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NEW BRAND DEBUTS WITH POWER TO TRANSFORM

(Los Angeles, CA) July 1, 2008. Designer Ian Saudē, has launched an eponymous brand of fashionable accessories featuring contemporary art and nature- inspired jewelry and cashmere lifestyle products from California's Central Coast.

This new brand, IAN SAUDĒ: IS is a departure for parent-firm, SAUDĒ & CO., the 12 year-old accessories design house that, until now, has focused on creating private label products for other designers both in Europe and the US. Saudē explains, "I wanted to create a collection that better defined my personal vision and tastes. While it is often fun (and a lot less risky!) to work to fulfill another designer's concepts and I still love to collaborate, at some point you feel the need to express yourself more fully — to do what inspires and excites you personally!"

The cornerstone to the new brand is its fine jewelry collection. Executed mainly in 18k yellow, rose and white gold, it melds modern and traditional elements to create wearable pieces with subtle detail and artistic appeal. "I was also looking around and seeing a lot of jewelry that was either very old- fashioned or super-trendy and transient in its approach," says Saudē. "I wanted to do something that brought these two extremes together — designs that felt totally inspired and contemporary but with an inherent quality — something chic, but with integrity and longevity. I also wanted to fill a void I perceived in the greater American market, by providing designs that are cutting-edge while still drawing on classic European jewelry-making traditions in terms of technique, form and minute attention to detail. You're starting to see a few designers who are taking a similar approach."

Transformation

The key message of the collection is "the power to transform," with an emphasis not only on the power of fine jewelry to change the way one presents oneself to others, but also the power of individual pieces within the collection to change by transforming themselves. "The theme of Transformation is central to my current work," Saudē explains. "The fluid and organic forms in the collection mimic natural elements caught in the process of changing, moving or melting. At a subatomic level, everything is like that anyway — nothing is as it seems. Nothing is ever fixed. But we are unaware of the subtle changes that are happening moment by moment. Our current collection aims only to highlight how things already are, naturally.

"Another kind of transformation happens when we put on a special pieces of jewelry or clothing. We suddenly see ourselves differently — maybe more dignified or elegant — and then other people pick up on this inner confidence and treat us differently. Beyond that, we are always changing over the course of our lives. So, I have tried to make many of the new pieces respond to those changes by making them adaptable. This way people can collect different elements that mean something to them and, over time, re-configure the pieces for themselves, to create objects that become part of their personal history."

The designs range from purely organic (such as the Andaman, Meteor, and Sunken Treasure collections) to sculptural-modern (such as the Celestine and Virtuoso collections) and focus mostly on colored gemstones, especially chocolate diamonds and semi-precious. An important technique is the use of micro-pavé — the classic method for covering metal with tiny stones, except that micro-pavé, as the name implies, is done with exceptionally tiny stones (down to under 1mm in diameter). Unlike ordinary pavé, micro-pavé can only be done with the help of a specialized optical apparatus used, until recently, exclusively by Swiss watchmakers. Saudē explains, "I love the way that micro-pavé conforms so closely to the contours of a design. You can achieve subtle sculptural effects and a precision that isn't possible with ordinary pavé."

The new collection is available at www.iansaude.com, through fine jewelry retailers, by private appointment and at regional trunk shows. Pieces in gold start around $1099 and at $325 for silver. Lifestyle products currently include a group of cashmere personal and home accessories starting at $240.

End of Release. Last Updated: 11/28/08