JEAN MATHEWS, marketing and creative director for Mednikow, explains what makes her work so enjoyable. “Like the mighty Mississippi, each issue of Riviere Magazine seems to carve a path of its own making. Stories and images are gathered and before long, a central theme begins to emerge. Recently our store family has been developing greater insight into the values that define us. This thoughtful awareness of who we are, and what we aspire to be in all things makes our brand remarkable and unique. Beauty, quality, integrity, and imagination have allowed Mednikow to flourish for five generations and to also be a vital and contemporary presence in our community.

Whether it is a profile of a jewelry designer or an article about the development of the new Mednikow Legacy Watch, or the release of a record album produced by Jay Mednikow now under consideration for a Grammy nomination, we hope you will find the qualities that define our brand flowing through the pages of Riviere Magazine.”

DONNA FARNSWORTH Knowing that Stephen Webster’s visit to Memphis would be my last photo shoot for the indefinite future was bittersweet, and yet because Mednikow always made me feel like family, it provided a happy and rewarding ending. For the next few years, I plan to take a break from my 27 year career as a professional photographer and will focus on my husband Gordon and our family and my yoga studio.

JON W. SPARKS Jon Sparks is a longtime Memphis journalist who admires the grit of the Grizzlies, the sweet soul of Stax and the mission of Mednikow Jewelers to go the extra mile for its customers. Or miles, since it went to Switzerland to create their terrific Mednikow Legacy timepiece — an elegant work of art. That's the way to watch time pass. Meanwhile, in interviewing the executives of the Grizzlies, the Soulsville Foundation and Mednikow, Jon writes, "It became even clearer to me that greatness in Memphis comes from the devotion and passion of organizations like these who stay focused on what matters."

Riviere

magazine Volume Five, Issue One Fall & Winter 2014 PUBLISHER: Robert M. Mednikow MANAGING DIRECTOR AND EDITOR: Jay A. Mednikow

On the cover: Individually-made diamond hoop earrings and 72" diamond chain in platinum.

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CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Jean Mathews ART DIRECTOR: Melissa Ellis CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS: Donna Farnsworth and Ron Saltiel

A publication by Mednikow, 474 Perkins Extended, Memphis, TN 38117 901.767.2100 • riviere@mednikow.com Riviere is published by Creative Content by CMI, a division of Contemporary Media, 460 Tennessee Street, Memphis, TN 38103 www.contemporary-media.com and www.creativecontentbycmi.com ©2014, J. H. Mednikow & Co., Inc.

All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Reproduction in whole or in part of any materials contained herein without the express written permission of J.H. Mednikow & Co. Inc. is prohibited.

Diamonds A River of

IT’S NOT IMMEDIATELY CLEAR WHY “RIVIERE” IS SUCH AN APPROPRIATE NAME FOR THE MAGAZINE WE’VE CREATED FOR MEDNIKOW CUSTOMERS AND FRIENDS. Riviere is the French word for river, and with that in mind, it becomes

clear, for who has not experienced the breathtaking sight of sunlight

broken into a thousand mirrors reflected in a river’s current?

Riviere Magazine celebrates a union between Mednikow diamonds and the city we have loved for more than a hundred years,

Memph is.

A river of diamonds is composed of a single line of graduated diamonds encircling the neck. It is flexible, and the platinum or gold settings are minimal, so the diamonds appear as a sparkling river flowing along the contours of the body.

What could be more perfectly descriptive or more chic?

Because of their flattering beauty and the

magnificent manner in which they display the diamonds to their best advantage, riviere necklaces have been made for hundreds of years. There are endless variations. Usually, they taper with the largest diamonds in the front, but they can be uniform in size, or have differently shaped diamonds or even colored gemstones interspersed.

So it’s easy to understand why we chose to name our magazine after the riviere diamond necklace. Riviere Magazine celebrates a union between Mednikow diamonds and the city we have loved for more than a hundred years, Memphis, a city whose view of the mighty and romantic Mississippi River will continue to inspire us all. 

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SEASON 2014-2015

FIRST TENNESSEE MASTERWORKS SERIES

PAUL & LINNEA BERT CLASSIC ACCENTS

Ride of the Valkyries

Midsummer Night’s Dream

November 15 & 16, 2014

March 6, 2015

Mozart, Gershwin & Rachmaninoff

Beethoven Symphony No. 1

Storm Large Sings Kurt Weill

POPS

April 24, 2015

February 28 & March 1, 2015 March 21 & 22, 2015

Beethoven’s Ninth May 2 & 3, 2015

FULL SCHEDULE, TICKETS AND INFO:

901.537.2525 | MemphisSymphony.org

Home for the Holidays December 20, 2014

Tribute to Elvis: Birthday Celebration January 10, 2015

Important suite of emerald cut diamond jewelry

® , T H E D I A M O N D . T H E P R O M I S E . ™ A R E T R A D E M A R K S O F T H E D E B E E R S G R O U P O F C O M PA N I E S . © FOREVERMARK 2014. FOREVERMARK®,

A TRUE PROMISE WILL NEVER BE BROKEN Less than one percent of the world’s diamonds can carry the Forevermark inscription - a promise that each is beautiful, rare and responsibly sourced.

Forevermark is part of The De Beers Group of Companies. FOREVERMARK.COM

M I K I M OTO.CO M

Tahitian and white South Sea pearl jewelry in 18 karat gold with pave diamond clasp

Expression Pearls of

B y J e a n M a t h ew s

HOW DID THE BEAUTIFUL AND LUMINOUS PEARL, THAT WILD AND UNIQUE ORGANIC MIRACLE OF NATURE EVER BECOME KNOTTED TO THE NOTION OF “PRIM AND PROPER”? The answer is that

clichés like “pearls of wisdom” and biblical mentions have not done much to encourage a free-wheeling reputation. Yet the truth is that precious pearls, with their genius for matching moods and changing expressions can take a girl any place she wants to go!

It was fashion libertine Mademoiselle Coco Chanel who first freed pearls from their staid status by awarding them a starring role as a fun fashion accessory. Even so, pearls continued to be defined by their supporting roles, whether dutifully filling in the neckline of tailored suits at ladies’ luncheons, or dolling up little black dresses for cocktails.

Ironically, while Audrey Hepburn and Barbara Bush make for strange bedfellows, their fashion styles each contributed to a narrow interpretation of pearls that left pearls, shall we say, “stranded” in tradition.

New shapes, forms, and designs of pearl jewelry are restoring pearls to their full natural and unfettered glory. Whether nestled against the neck or dangling seductively from the ear, these exciting jewelry designs are personal, soulful and artfully adventurous. Pearls are no longer for the prim at heart.

Available in a stunning array of colors, shapes, sizes and price ranges, pearls are now chosen for what they bring to the party. Each pearl reveals a particular global and geographic heritage, whether it was plucked from the warm waters of the South Sea or the fresh waters of a river basin. It is this astonishing diversity that makes pearls a modern designer’s dream come true, providing an infinite palette from which to create jewelry as unique as the women who wear them.

