Hometown News and Views

By Judy Wilson

Lighthouse Point – Jewelry designer Lisa Butler Price may finally have found her calling. After years of buying vintage jewelry, removing the stones and making new pieces, she has established her own line, The LBP Collection. She had her first trunk show last week at Styles Boutique in Boca Raton and had an interview at Neiman Marcus. Her extensive collection can be seen at the Decorative Arts Mall in Deerfield Beach and her website is up and running.

The daughter of one of Deerfield’s oldest farming families, Jack and Molly Butler, and granddaughter of JB Wiles [Wiles Road], Price has always had an eye for fashion.  “I bought two pieces of Cartier jewelry from money I saved working our U-Pick when I was in 10th grade,” said the Deerfield Beach High School graduate. “I’ve always been inspired by what is happening in the fashion world. Now I design my jewelry around these trends. Animal prints are popular now, so I am creating whimsical animal jewelry.”

Her line of tassel necklaces follow another fashion trend as does layering and mixing metals. Her own go-to earrings are fashioned from huge gold hoops, hung with liquid silver and decorated with tiny sapphires. “Instead of carefully matching pieces, there are no rules now,” Price said.

The process of jewelry making is arduous and expensive. First she has to buy the stones and the metal. She prefers to work with sterling silver which can be overlaid in gold. All her stones are mined on Brazil; none are manmade. A local family from Brazil is her craftsmen: one is a stone cutter, another a polisher, silversmith, gem setter. “It is a tedious process and that’s why it’s so expensive. But each piece is special and unique.” Price said. While her necklaces, bracelets, rings and earrings tend to be statement pieces – large and colorful – the materials are much less weighty than they appear.

This uniqueness is what attracted Styles owner Stacy Ugles to Price’s work. The two met through trunk shows – Ugles selling high end jewelry; Price, her vintage remakes. “I love her pieces and have embraced them,” Ugles said.  Ugles brings in one-of-a-kind jewelry from her designers which attracts a loyal client base to her boutique. She also has contacts with designers who are big names in the field: Rodrigo Atazu who did the jewelry for “Sex and the City 2,” and Sheila Fajl who adorns the “Desperate Housewives.” She is hopeful she can add a few of Price’s pieces to her inventory.

Price, herself had a chance to design for “The Real Housewives of Boca Raton,”  but chose not to be dogged by a camera crew. Instead, she hopes her butterfly pin will become a Neiman Marcus exclusive and that the interest shown by a buyer at Bloomingdale’s will put her jewelry in the counters there.  That would be the culmination of years of an intense interest in fashion and interior design. For a time, this Lighthouse Point housewife bought and sold home accessories, favoring shabby chic. Before that, the mother of three, experimented with her hair color – from fuchia to blond – when that was fashionable.

But designing jewelry is become her passion and she has discovered that producing a few pieces is not enough to succeed in the business. “ You have to present a cohesive collection of at least 30 pieces. It’s costly. It is a lot of work.  But what keeps me going is the positive feedback I keep getting from people. I must be doing something right.” Among her loyal customers is another DBHS grad, her pal Missy Jones, assistant principal at Western High School in Davie.  Jones terms The LBP Collection “creative” and “quality,” well worth saving up for.  Another DBHS alum saw the LBP website, came to the Styles’ trunk show and purchased a $1,000 bracelet for his wife.

Price believes her work appeals to people who want to be original and who are fashion forward. It is also affordable. “Our work may look like Worth Avenue, but it’s not $5,000, it is $500,” she said.