Axel Russ­meyer neck­lace 2002, Glass beads, Image: Museum of Art and Design, photo credit: John Bigelow, 2008

SOFA New York opened last night, and by the crowds, you could feel the need for peo­ple to phys­i­cally trans­port them­selves from win­ter to spring. It was a lovely evening, cool but not cold (for a wel­comed change). Many, who were still mis­trust­ing Mother Nature, were in turtle­neck sweaters, while oth­ers, most of them young and chomp­ing at the bit to show some skin, wore strap­less cot­ton flo­rals that of course seemed pre­ma­ture, if not a lit­tle chilly, but we’ll excuse that first tier demo­graphic for their fash­ion zeal.

Glass in all its mag­i­cal appari­tions drove much of the show’s drama. Color and form bounced off walls, and infused trans­par­ent stat­u­ary with human affec­tiv­ity. Free form glass pipes reached out to passer­bys like fran­ti­cally beat­ing cilia. In jew­elry, it achieved a smile, and some awe.

I met Axel Russ­meyer, a sor­cerer who takes tiny glass beads and and trans­forms them into jew­els of grand pro­por­tions with painterly color palettes that have more in com­mon with Rem­brandt than Cray­ola. One neck­lace of tonal and deeply sat­u­rated hues in blue, green, brown and gray evoked the ambiance of a quiet moment in a for­est at dusk. Russ­meyer also uses antique beads obtained from items that have enjoyed a much-loved life and are no longer attrac­tive or use­ful in the con­di­tion in which he finds them. When done with sen­si­tiv­ity, re-purposing antique ele­ments per­mits con­tem­po­rary rel­e­vancy with­out vapor­iz­ing orig­i­nal con­text or beauty.

I also stopped by the Cut, Fold, Stitch exhibit hosted by the won­der­ful Aaron Faber Gallery. Owner Patri­cia Faber gave me a per­sonal tour of the cases; the cre­ativ­ity and inno­va­tion of these stu­dio jew­el­ers who have stitched in sil­ver, folded in gold, and manip­u­lated maps into jew­elry of exquis­ite tac­ti­cal vir­tu­os­ity must be seen first­hand. Faber also had fab­u­lous exam­ples of enamel work by mod­ernist Earl Par­don (1926−1991) and son, Todd, as well as bril­liant new pieces by Jeff and Susan Wise.

Open to the pub­lic, SOFA NEW YORK will run from today until the 19^th. New York’s spring sea­son may be slow in com­ing, but inside the Park Avenue Armory, you’ll expe­ri­ence all its color.