INTERVIEW || SARI-BLUE CHRISTINE LORENZO

*down for english

Christine Lorenzo'nun markası SariBlueiçin yaptıkları bizler için çok şaşırılacak ya da extreme şeyler olarak gözükmese de içinde bulunduğu kültür ortamında oldukça farklı ve otantik. Girmiş olduğu kültür etkileşimleri sonucunda nazar boncuğunu modern motifler ve gümüş gibi parçlarla da birleştirince ilk olarak Boston'a yeni bir renk getiriyor. Renk demişken markanın adı da gücünü ve anlamını onlardan alıyor. Fenerbahçe renkleri olması dışında 'sari' kendinden 'blue' da yaptıklarından geliyor. 

Her neyse Boston'da başlayan yolculuk çeşitli kişilerin radarına girdikten sonra markanın da büyümesine yardımcı oluyor. Önce en prestijli ve ünlü ödül törenlerinin gift baglerinde yaptıkları yer buluyor sonrasında da ünlülerin mücevher kutularından onun işleri çıkıyor. Ünlü demişken Ryan Gosling ve Megan Fox dersem gerisine laf düşmez sanırım.
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Mahzur görün tembelliğimi, yazının geri kalanı İngilizce olarak devam edecektir. Röportaj ise SariBlue'nun çıkış noktası, nazar boncuğunun ve koleksiyonlarında kullandığı bir başka motif olan 'çingenelerin' nereden radarına girdiği üzerine devam ediyor. 

The following interview actually planed almost months ago. But due to the busy schedule of  Sari Blue's lovely Christine Lorenzo -and mine- it is only able to be published today. Indeed, without exageration she has a reallly busy plan. Our first conversation actually happened just after the Golden Globes, when we agreed for an interview it was the time for biggest event of the year, the Academy Awards, then it continued MTV Movie Awards and Country Music Awards. And during this short period we have seen Lorenzo's designs on Jeremy Irons, Amy Poehler, Megan Fox and most importantly one and only - our ultimate style guy- the most enviable Hollywood face Ryan Gosling!

Ocean and the Continental Europe may fall us apart but the excitment of Lorenzo and all of her upcoming projects may even be felt by the 'Curiosity' which just laned on Mars. I also had the pleasure of waiting the news of her new projects; me total stranger from Istanbul knew all the huge news with a zipped mouth.

Evil Eye Bead meets with the modern touch may actually summerize what she is doing. But to get know her better, just read the interview then check her website. Shop and buy some lovely gifts. Don't forget even Gosling and Fox have them in their jewellry boxes. Oopps almost forgetting. She has eco-friendly pieces, too.

1:  Tell me about your mood now, what are you doing, how the weather is like there? 

I am in a really great mood. Unfortunately, or fortunately depends on how you look at it, I am a terminal insomniac!! It is good sometimes because I have more time in the day than most people and clearly not good because you can become out of sync with the rest of the world!  So last night and the few nights before I did not sleep at all!!  Somehow I am still in a great mood! I normally am no matter how much sleep I get. I am a very upbeat person! And why not, I am very fortunate and start each day being thankful for my life and current status; I am super happy and super lucky in every way!  Today is a simply gorgeous day, sunny, breezy, about 26°C, basically a perfect day! I am sitting in my workshop at my house, chatting with a lovely guy from Istanbul who is a key person in iconic culture (that is you camin!) I have just finished working on a custom piece of jewelry for Amy Poehler and took some very cool photographs out in the sun of the pieces, I am really thrilled with these pieces, they are somewhat a new style for me and I used some new elements in the design (various metals, and chain intermingled with beads). I hope she likes it!

2: What's the charm and spell behind the concept of the ''evil-eye'' that made you design something using it? 

About seven years ago I started to work for a start-up software development company. The headquarters is here outside of Boston, but the engineering development team was in Ankara, our CEO is a Turkish Entrepreneur. The company when I joined was moving and growing really quickly and I ended up spending a lot of time in Ankara and then Istanbul. Something about Turkey and Turkish people really drew me in, the traditions and way of life felt very similar to my family and the style of life in which I was raised. My family is Italian, and we have a huge family! I have only one sister but 14 first cousins and maybe 150+ second cousins and then the list goes on. We all know each other, or know of each other and when I was young everyone was very close, tons of family dinners, events, festivals and everyday life that included a very big extended family. My Grandmother was one of 13 siblings and my Grandfather was one of 8. So there were always other kids, Aunties, cousins around and we all were very close. My Great-Grandmother, my Noni, lived in a house connected to my Grandmother, so if I wasn’t at my Gram’s I was cutting through the basement to Noni’s. We spent every weekend as a big family until the older generation started to pass.
So when I was all of a sudden faced with learning about Turkey and its rich culture, I really had a rush of nostalgia and familiarity with the culture although it was new to me. What I have come to realize is that although Turks and Italians are different in many ways, they have more similarities than difference. Both love their families above everything else, both cultures are super passionate and culturally rich, food, music, art, style are all elements of importance in both cultures. And looking even deeper and more specifically, the Evil Eye is also something that runs in both cultures. There are differences but the theory is the same and the firm belief in this part of culture or superstition is alive and well in both. So after a bit of personal turmoil and professional upheaval with the economic unrest, I decided to finally, after a really longtime of seeking something that was more an expression of who I was, decided to launch a jewelry line based on the Evil Eye, and specifically The traditional Nazar Boncuk that are found in Turkey. I was simply fascinated at the tradition of how the beads are made, and how beautiful they are, of course the meaning was also very important. I felt like I could really build a collection around this notion that was modern and fun conveying full respect for the history and tradition behind the beliefs as well as the art form.