Shedding the thick rough shells of the oyster, pearls are also shucking their aura of conformity and are being worn in original ways. And oh! The places they will go! 

New shapes, forms, and designs of pearl jewelry are restoring pearls to their full

natural and unfettered glory.

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Clockwise from top left: White and Tahitian South Sea cultured pearl opera length necklace with white quartz in 18k gold Golden South Sea cultured pearl cu bracelet with diamonds in 18k gold, diamond riviere necklace in platinum Golden South Sea cultured pearl necklace with diamonds in 18k gold

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IRIS and Stern Two Class Acts

Michael Stern Artistic Director

Classic by any measure CELEBR ATING 15 YEARS OF MUSIC IN MEMPHIS

Branding in

By Jon Sparks

THERE'S A LOT OF NOISE IN THE MARKETPLACE. FOR AN ORGANIZATION TO SUCCESSFULLY BE

HOW DOES YOUR BRAND FIT WITH MEMPHIS AND WHAT MEMPHIANS CARE ABOUT?

SEEN AND HEARD, BRANDING IS ESSENTIAL, NO MATTER THE SIZE, MISSION OR AUDIENCE. Take, for example, three very different Memphis enterprises: Mednikow, the Soulsville Foundation and the Memphis Grizzlies.

One is a 125-year-old high-end retailer. Another is a nonprofit dedicated to education and preservation of soul music and the 53-year-old Stax legacy. The third is a franchise that has brought NBA excitement to the city for 13 years. All different as can be, but all with much in common.

Recently, Jay Mednikow; Jason Wexler, president of business operations and Chris Wallace, general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies; and Calvin Stovall, CEO of Soulsville USA, participated in a round table discussion on the differences and similarities of the challenges of branding. 

Jason Wexler: One of the things we realized is that for the Grizzlies brand, the closer we tie to the city of Memphis’ brand, the better we do regionally and nationally and internationally. If we just tried to be like all the other teams in terms of our stadium and game experience, we wouldn’t have a unique identity and we wouldn’t have the connection with our fans that we have. We’ve really actively and consciously tried hard to tie our game experience and our brand engagement to what we think the city of Memphis is all about — its heritage, its legacy, where it’s at right now and where we think it’s going.

We’ve had more success in the last four or five years in connecting to our fans than if the team had just come to town.

Calvin Stovall: It’s a very simple answer for me: Stax is Memphis and vice versa. Everybody knows that soul music — that unique differentiated sound that only Stax Records created — people know Memphis for that. They know, and that’s what they know us for, so that’s a very easy answer.

Jay Mednikow: Yes, I agree with Jason and Calvin. You not only have to know Memphis, you have to be Memphis.

Mednikow has been woven into the fabric of this city for 125 years now, and we understand this market and the customers. We definitely do things our own way.

If you compare us to other jewelry stores in other cities,

PHOTO BY BRIAN ANDERSON

we’re different. Now, some of those differences would not be apparent to a casual observer, but as a jeweler, I can walk into jewelry stores when I’m in other cities and see how different they are.

A case in point: the very first year we did Riviere magazine many years ago, we hired a firm that specialized in private magazines. They came back with a magazine that was too generic for us. Subsequently, we’ve been producing it ourselves in Memphis so that it matches what our customer base is all about. That’s one of our strengths: we’re local, and we know our market is unique. So yes, I agree with Jason and Calvin. You not only have to know Memphis, you have to be Memphis.

WHAT VALUES DEFINE YOUR BRAND? Wexler: There are two facets to that question. One is on the basketball side, and Chris Wallace can speak more to that.

On the basketball side it’s about creating a culture of winning.

All the support that our players and coaches and front office need, from top to bottom, in order to have the maximum possible success for the circumstances we’re in, we want to be able to provide.

Whether it’s the latest in technology, the latest in personnel and training, food and nutrition — whatever the most recent developments are, we want to be there to provide them.

On the business side, it’s really about outstanding customer service at all levels.

We want to provide a great experience.

We want all of our customers, all of our fans to come in and have a great experience, whether they’re enjoying the Grizzlies at FedEx Forum or at home. We have a huge range of customers — something you might be able to relate to, Jay — we have our premium clientele and we want the premium clientele to have a fabulous premium experience. We want every person who comes through the door at FedExForum to leave feeling good about the experience they had, the time they spent there and the money they spent there.

Stovall: To dovetail off that, our situation is very unique. I don’t think you can go anywhere and find on the same campus a museum, a charter school and a music academy, all of which has its complexities 30 | R i v i e r e

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but also the common thread of music. Of course, soul music is that common core value that we want in all of our efforts, whether they are about education, our community outreach and engagement, our performances, or involving the community in what we’re doing here.

Community engagement is definitely one of our biggest core values as well as the education piece of it and again, helping create and build futures for our kids here in the network, because as you know, the Memphis market, the southeastern region, the education level is challenging, so we want to do everything we can to prepare our kids for a better future.

Doing it through music is helpful, very helpful, because people can engage with that. It’s easy for people to grasp and to feel good about. We love what we do here, we have so many supporters that love what we do here, so now it’s a matter of continuing to build awareness and get more donors and people to support us. The legacy of Stax, of course, that brand is known internationally as well as domestically, so now they’re bringing me in as a marketer, and we’re going to do everything we possibly can to push that out there even more and get more relevant to the community around us and outside of this market.

Mednikow: Memphis is a tightly knit community and like the Grizzlies and like Stax, we have a wide range of customers. Yes, we have our premium customers but we have things in any price range. Our goal is to help people build a quality jewelry wardrobe, to build, literally, a lifetime relationship with them, starting with an engagement ring and going through all their life occasions.

Start with the basics — a man starts his wardrobe with a blue blazer, khaki pants, and a white shirt. Then he starts branching out, eventually reaching a point where every piece is a unique reflection of his style. But the blue blazer always has its place in the wardrobe.

The same is true in building a woman’s jewelry wardrobe — starting with the basics, like a strand of pearls and simple earrings, and then eventually branching out into unique pieces that reflect her personal style. We’re always trying to build on previous purchases and build a jewelry wardrobe. Every choice has to

Jason Wexler

our family, supporting the communities that support us through our involvement with charities and events. We all feel that way about what we do. But in the end, yes, we are of course about running a business, not a museum. We can’t simply put beautiful items in our showcases just so people can look at them. They have to sell at some point.

Jay Mednikow be carefully considered, because making a mistake in a jewelry purchase is very expensive. If they get a piece of jewelry they never wear, it’s not a good thing.

Our goal is to help people find the right jewelry for their needs at any stage of life at any price point and pair that purchase with a quality experience.

Chris Wallace: I think we have a longestablished tradition — if you can have a tradition — if 14 years is long enough, but I don’t know another organization that has been more consistent throughout the entire organization of basketball, through all the various departments and ownership, in reaching out to the community in myriad ways. We’ve won two major awards, one on the national and international level, for the philanthropic efforts of our Grizzlies Foundation. Our players are constantly out in the community, officially in all sorts of events and unofficially. I’ve been with Zach Randolph before at a restaurant for lunch and at least 15 people ask, not just for autographs anymore, because we’re in the cell phone picture era, so everybody wants a picture AND an autograph. He’s been as gracious with the first one as the last.

