Eyestylist

Designer to the stars Kerin Rose Gold says she is celebrating 11 years of a-morir, her creative eyewear, accessories and ‘objets d’art’ business in New York. Photography (above): Sophy Holland

I understand you are celebrating a milestone after a very busy 10 years! What does that feel like and has it been an exciting time for you? The 10th year went by so fast, and the studio has been busy! Believe it or not, we’re on our 11th year. a-morir started casually and took off unexpectedly, it’s been hard to keep track. I kept meaning to plan some sort of celebration or dinner for my closest friends and biggest supporters and I just confirmed an 11th birthday party at the beginning of December. I have also created an online-only collection named after some of my best friends. I’m also preparing for a digital sample sale that include some one of a kind pieces from my archive.

Is all your work in eyewear today? While eyewear is where I started and remains a-morir’s ‘heartbeat’ I’ve had the pleasure of expanding. I had been doing custom crystal work for my big eyewear clients like Rihanna and Lady Gaga, and that half of the business has expanded beyond celebrities to private clients and large corporations. I’ve had the pleasure of working with J.Lo, Missy Elliott, Serena Williams, Cardi B, Lizzo and Halsey on non eyewear projects.

I’m also releasing accessories and art ‘objets’; a-morir started out of things I’d made for myself – which I still do in my free time. When my friends have seen those pieces, they’ve asked to purchase them as well.

One of my favorite recent ventures has been working with clients on custom eyewear pieces. I go back and forth with clients via email; if they are in NYC they come to the studio for a design session. A  week later they get a custom piece shipped to their private address.

What is your fondest memory in the last years? There are many! I suppose highlights include a shout out from Rihanna on TV and being selected by Vogue Italia as a new talent in 2011. Today, every time someone orders one of my pieces online I still get a thrill. I’ve recently launched the first ever bridal eyewear line – it came with a beautiful profile on Vogue.com!

Are you located exclusively in NYC or are you travelling a lot for shows and commissions? I’m lucky that I get to stay in NYC. Nearly all of my creative collaborators and companies I work with are based here. The studio is skilled at shipping our pieces to anyone who isn’t. At the beginning of my career, I was based in a luxury accessories showroom in Europe and moved on to the Paris fashion tradeshows; I was receiving a lot of email inquiries from boutiques around the world and selling to them, but I wasn’t finding buyers at the tradeshows or in showrooms who were interested in what I was doing. Around the same time, I grew tired of doing large collections twice a year and I took a risk and went back to the way I was doing things when I first started; it has been better for me to design when I am inspired and release pieces through my website. I now try to travel just for fun. This leaves me stimulated and invigorated when I return home and get back to work.

How will you celebrate your 11th “company” birthday? With the December party…and a Zine produced with my wonderful husband. It’s a limited edition ‘self published DIY magazine’ to share our story. I see it as a ‘loveletter’ about the last 11 years.

Have you got plans for the next few years that you can talk about or is it top secret? Some things are top secret, but I look forward to finding new ways to push the boundaries of my eyewear, expanding the bridal line, creating more eyewear x jewelry sets, and doing more fun collaborations! I love the teamwork involved in collaboration, and look forward to doing fun things with brands and boutiques that I love. I’ve also finally teamed up with a wonderful lens laboratory who are handling prescriptions for my collection, and that part of the business is taking off. The lenses are beautiful and I’ve had a lot of clients get extraordinary pieces filled in their eyeglass prescription; seeing the frame transformation and how they are worn is a thrill!

What is your focus in your design work today? Tell us about the highlights in the collection for 2019. Now that I’ve gone back to my roots, I’m excited to be experimenting with over the top avantgarde pieces again. One of my most favorite recent designs is the Ayesha. I’ve had the honor of working with Preciosa Components, and am obsessed with their black plated chain. I wanted to make something extravagant out of it and this is what I wound up with! I originally said it has 75 feet of chain, (approx. 25 meters) per piece but I think it may be more. I’ve sold more of those than I have some of my more conservative releases from the same collection.

You are dressing many celebrities. What is the best thing about working closely with celebrities? Superstar celebrities have access to everything in the world – I’ve seen it first hand – knowing that they have chosen to wear something from ­a-morir is flattering because they don’t have to. I’m not giving them anything for free and I’m not paying them for endorsement – they’re doing it because they love the design and trust in my creativity and artistic process. What I do isn’t limited to celebrities, that’s also important; I have a handful of wonderful private clients in NYC and abroad. They tell me what they want and trust me to execute their vision. For more details about a-morir, visit www.a-morir.com / www.amorirprojects.com CN