Megan Fox wearing custom made SariBlue piece. 

3: The Glee kid Josh Sussman, Zooey Deschanel and Jeremy Irons and many others, these are quite big names and A Listers, how you feel when the idea of ''oh god, they own my designs and wear them'' pops in to your mind? (See even more AListers included to the list after we done this interview)

I know! It is totally crazy; it of course makes me nervous. I spend a lot of time thinking about each design, putting specific thought into the custom designs, hoping the receiver will adore it. When I think of Megan Fox or Jessica Alba wearing my design, I almost cannot believe it! But anytime any person, no matter who they are, admires my work and chooses it, I get very excited and inspired. I feel like it is an honour to create pieces that convey a bit of history and belief with some stylish splash. It is really a dream come true! I am still in disbelief, that this now is my life and that I can have chats about collections I create and discuss my own business. It is amazing, the celebrity connections and following is like ice cream on cake!!

4: You do also have a collection inspired by Istanbul? What makes you attached to our culture / our country this much?

Ha! (I think my very longwinded answer above goes through the why, for the most part, but) The culture and people are just so genuine. I do not always feel that way in cities or places in the U.S. but I do in Istanbul. The city itself is inspiring, the city has a personality it breathes and shakes with energy, like a living being. Not to mention that my friends and people I love and have become so close to are Turkish, I have a connection.

5: Any further plans about our country / in general that you want to mention? 

I have not returned to Turkey for almost 18 months!! I am craving a visit and hope to spend a good amount of time traveling within the country. I have other ideas about collections and things that I think would work really well for my shop, and hope things continue to move in a direction that I could expand a bit to incorporate more of my ideas and perhaps spend more time in Turkey.
I recently was asked to participate in another really exciting event. My collection will be at this year’s Country Music Association Awards. This is such an amazing thing! The collaborative that I am affiliated with will have our groups handmade crafts behind stage at this event and for the lead up to the show. It is a three day event, where all the performers, celebrities and presenters will have access to our items after they practice for the real event on the third day. I cannot tell you how big this is! CMA may not be a big deal in Turkey but it is huge in the U.S. so we are anticipating celebrities like Keith Urban and Taylor Swift! I mean amazing!!!

Prices vary between $10 to $100

6: Are you a superstitious person? 

Life is funny sometimes, in the way your path can go or develop. I am not a religious person, but I am a very spiritual person and I guess somewhat superstitious. I definitely believe in the power of the evil eye, the adornment and the idea like in Italian culture of people being able to cast ill will at you. I think that there is certainly karma, maybe not always to the same level we want but it is true that what comes around goes around. Fate, most definitely, there are things that no matter the attempt will also be unchanged in your path. The game of life doesn’t tell us necessarily what those things are, but looking back you see them clearly. I do have strong beliefs in doing good for your brothers and sisters in the world and being kind in everything you do really matters. Not because you will earn something in return but because it is so the right way to live.

7: How about the collection dedicated to gypsies ? You do really like and inspired by different cultures / myths I guess, right ?

I am totally inspired by culture, it is the foundation for humanity and gets intertwined in all we do. I love to learn about new cultures or read about some historical mystery. The notion of gypsy for me is very positive. The idea of a band or tribe of people glued together by nothing but each other is very real in my life and also runs through my Italian culture and of course most European cultures.
I was always a huge fan of mythical stories even as a child, but in a way that other children did not appreciate it. I look for the hook to present and the past culture it came from, how the stories came to pass, what was it that was happening in the world at that time that really lead to the roots of it. Still, these notions grab me like nothing else. I suppose with some of this I sound too romantic, maybe I am, when I allow myself to be…. :D

8: You do also have a pinterest / twitter / facebook accounts and a blog on your website ? That's great, you must believe in social media very much?

Yes, social media is so important in making the world your market. It creates a smaller feeling in the world marketplace. Virility is super important in market for small business owners like me. If you can grab the attention of experts or highly visible stakeholders in your niche with a tweet or a great blog article than you are accomplishing a lot with a little. Since I don’t have financial backing you need to look for no-cost or very inexpensive ways to support your goals.

10: Can we reach you, own your pieces from Istanbul, Turkey ?

I really love when people from Turkey purchase something from my collection, it is thrilling!

To learn more about me or the collection here are the links. Very soon, I will have my own ecommerce site which will be within the current blog and SariBlue site. You will be able read about the updates from the line as well as make purchases without leaving the site! - which went online on August 1st.

and Thank you to Christine for my very own SariBlue piece.

http://twitter.com/bigandsari
https://www.facebook.com/SariBlueJewelry
http://www.sariblue.com/ 
http://pinterest.com/sariblue/
http://klout.com/#/bigandsari 
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SariBlue