I really believe in the last four years, this has been the golden era of our franchise, and not just success on the court such as winning our first playoff game, playoff series, the numerous players honored by the NBA All-Star, All-NBA, All-Defensive recognitions, but it is also very significant that the connection between the city of

Memphis, which is a great basketball city, the best basketball city in the South — and our team has, you could say, been re-attached. It became a little frayed for a while. Yes, but we’re re-attached, and it’s stronger than ever before, and we have a generation of young people growing up that really don’t know anything but the Grizzlies and the Grizzlies being important to this community.

WHAT’S THE TOP PRIORITY FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION? Wallace: The reality of pro sports is, you’ve got to win. You can do wonderful things off the court with the bully pulpit that professional sports gives you in your community, and I think that’s very high on any team’s list of priorities as it should be, but if you don’t win, the fans aren’t coming, the interest level won’t be there and you quickly won’t be relevant.

Mednikow: It’s interesting you say that, Chris…about winning. I guess in the end, running a profitable business and making sales has to be the primary concern of any business. But that’s something that happens naturally if you do everything else right. As you also say, there’s so much more that we all do that is indirectly coming back to that goal: offering high-quality jewelry that matches the tastes of our customers, taking care of our employees as if they are

Stovall: In our case, our priority is twofold. One is to preserve the legacy of Stax Records and the impact it’s made not only in the Memphis community but in the world. The Stax artists are world renowned and we have a younger generation that’s coming up now that really doesn’t know about Stax Records and the foundation that Stax put in the music industry, so it’s critical to preserve that legacy.

And secondly, we care about the kids and their future. Because of Stax Music Academy and the Soulsville Charter School, we are making sure that through the music, we are creating education and a future for these kids. That’s what’s critical for us.

HOW DO YOU CONNECT WITH THE COMMUNITY AND SHARE ITS VALUES IN A MEANINGFUL WAY? Stovall: We do it in a number of ways.

We have somebody on our team whose job is to help us to focus on community engagement. We have a STAX to the MAX event here and we invite the immediate community. I think about 10,000 people attend and it further engages the community so they can feel they’re a part of what we’re doing here on the campus.

The Stax Music Academy is always out performing, whether it’s at The Peabody and all around the Memphis market. We are really trying to get the community engaged in what we’re doing here and doing it in a number of ways through our community outreach as well as community engagement. We’re trying to build a donor base and people can’t support what they don’t know, so everything that we do we’re trying to let people see what we’re doing here on campus and how it is benefitting the kids as well as how it’s going to benefit the community and the world. I think we do a pretty good job — we could do a lot better and we’re working on that from an awareness FA L L & W I N T E R 2 0 1 4

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Calvin Stovall

"You not only have to know Memphis, you have to be Memphis. Mednikow has been woven into the fabric of this city for 125 years now, and we

understand this market and

the customers."

— Jay Mednikow

and walks into our store, they’re generally a customer for life. They realize that we’re approachable and friendly. Even the generations of families that have shopped with us began at one time as an individual who walked through the door for the first time. You can’t build a business on a single transaction — so we must build the business one customer at a time — and keep them for life.

standpoint. You’re going to see us out there a lot more doing some really amazing things.

Mednikow: We also try to build real relationships with the community and with our customers. Unlike a chain-only store or a nonlocal jewelry store, we are part of this community and we’re looking for long-term customers over a lifetime, not a single transaction. Our sales people get to know their customers and get to know about their kids and birthdays and anniversaries and all these life events. We also get involved with the charities that are important to our customers and we send out cases of jewelry to events with a salesperson or two to show it for them so that people can try on the donated auction items. We engage our customers over the long term, not for just a single transaction, and it builds on itself.

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Stovall: That’s one of the things we want to try to do more. Once we get people here, that’s the key. We get them here and tell them about what we’re doing and they see the museum and the school and the academy — and it will hook you in. So we’ve been really focused on trying to engage people into just getting into the campus. That’s going to be a critical thing we do going forward. Past artists, current artists and of course just the regular community. I recently had a party here at the museum and probably 90 percent of the folks didn’t even know it was here. That to me says there’s a huge opportunity where we can do a better job in letting the community know we’re here and what this is about.

Mednikow: In the business world, we call it threshold resistance — when someone is reluctant to cross the threshold.

Once a customer crosses that threshold

Wexler: Fortunately we have so many ways to reach people and interest is so high. We have over a million likes for the Grizzlies on Facebook and 300,000 on Twitter. Social media is a super powerful tool for our organization as well as general media with our TV broadcasts and radio broadcasts and then just the coverage our organization gets. What we try to do through all that, though, is let folks know that (a), we care about them as individuals — our ticketholders, our fans, our diehards and (b), we try to get the message out about all that we do as an organization and it’s not always just about what happens on the floor. It’s about what happens behind the scenes, about our involvement with the community with the Grizzlies Foundation and community investment. We try and use all those media tools that we have to convey a complete picture of our organization and not just what you might see in the sports page.

soulsvillefoundation.org

Chris Wallace, Vince Carter and Coach Dave Joerger Stovall: We do a great event, the STAXtacular which will be on February 7th of next year, so we’re working closely with these guys to make this event even bigger, bolder and badder than it’s ever been.

We’re really excited about doing things a little bit differently because I think we were at capacity last year, so we’re actually thinking about trying to do some things on the outside of the buildings here so we can get more people in for that event because it’s so popular. I’m really looking forward to that planning session.

Mednikow: That’s an event we also get involved with. The STAXtacular is a fundraiser where all three of our organizations are coming together. Even though we’re vastly different in some ways, we all have some serious synergies in that kind of event.

HOW DO YOU SUCCESSFULLY COMMUNICATE YOUR BRAND? Mednikow: It all comes down to being consistent with your brand. Which is what this round table discussion is about. You’ve got to hammer away at it and know who you are and know who you’re not and do it consistently over a long period of time.

Wexler: It’s also about increments, not just about relying on the brand you created but you’ve got to do the heavy lifting and hard work every single day. Every customer, 34 | R i v i e r e

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every customer interaction, every aspect of how you run your organization, you’ve got to remember that higher goal and that higher brand and that if it’s a negative interaction, then you’re chipping away at the brand and it’s harder to maintain it and get it back to where you need to be.

Mednikow: Every customer one by one.

We don’t sell to big groups of people, we sell to each customer as an individual.

Wallace: Memphis is a big small town, and if you have a negative interaction with one person, it’s not in a vacuum. You’ve had a negative interaction with maybe as many as 10 people, because they will tell their family, they will tell their friends — 10 may not even cover how it mushrooms out. You’re in Boston, New York, LA, somebody can get mad at you and it doesn’t make any difference.

