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Tilda Biehn designs, via @tilda_biehn
When Andrea Lipsky-Karasz — here wearing Tory’s silk carpenter pant — launched her jewelry collection Tilda Biehn, she looked to her great-grandmother’s spirit and style for inspiration. And her family’s strong roots and traditions run deep during the holidays, too, informing everything from her love of everything gilded and day-after “thank you” parties to holiday party jewelry style.
It must be a holdover from when we lived in London, but my family always pops crackers on Christmas Eve. Now that I’m spending the holidays with my boyfriend’s family (affectionately known as my outlaws), I’m bringing the tradition with me. I’ll have one entire suitcase dedicated to my Fortnum & Mason Christmas crackers, packed with games and gifts. After a long night of feasting, it seems only appropriate that we should all end up wearing a crown.
And holiday memory…
New Year’s Eve in Rome as a kid. I remember hiding out at the hotel because the streets were filled with falling dishes! It’s a tradition that seems both incredibly festive and incredibly treacherous.
My childhood holidays and how they inform my work now…
Hungarians tend to decorate on Christmas Eve. You spend the afternoon as a family decorating the tree, the house, the table. My brother, sister and I must have gilded thousands of walnut shells and acorns and pine cones over the years! Anything that stayed still was in danger of being coated with glitter and hung on a branch. There is a sort of magic to the sudden transformation of the house. The combination of that spontaneous artistic output and family togetherness really encapsulates what I do every day with Tilda Biehn. I always want to make work that feels special and cared for and brings people joy.
Family tradition passed on from my great-grandmother…
The “thank you party.” The night after a big party, you have to be ready to host again. People are always invited to drop by and say thank you the next day… with more champagne.
Jewelry I treasure from my great-grandmother…
A cascading waterfall of hammered silver dangling from a simple wire collar. It looks as fresh today as the day she made it, which must have been in the mid-Fifties. I can just imagine her at her jewelry bench working each piece by hand. Now that I work at her bench (and with her tools) it feels even more precious to me.
A design of mine I wear to holiday parties…
I’ve been wearing my new Comet Lariat. It’s adjustable so when I have to do a quick change from work-wear to sparkly I can just switch up the proportions to make it a dramatic, plunging drop necklace. Plus it gives me something to play with if I get a bit shy.
My holiday party jewelry style tips…
If there was ever a time to break out your grandmother’s (or mother’s or great-grandmother’s) chains, this is it. Layer on the gold. I swear it keeps you warm in the winter. Maybe a ring on every finger in lieu of gloves, too.
Favorite holiday song…
Our family soundtrack is all Rolling Stones all the time… Does that count as holiday?
My signature hostess gift…
If I ever show up to a party without a bottle of sparkling rosé, my friends would know something was terribly wrong. For a classic hostess, I adore a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Brut Rose. For a slightly rowdier crowd, I might go for one of my new favorites like the cheekily named Sex by Michigan vintners M. Lawrence.
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