You can find a whole other group of people to latch onto — it’s an unlimited bucket to draw from. That’s not the case here. You have to make certain that you make everybody feel important that deals with what you deal with. Our players do a good job of that. They’re very accessible. I see them all the time taking time to talk to people. We get all sorts of requests, like can you get this card signed for my son’s birthday, that type of thing, and you’ve got to do that and do it joyfully. Understand where you are and that those things are important and rightfully so.

Stovall: We live in a very, very, very crowded marketplace. People get distracted so

easily, so fast. What’s important for all of us is creating that differentiated experience that people will want to come back for and see and experience over and over. It’s that emotional connection with your customers and whether it’s donors or prospects or whatever, having that relevancy where they can have something that connects them to what you’re doing — that’s critical and we really try to do that through music, through the school, through the museum by really being a part of people’s lives and letting them see how they can be involved. That’s where, if you want to have a brand and be out there for a long time, like you said, that one transaction’s not going to do it. It’s got to be a continuous, building relationship, cultivating that relationship over years so that they can support you forever. That’s what we want to do. A friend of mine used to say, if you have the only hot dog stand in town, your hot dogs don’t have to be that good. But when you’re not the only one … There are a lot of museums here in Memphis and we have to create something that’s different and try to get people here. Like I said before, once I get you here, we can put our hooks in you and keep you forever.

Mednikow: There are a lot of jewelry stores here too, not only physical stores, but everybody can shop online. There’s only one basketball team here, actually there’s two when you count the University of Memphis, but people can get their sports entertainment other ways, so we’re all in this digital world facing competition everywhere and we have to be on our A game all the time.

ANYTHING ELSE? Stovall: You’ve got to be careful who you partner with in branding. Everything isn’t created equal. I get calls all the time and I’m sure you do all the time wanting to partner. So I love having the Grizzlies Foundation and Mednikow — those are quality brands. They fit and make sense.

But you’ve got to be your own brand steward and know when it doesn’t fit.

Some people will jump on any partnership and you’re like, wait a minute, man, are you sure that’s what you want to do? Because you can deteriorate your brand. You’re going to be the company you run with. 

soulsvillefoundation.org

Legacy The Mednikow

B y J o n W. S p a r k s

SOMETIMES ITEMS OF CLASSIC DESIGN AND SOPHISTICATION ARE, IRONICALLY, THE “LATEST THING.” A recent article in the Wall Street Journal noted the trend to classic, simple watch styles with the headline “A Simpler Time for Men’s Watches.” The story was a validation to Mednikow, which was already in the final stages of production for the new Mednikow watch.

The latest thing being offered at Mednikow is the Legacy men’s watch, an elegant timepiece with a slightly retro feel that Jay Mednikow says is the finest watch to bear the company’s imprimatur.

“We chose to make a classic watch, because that’s what our customers are demanding,” says Mednikow.

“And we wanted to do it at a reasonable price. I’m proud to offer this extraordinary value to my customers, which is what our whole business is about.”

How Mednikow was able to offer a first-rate watch for half the cost of similar international brand name watches is a story in itself.

But first, let’s take a look at this minimalist beauty.

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"Every

detail has to be perfect ect

to make the whole more than n the sum of the parts."

—Jay Mednikow w

“It tells the time and date — and in the h case off the h chronograph, has a stopwatch feature — and that’s enough,” Mednikow ednikow says of the watch. There are choices in straps, but ut otherwise, that’s it — no calendars, no moon phases, s, no apps or alarms. It is, in fact, a classic and beautifully ully crafted accessory that, as Mednikow says, is a “little tle mechanical marvel designed to last for a hundred years.” ars.”

There is another nother way to admire the marvel: Toney Walsh III, Mednikow’s watch brand manager, says, “Each of ourr watches has a clear back so you can see the mechanics of the watch. Now, that’s nothing new and it doesn’t have ave to be there, but for the wearer, it’s a kind of secret. Twice wice a day, when you put it on and take it off, you’re reminded nded what’s actually happening in such a small profile. e. ” “Watches are one of the few pieces of jewelry that a man will wear,” ar,” Mednikow says. “Men’s jewelry is a small segment of the he jewelry business, and most men don’t feel comfortable saying they wear jewelry. Shakespeare said, ‘A rose by any ny other name,’ and similarly, a watch is a piece of jewelry — but you don’t have to call it jewelry. It’s a watch. It appeals peals to the sensibility of men just as jewelry appeals to women for its beauty and artistry and what it symbolizes. es. Men don’t have the same attachment to jewelry that women do, but they do have an attachment to mechanical functions and masterful works of engineering.”

The choices es made in designing the Mednikow Legacy came me about because Mednikow pays attention to its customers. customers.

“We asked d our sales people to come up with ten watches, tches, any quality, any price, any brand, with features that their customers want,” Walsh says. The group is diverse and nd knowledgeable about their

customers. “Th This isn’t just a watch h that h Jay put together h thinking it would work. This is something that has been researched extensively.”

“Every detail has to be perfect to make the whole more than the sum of the parts,” Mednikow says. “This is all about something classic and tasteful: a legacy that can be passed from father to son.”

“We learned what size and thickness of the watchcase are important, how the strap should fit, how the buckle should fit,” Mednikow says. “Putting a watch together is more of an assembly process than a piece of jewelry, which is more of a manufacturing process.”

The dial alone means choosing between Roman numerals or Arabic numbers, serif or sans serif fonts and sizes. There’s the style of the hands and the second hand. And then there’s the strap: “We specify certain skins and colors and grain patterns and stitching,” says.

Mednikow says.

Neither strap nor buckle do a thing to make the watch run, but they’re necessary, visible and, thus, get a lot of attention.

This is all about something classic and tasteful: a legacy that can be passed from father to son.

The Mednikow Legacy has what’s called a deployant clasp, an elegant alternative to the traditional throughbuckle found on most watches. “The strap fits into the clasp,” Walsh says, “and it just clips over.” It’s smooth and less cumbersome than wrangling a tang through a hole in the strap.

There’s yet another advantage: “Back in the repair department,” Walsh says, “I see that straps with a through-buckle tend to wear out from the bending.

Straps made of skin, especially alligator skins, crack big time after a while.”

“We’ve taken a step forward in the watch manufacturing business with this model,” Mednikow says. The key was finding a watch manufacturer that could meet our specifications without compromise but do it in smaller quantities.

“We found a Swiss factory that makes watches for several other international brands,” he says. “They were able to work with us for small batch manufacturing.

The cost structure of the international watch business is such that it has driven up the prices of nice watches to very high levels. So, we went straight to a factory and cut out several layers of distribution, and we don’t have an international advertising campaign. This allows us to bring the same 100% Swiss-made watch to our customers for half the price of anything comparable.”

The Mednikow Legacy is an incredible timepiece, but this doesn’t mean that Mednikow is anywhere near finished. Ladies’ watches are coming, and the next model of men’s watch is being developed. “It’s a diving watch,” Mednikow says. “It’s more durable — not that our customers wear them while they’re deep sea diving.

It’s a stylistic choice, and they’re built to withstand greater shock and are more water resistant, a testament to the quality of the watch. The key is that we’re finally able to produce really high-quality watches and bring an incredible value to our customers. That’s what it’s all about — we’re here for our customers.” 

The latest thing being offered at Mednikow is the Legacy men’s watch, an

elegant

timepiece with a slightly retro feel that

Jay Mednikow says is the finest watch to bear the company’s imprimatur.

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NUTCRACKER

Live in the

M O M E N T with us.

B A L L E T M E M P H I S O R G

THE ORPHEUM DEC -

I AM

P L AY H O U S E O N T H E S Q UA R E FEB -

S WA N L A K E THE ORPHEUM A P R -

Mednikow Memphis

Redux

“Luxury doesn't mean overwhelming the senses,” says Mednikow, “whether with intrusive music, distracting colors, or elaborate displays. Instead, we believe that

luxury

is defined by an absence of distractions, and our jewelry becomes the focal point.”

Jay Mednikow, Bonnie Manson and Bob Mednikow

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P h oto s B y M a r t h a Va n z a n t

CHANGE FOR THE BETTER IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING, BUT MAJOR RENOVATIONS CAN BE A STRESSFUL CHALLENGE. For a fine jewelry store with a constant stream of customers and a showroom filled with heavy showcases, a construction project calls for some creative solutions.

As any homeowner knows, a renovation should not be entered into lightly. To ensure a successful re-do, the most important thing is to have a well-thought-out plan — and patience.

For this remodeling, Mednikow turned to Bonnie Manson, who was the interior designer for the showroom's last major remodel in 1991. Her updated design brings a spaciousness and “lightness of being” that reflects her belief that when one enters a space, one should feel the mood of the room within five seconds.

Jay Mednikow echoes the designer’s sentiments, saying, “As happy as we are with the way the new décor looks, it is not the individual details that were painstakingly reviewed, but the overall feel that matters most. We offer the most beautiful and highest quality jewelry in Memphis, and the best thing we can do is to let the jewelry speak for itself. Our intent was to create a quiet oasis of calm, a place where our customers can relax and slow down.”

The greater sense of expansiveness is created by the silvery, textured wallpaper that reflects light and mirrors, which serves the dual purpose of allowing customers to enjoy and appreciate how a piece of jewelry appears when it is worn. Manson says, “Mirrors are always a magical design element in any room.”

A huge impact is made by the custom carpet that is comfortably cushy. The plush softness of the carpet is contrasted with the sparkling, black galaxy granite of the foyer.

Adding to the silvery sense of light, chandeliers of etched frosted glass are suspended by silver cording and tassels on either side of the store. “It’s chic and understated,” explains Manson.

And that’s exactly the quality that Jay Mednikow says he hoped to see expressed in the renovation.

“Luxury doesn't mean overwhelming the senses,” says Mednikow, “whether with intrusive music, distracting colors, or elaborate displays. Instead, we believe that luxury is defined by an absence of distractions, and our jewelry becomes the focal point.” 

“As happy as we are with the way the new décor looks, it is not the individual details that were painstakingly reviewed, but the overall feel that matters most. We offer the most beautiful and highest quality jewelry in Memphis, and the best thing we can do is to let the jewelry speak for itself. Our intent was to create a quiet

oasis of calm, a

place where our customers can relax and slow down.”

—Jay Mednikow

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Mednikow Atlanta

Continued Growth

FORMERLY LOCATED WITHIN UPSCALE PHIPPS PLAZA, MEDNIKOW ATLANTA CLOSED ITS DOORS IN THE MALL AND OPENED NEW ONES LAST FALL AT A STELLAR, FREE-STANDING STORE SITUATED IN BUCKHEAD ON BUSTLING PEACHTREE ROAD. This year, on the first anniversary of the new store, Mednikow expanded its showroom and added additional display space to serve its customers better.

Jay Mednikow explains, “Jewelry is a long-term business.

The products we sell are designed to last a lifetime and then be passed down to the next generation.”

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“Really good jewelry stores are in it for the long run too.

We first opened our Atlanta store in 1995 with a thirty-year vision. Few businesses these days think in terms of thirty years, but at Mednikow, we’ve already got 125 years under our belts, so thirty years is just another step.”

In 1995, Bob and Jay Mednikow saw an opportunity in the Atlanta market and decided to pursue it. Even then, their long-term goal was to have a store front on a prestigious street in Atlanta, but the best choice at the time was to open inside a mall. With no name recognition in Atlanta at the time, Mednikow felt that the credibility of the luxury mall and luxury neighbors would help people in the new market understand and more readily accept the Mednikow brand and tradition of excellence.

But the ultimate dream was always a street-level store, and now that dream has finally come true.

Mednikow believes that years of continual advertising and a presence

“Few businesses these days think in terms of thirty years, but at Mednikow, we’ve already got 125 years under our belts, so thirty years is just another

step."

—Jay Mednikow

inside prestigious, elegant Phipps Plaza allowed Mednikow to establish itself as a leading jeweler in Atlanta, enabling the new store to quickly stand on its own.

John Thompson, who has enjoyed nineteen years with Mednikow, heads the Atlanta staff. Thompson’s expertise in jewelry wardrobing is greatly appreciated by his many customers. According to Mednikow, “John is so familiar with his customers’ collections that he is able to offer thoughtful advice that maximizes both the enjoyment and the investment values of their jewelry.”

It’s probably no coincidence that the interior of the new store is vibrant and filled with light. The same

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Mednikow and Migliore: The Perfect Match After a lifetime of creating fine quality jewelry for a discerning clientele and 24 years in the same Buckhead location, Wynn Henderson

“Jewelry is a long-term business.

and Don Montgomery have relocated their custom

The products we sell are designed

design studio to Mednikow.

to last a

Jewelry lovers will find per-

lifetime and then be passed

down to the next generation.”

sonalized, elegant creations and an array of custom-made

—Jay Mednikow

jewelry pieces that evoke the signature Migliore look.

energy is in Mednikow’s voice as he states, “We don’t strive to be a large chain of stores, and we currently have no plans for any other stores. We’d rather concentrate on continuing the growth trajectory we started in Atlanta nineteen years ago. We still have another eleven years to go in our 30-year plan.” 

Combining Wynn Henderson's imagination and expertise

Don Montgomery, Bob Mednikow, and Wynn Henderson

with Mednikow's extensive diamond collections and high fashion jewelry, whether traditional or cutting edge, gives shoppers a world of possibilities to explore. Migliore's clientele can expect the same attention to detail in design, execution, appraisal and repairs as in the past. Customers will discover an easy bespoke jewelry experience where the client is an intimate member of the design experience from the first sketch through the final presentation.

The newest doors to Mednikow can be found at 3384 Peachtree Road in the heart of Buckhead, adjacent to Lenox Square Mall and Phipps Plaza, and nestled among the best hotels and restaurants in the city.

"It's the perfect match for the two of us," says fifth-generation jeweler Jay Mednikow. "Wynn and Don have our beautiful showroom for meeting their customers, yet they don't have to be present every minute of every day, because the Mednikow staff will be there to serve their customers when they are not available."

Mednikow extends what is obviously a heartfelt invitation, “We welcome all of our customers to both of our stores—the new store in Atlanta and the newly remodeled store in Memphis. We’re extremely happy to serve our customers in both Atlanta and Memphis with stores that offer a luxurious and personal shopping experience.”

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Road trip to

Soulsville B y J e a n M a t h ews

P h oto s B y D o n n a Fa r n s wo r t h

DURING THE ’60S AND ’70S—YOU DIDN’T NEED TO GO TO STAX—IT CAME TO YOU. The Memphis Sound washed over the world in a tide of hit 45’s and golden records. All you had to do was turn on your transistor radio, drop the needle, or put a quarter in the juke box.

Soulsville, the home of Stax records, is situated on McLemore Avenue in Memphis, Tennessee—part of a sprawling campus that includes not only the original sound studios of Stax, but a museum, Stax Music Academy, and the Soulsville Charter School. The legendary music of the studio continues to play on, but now it is also possible to take in its sights and re-live its history. Everyone arrives with their own treasured memory of a Stax song or a Stax artist. And everyone comes by their Soulsville experience a different way.

This past May, London jewelry designer Stephen Webster and his friends were on a road trip from New York to Las Vegas in a 1959 Thunderbird and a 1986 Aston Martin V8 convertible. Their unconventional route included a leisurely dip through the south, and after a night in Nashville, they drove on to Memphis only to discover that on Sunday afternoons, the gates of Graceland close to visitors at 4 p.m. Hearing about their dashed "Maybe they’ve heard of some landmark or tourist attraction like plans, Lisa Allen, director of the Stax museum, Graceland, but when you visit a place like Stax, it’s only then you graciously invited the group of travelers to drive on over to the Stax museum, and in less than a half begin to something about the fabric of a place.” hour, they found themselves standing in the sweltering Memphis heat beneath the red-and-white —Stephen Webster checkered tiles of the Stax marquis.

“Before visiting Stax I really didn’t know what to expect, but I knew I’d find something amazing,” stated Webster. “I’ve been on lots of road trips and my travels throughout the U.S. have allowed me to understand just how unique cities like Memphis can be. So many people have not traveled widely throughout the states and are only aware of major cities on either coast. Maybe they’ve heard of some landmark or tourist attraction like Graceland, but when you visit a place like Stax, it’s only then you begin to understand something about the fabric of a place.”

Webster continued, “I also knew that I had always enjoyed Stax artists like Marvin Gaye, Booker T, and Otis Redding—and it was that Memphis sound, not Motown, that I liked, because

understand

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the Stax sound is cooler. It has an edge.

It’s authentic and not manufactured. It’s as if there is something in the soil, and Stephen Webster like that vicinity and neighborhood is holy ground.”

Webster and company spent the rest of the afternoon touring Stax as Museum Director Lisa Allen shared anecdotes and pointed out various items on display. “I love that people come to Stax having heard the music, and then through their visit, they learn about the history and the legacy of the music so that they understand so much more about its importance,” states Allen.

The group began their visit by viewing an engaging documentary and by that time, jeweler Jay Mednikow, whose stores in Memphis and Atlanta carry Webster’s designs, arrived to greet them and walk with them as they enjoyed the exhibits and strolled around the beautifully designed museum. Mednikow, who grew up across the street from Isaac Hayes' ex-wife remembers playing in the soul legend's fur-lined Cadillac as a boy, and was happy to share that memory with the guests when they rounded a corner and discovered Hayes’ resplendent, spinning Cadillac with its gold-plated bumpers..

“When you are standing in front of that Caddy, you’re just full of smiling," says Webster, “How could you not be? I mean, look at that car—it was ridiculous, but it’s Isaac Hayes saying to us, ‘Look! I’m having fun here!’ He had success and money and he enjoyed buying that Caddy and customizing it and then he did something that in his day was really extraordinary—he put in a refrigerator! Even today, that’s what we want our heroes and the people who give us pleasure and entertainment to do—we want them not to have an ordinary life!”

Stephen Webster’s jewelry has a rock star charisma of its own, and an edgy, completely original look that Webster describes as a “celebration of life and a way of sharing the joys of living and all of the things that I love.” Webster adds that sometimes there is a direct line between what he discovers on his travels, and at other times it is more indirect. Music plays a big role.

“Music inspires me, I LOVE music,” he says with passion. "It influences my jewelry designs because it has the power to influence how I feel about a particular design concept—which can drive my design team crazy, because it takes some time and some explaining to get them to come around to what I mean, to what I am trying to say and to why I find it so captivating. I’m just so lucky now at this stage of my work to be able to share what gives me pleasure and share that joy with other people.”

It’s no surprise given the travelers' own exotic transportation that Isaac Hayes’ Cadillac would be a favorite exhibit. Laughing, Webster recalls a time when his daughter was about 15, and she showed him her calculator. “It was such an ordinary thing, and I said, ‘Let’s spray it gold!’ And we did—and we had such a laugh about it!

And that’s what Isaac Hayes did—he added gold to his Cadillac and turned it into something truly extraordinary through embellishment.”

“Music inspires me, I LOVE music, he says with passion. "It influences my jewelry designs because it has the

power to

influence how I feel about a particular design concept."

—Stephen Webster

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The mention of embellishment also made Webster thoughtful about his own jewelry designs. “When you think about it, jewelry is considered both necessary and unnecessary. There’s engagement and wedding rings when it symbolizes a marriage, and sometimes it symbolizes the birth of a child. Then other times, maybe it’s completely frivolous, but jewelry is always a celebration of life.”

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Following their visit, Webster continued to discuss Stax with Allen, who said that Webster was so enthralled by what he had seen that he asked what he could do himself to help the organization. “I told him, ‘Well, we have this annual fundraiser, Staxtacular, and part of the evening includes a live auction.’”

“He said, ‘I’m in, I’ll donate a piece from my line,’ and he also is hoping that

he will be able to attend our event — which would truly be wonderful,” adds Allen.

Reached just before heading back to London, Webster affirmed that he does indeed hope to make it back to Memphis for the party in early 2015. “I’m a convert,” he said sincerely, “and I would love to come back.” 

“Helen� bead necklace with diamonds, earrings, and layered necklaces by Yossi Harari

World of The

Ray Griffiths

AUSTRALIAN-BORN JEWELER RAY GRIFFITHS HAS BEEN CREATING EXQUISITE JEWELRY FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS. In 1997, Ray arrived in New York with a

generally modernist aesthetic and soon realized his style wasn’t all that uncommon in the big apple. His unique signature crownwork style reflects his desire to separate himself from the past through original designs.

Drawing inspiration from architecture and antiquity, Ray designs and builds his masterpieces, all of which are created by hand, in his light-filled 5th Avenue atelier. Ray is not just a master designer and craftsman but also passionate about gemstones. The stones he chooses to set within his works of jewelry art are all individually selected according to the piece of jewelry. Ray strives to enhance the natural beauty of the stone through the design of the jewel. Renowned for his exquisite metalwork, profound technical skills, and exquisitely cut gemstones, Ray produces timelessly elegant jewelry.

We were curious about this creative designer so we caught up with him recently and asked him the following questions. We are sure you will agree that Ray's spontaneous and thoughtful answers prove that he is as fabulous as his jewelry.

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R: When not designing beautiful jewelry and enjoying photography, my go-to “just for fun” creative outlet is . . .

RG: Cooking. I love to have friends over for dinner parties and cook a beautiful meal. I love running around the city to my favorite stores, buying beautiful ingredients then going home, throwing on some Nina Simone and cooking up a storm.

R: Jewelry you are most likely to wear everyday . . .

RG: A ring, I have never been afraid of a big statement ring. I have my favorites that I rotate and I like to make myself something new every season.

R: No jewelry wardrobe is complete without . . .

RG: A piece of Ray Griffiths' jewelry . . . And something you feel an emotional connection to, that you can pass on to a loved one.

R: Describe the studio where you create.

RG: It’s a beautiful bright airy space high up in the Manhattan sky overlooking the Empire State Building. Its full of natural light, which I need to grade stones and has the most amazing big half-circle window with the original brass fixtures. I had my eye on this office for years and jumped on it the second it became available.

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R: What is it about your jewelry that makes you happy?

RG: That I have my own style, I spent years developing the crownwork that runs through all my jewelry. It speaks of the history of jewelry, my history as a designer and my design inspirations. I worked hard to create my line in my voice and I am extremely proud of it.

R: If you weren’t making jewelry—what would you be making?

RG: I would be a sculptor; it’s still my dream to live upstate one day and sculpt.

R: How did you become a designer?

RG: My father was a shoemaker and I used to spend my weekends in his workshop; this is where I discovered my natural affinity for craftsmanship. When I was 15 I began an apprenticeship to the masters at the oldest jewelry house in Australia, Dunklings, where I learned the art and construction of fine jewels. I obtained my degrees in gemology and diamond technology then spent years travelling the world and living in Europe.

When I returned to Sydney I became the head designer for Sydney’s “it” jewelry store at the time and my career as a designer really began.

R: What inspires you?

RG: New York City, the architecture, the people, the buzz, the soul of the city.

it makes them feel safe, there is something spiritual about the stones I use against their skin. It’s pretty special to hear that and an absolute privilege.

R: What (or who) makes you laugh out loud?

RG: My niece Ashley. She is my little "Mini-Me" and a constant

R: When you travel—what’s in your carry-on bag?

RG: Ipad, the New Yorker, cashmere scarf, chapstick.

source of joy and amusement.

R: Favorite way to enjoy the company of friends?

RG: A show, something on

R: Phrase or quote that inspires you?

RG: “Jewelry is something

Broadway, off Broadway or a little jazz club in the west village.

that takes a long time to get right. Integrating technical skills into one’s own sense of style and design occurs over time. Real jewelry isn’t seasonal, it’s evolutionary.”

R: Uh oh—these friends are coming by for cocktails and nibbles—and they are looking forward to your famous . . .

RG: G&Ts and Polenta.

R: Travel to this place inspires you?

RG: Paris. The architecture,

R: What’s your sweet tooth addiction?

RG: Apple Pie, one of the many reasons I love fall is the abundance of apples and apple pies!

the food, the music, the Parisians. I always come back from a trip to Paris feeling inspired and renewed.

R: What has your work as an artist taught you that has carried over into your personal life?

RG: An appreciation for craftsmanship and design. It can be as simple as respect for my meal by an amazing chef at a new restaurant or as complex (and expensive) as the remodel of my apartment.

R: What about your life has been a complete surprise?

RG: That I settled in New York, a dream come true.

R: What are your favorite books—and the next book you plan to read?

RG: My attention span is a little too short for books at the moment. I love the New Yorker and read it from cover to cover every week.

R: A favorite poet or poem?

RG: “My Country” by Dorothea Mackellar. It’s an iconic poem about the Australian outback and reminds me of my childhood.

R: Binge-worthy TV—any obsessions that could lead to a weekend of back-to-back episodes?

RG: I travel too much to keep up with any TV shows. My guilty

R: Best advice given to you—ever!?

RG: Never give up!

pleasure is NPR.

R: Name an everyday luxury you wouldn’t want to live without?

RG: Freedom, the freedom to choose who I want to be.

R: Do you have a favorite story that relates to someone who wears your jewelry?

RG: I have a few and they all involve the women who have worn my jewels whilst going through illness. Many women have told me that they have worn my jewels whilst battling cancer. That

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R: Colors that make you happy?

RG: Fuschia, it’s the color of my brand. 

Š 2014 John hardy Limited

Jewelry designs by Federica Rettore

ELIZABETH LOCKE JEWELS

Dream Come True B y Fra n k J . O t e r i

READERS OF RIVIERE HAVE FOLLOWED THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM – OPERA A CAPPELLA FOR SEVERAL YEARS. The full-length original opera was composed by former Opera Memphis artistic director Michael Ching after being exposed to the contemporary a cappella vocal band DeltaCappella, which Jay Mednikow founded in 2007. The ground-up collaborative approach to contemporary music was entirely different from the top-down approach of classical opera that Michael was used to.

The opera was originally staged in early 2011 in collaboration with Opera Memphis, DeltaCappella, and Playhouse on the Square. Consistently good reviews— including an especially glowing review by the Wall Street Journal's opera reviewer Heidi Waleson— encouraged Jay Mednikow to pursue a studio recording of the opera.

The final recording was signed to Albany Records, a classical label that specializes in music by American composers, and like the live production, the recorded version is also getting rave reviews. Reprinted here is one such review by the online critic for New Music Box, Frank Oteri.

“New music,” the term we use as an umbrella for the music we feature on NewMusicBox, is simultaneously a blessing and a curse for the exact same reason—the words in and of themselves don’t really mean anything terribly specific.

Music at this point can mean almost anything and the definition of new is also rather malleable; what is considered to be of recent vintage sometimes encompasses material that is more than a hundred years old despite such music not seeming chronologically new.

However, many of us seem to parse the new music from the old based on whether or not As for why it startled me, it was simply totally it’s somehow avant-garde, doing something that no one has ever done before. unexpected. It sounds nothing like what I For an artwork to be truly avantan opera based on Shakespeare would sound like. garde—whether it’s a piece of visual art, literature, or music—there needs to be an And yet it totally works. element of cognitive dissonance upon first

imagine

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encountering it. …Yet despite how difficult it is to be startled by something at this point that was precisely my reaction to the just-released recording of Michael Ching’s 2011 opera, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. But it’s not startling because its libretto is extreme or confrontational or because the music is in some esoteric stylistic idiom that has rarely been mined in a stage work. After all, the libretto is directly taken from one of the most famous plays by William Shakespeare (not a word has been altered) and the music is resolutely tonal, frequently extremely tuneful, and sometimes borders on pop.

Perhaps the most radical aspect of Midsummer is that there is no orchestra in the conventional sense. Rather every sound made to accompany what the cast sings is made by a 20-member chorus of voices—a “Voicestra.” But that too is nothing new. Aficionados of choral music or doo-wop know that a complete and completely satisfying sound world does not require anything beyond the human voice and fans of Sarah Vaughan might even remember her 1948 hit “Nature Boy,” a clever track made during the musicians’ union’s ban on recordings, in which the singer was accompanied exclusively by other singers imitating instruments. (Singers were not affected by the ban!) In more recent times, Bobby McFerrin has even used the word Voicestra to describe a group he leads made up of twelve singers from a variety of stylistic backgrounds who perform without instrumental accompaniment.

However, perhaps it’s a completely radical new idea to create an entire opera that only consists of singing.

Certainly musical instruments have been a key ingredient in opera since the Florentine Camerata established the genre as we know it today at the end of the 16th century. But, although Jacopo Peri and his cohorts claimed their efforts at dramma per musica were an attempt at reviving ancient Greek theatre, they were deeply indebted to a more contemporaneous phenomenon called madrigal comedy—

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which told stories by linking together a series of madrigals sung by a group of singers, sometimes with instruments doubling their parts, but sometimes completely unaccompanied. So opera actually has its source in unaccompanied vocal music.

Abandoning instruments has paradoxically allowed Ching to create an operatic narrative that at times is every bit as opulent as conventionally scored works, and the absence of a large group of people in a pit (and the even larger paraphernalia which they need in order to make sound) gives the opera a lightness and a freshness that makes it instantly appealing and extremely practical as well.

Ching, who served as the artistic director of Opera Memphis for nearly two decades before relocating to Iowa in 2010, certainly understands the practicalities of mounting an opera better than most composers. So this recording of the premiere production mounted by Opera Memphis in collaboration with Playhouse on the Square, featuring the combined voices of local groups DeltaCappella and Riva plus an exemplary cast who all sound totally comfortable navigating between operatic, Broadway, and even R&B idioms, will hopefully be the first of many.

As for why it startled me, it was simply totally unexpected.

It sounds nothing like what I imagine an opera based on Shakespeare would sound like. And yet it totally works.

Ultimately whether something is “new” in the avantgarde sense is not really important anymore; Ching’s score is compelling from start to finish and rewards with repeated listenings as well. And, perhaps the biggest shock of all to some denizens of “new music,” it’s lots of fun! 

Blue topaz earrings and pendant, with station necklace in 18 karat gold

The Pocket Watch Key Collection

MONICA RICH KOSANN

Pa ssion of The

Coomi

COOMI’S EXUBERANCE AND PASSION FOR LIFE IS NOT ONLY REVEALED BY HER ANSWERS TO OUR QUESTIONS IN THE FOLLOWING INTERVIEW, BUT IS EVIDENT IN ALL OF HER STUNNING AND ORIGINAL JEWELRY DESIGNS. Her creativity has flowed through many channels throughout her life, whether as a textile designer, architect, or landscape designer, and it now informs her own jewelry label which she launched in 2002. Her love of designing beautiful jewelry led Coomi to study art and her degree in art history provides her designs with a sense of timelessness as she connects her visions of jewelry for women of today with touchstones of antiquity.

From the beginning, Coomi’s feminine yet powerful lines and motifs, handcrafted in high karat gold, rose cut diamonds and precious gemstones have been met with wide acclaim, gathering industry awards and winning the attention of the press both in the U.S. and abroad.

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R: When not designing beautiful jewelry and enjoying photography, my go-to “just for fun” creative outlet is . . .

C: Cooking and writing.

R: Jewelry you are most likely to wear everyday . . .

C: Long pair of earrings and my engagement ring.

R: Describe the studio where you create.

C: Eclectic, colorful, crazy fun and very very messy.

R: What is it about your jewelry that makes you happy?

C: The history and story behind it. Also it’s very wearable and happy jewelry.

R: What inspires you?

C: Life.

R: What (or who) makes you laugh out loud?

C: My sons and their antics.

R: Phrase or quote that inspires you?

C: "Live as if you were to die tomorrow."

"Learn as if you were to live forever."

—Mahatma Gandhi.

R: Music that makes you want to dance?

C: Indian music and The Beatles.

R: Travel to this place inspires you?

C: Bali.

R: What are your favorite books — and the next book you plan to read?

C: Glass Bead Game by Hermann Hesse.

R: What has your work as an artist taught you that has carried over into your personal life?

C: How to view life as not being serious.

I plan to read The Odyssey this week again for the fifth time.

R: What about your life has been a complete surprise?

C: Success.

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R: A favorite poet or poem?

C: Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost and Octavio Paz.

R: Binge-worthy TV — any obsessions that could lead to a weekend of back to back episodes?

C: Law and Order.

R: It’s a romantic dinner for two — who are you going to call?

C: My husband and if he is not available, Richard Gere.

R: Favorite rainy day activity?

C: To curl up with a book.

R: When you travel, what little “extras” do you always pack in your carry-on bag?

C: Dark Chocolate and loads of jewelry.

R: Favorite way to enjoy the company of friends . . .

C: Cook for them and listen to good music.

R: Friends are coming by for cocktails and nibbles—they are looking forward to your famous . . .

C: Crab curry and my stand-up comedian son's entertainment.

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R: Do you have a favorite author?

C: Charles Dickens.

R: Best advice given to you ever?

C: Never look back.

R: What are the little luxuries that you enjoy every day?

C: Just waking up in the morning and looking forward to the day is the biggest luxury that I am blessed with.

R: Colors that make you happy?

C: Orange, yellow and red. 

Events and Parties at Mednikow

Jewelry from Mednikow added panache to the fashions modeled by the Germantown Charity Horse Show princesses at the annual Pegasus Spring Fashion Show and Luncheon which took place at the Hilton.

Photos By Donna Farnsworth

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Events and Parties

at Mednikow

Photos By J e a n M a t h ew s

Memphis leaders and celebs donned beautiful jewelry from Mednikow before taking to the runway to support the Salvation Army Greater Memphis Women’s Auxiliary at their “Christmas in September” festive fall fashion show that was sponsored by the Shops of Saddle Creek.

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Events and Parties

at Mednikow

Photos By J e a n M a t h ew s

Mednikow designer trunk shows are the perfect place to catch up with friends for a relaxing evening of cocktails and tempting appetizers. Whether it’s the dazzling “Designer Jewelry Showcase” or one of their singular designer trunk shows, celebrations are always festive gatherings that feature the finest jewels and the world’s most exciting designers.

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The New Mednikow Titanium Ceramic Watch

Red tourmaline ring, diamond stud and pear shape drop earrings in 18 karat gold

474 Perkins Extended, Memphis / 3384 Peachtree Road NE, Atlanta