• We continue to chip at the fine-jeweler market, having exhibited our jewelry at the July JA Show in NYC.  We’re participating in interesting discussions of where art-glass jewelry fits with respect to traditional fine jewelry based on diamonds, platinum, etc.  We’re both learning and educating others.
• Marco Polo Designs has decided to pursue a strong direct-to-consumer direction, to complement what we do in our wholesale activities.  We know that our grassroots consumers love and value our beautiful jewelry, yet we remain little-known to most consumers.  We need a strong brand identity, which will help both us and our retailers.  (We’d love to have people asking for Marco Polo Designs jewelry when they go shopping for beautiful gifts and accessories!)  Stay tuned— more to follow!
• As you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  We designed our extensive Strawberry Cream collection in honor of our brave staff member Najela, who successfully underwent breast cancer treatment over a year ago.  MPD donates a portion of all sales of Strawberry Cream to the Komen Foundation and other breast-cancer support organizations.  We’re getting recognition for our efforts, through several online sites.  Check us out:

SheKnows

RealMomsGuide

Bright, Bold and Beautiful

As we get our grassroots engagement underway, we’re committed to becoming a lot more present on our various social-media channels.  We look forward to staying in regular touch with our esteemed readers.  Of course, we ALWAYS welcome notes or calls from readers.  We’d love to hear from you.  Claude is available at claude@marcopolodesigns.com, and Penny can be reached at penny@marcopolodesigns.com.  Thanks for joining us!

We choose the stores which carry our jewelry very carefully, and the total store “feel” has got to be just right in terms of factors that matter to us as designers. Stores carrying Marco Polo Designs jewelry also carry an enticing variety of other designers’ work, and we are delighted that our jewelry pieces occupy “real estate” among equally high-quality artistic “neighbors”.

It is with that passion and delight that we begin to showcase some of the stellar retail stores that we know and love well. Through our social networking connections, we will showcase these stores so that our friends, fans and customers (and potential customers) can discover the “brick and mortar” gems in our treasure box.

This week, we’d like to introduce you to The Real Mother Goose, Fine American Craft, located in the great Northwest (Portland, OR downtown and Portland International Airport), The Real Mother Goose invites lovers of American craft and design to: “Walk into one of our stores, or browse our collections online and you’ll find art and craft with character. Each piece has a story, an identity, and a spirit. Each piece is the unique result of a vision, brought to life by an artist’s hand. Couple that special character with a function and you’ve got art for everyday living.”

Why not take a virtual tour of The Real Mother Goose?  Learn a little more about The Real Mother Goose, browse their creative  collections, and check out their locations.

Have you been to one of The Real Mother Goose galleries? We’d love to hear about your visit.

Ciao!

Penny

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Let us know

JA is the second-largest fine-jeweler show in the US.  It’s a 3-day event, with over 1,000 exhibitors and 12,000 buyers expected.  (The JCK Show in Las Vegas is a tad larger.)  This show draws people from across the US, though with especially strong representation from the Northeast.  While we have some strong accounts in the Northeast (e.g. Craft Company #6 in Rochester, NY and several in Massachusetts and in Maine), there is LOTS of opportunity for us to connect with enthusiastic new retailers in that region.  That would let us make many more art-glass lovers aware of what Marco Polo Designs has to offer.

We’ll be featuring several of our newer offerings:  our 8 new cable necklaces, our lovely Sparkler layering necklaces, and the exuberant Primavera collection.  We’ll also be introducing our new Bridal Party collection, an innovative new approach to letting brides custom tailor lovely art-glass jewelry to the décor and budget preferences of brides, bridesmaids and brides’ and grooms’ mothers.  (More about this in a future post!)  We’ll be using the fantastic new LED lighting that we developed for our recent Celebrity Gifting Suite in Beverly Hills.  We know that Marco Polo Designs jewelry will shine!

New Marco Polo Display Lighting

Penny and I will report highlights of the show.  Please send us your “positive vibes”— we get great energy and confidence from our many ardent fans!

With that thought firmly in mind, we’ve decided to launch a photo album on our fan page that will feature our friends and fans wearing their Marco Polo Designs jewelry. The album will be titled “Marco Polo Designs Hall of Fame”.

We have several photos of peeps wearing MPD jewelry, but we will launch the album with just one very special photo (below) - a photo that will be the focus of our surprise contest.

Hana Rocks the Layered Look at Baltimore's Nelson Coleman Jewelers

14-month old little Hana seems to love the layered look as she struts her style wearing multiple Marco Polo Designs necklaces at Nelson Coleman Jewelers, Baltimore’s “personal jeweler”. Find Nelson Coleman on Facebook, and follow them on twitter (@nelsoncoleman). We’re so grateful to Nelson Coleman Jewelers’ Aime for sending us this picture of Hana!

Hana’s picture is both adorable and inspiring. I sat looking at it trying to identify the designs she’s wearing, and suddenly I thought, “CONTEST”!

You know how we love to run surprise contests, and Hana’s photo inspired me to launch our Hall of Fame photo album with a contest.

So, listen up, class – and pay attention. It’s pop quiz time! As usual, the rules are very simple:

1. Go to our website, and identify (exactly, including design name, length and item number) each of the three necklaces that Hana is wearing.
2. Post your three answers on our fan page wall.
3. The first person to post exactly what Hana is wearing will win a secret gift from us to be shipped to their nearest store or gallery carrying Marco Polo Designs jewelry.

Ready, set, …… GO!

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Ciao!

Penny

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My complete outfit!

This post is especially for the fabulous friends and fans who entered the contest to help me decide what to wear during Marco Polo Designs’ presentations at the Red Carpet Events SLS Gifting Suite in Beverly Hills.

To the left is a photo of “the whole me” posing with actress Kim Morgan Green. I’m wearing THE red shoes suggested by Carla Runciman (see close-ups of the shoes in a previous blog post). Carla, your choice was perfect – I wore these lovely shoes comfortably all day! Don’t forget, your Jellyfish Bauble Pendant will be waiting for you at Miner’s North Jewelers in Traverse City!

I’m also wearing Beth Alexander Lawler’s suggested MPD jewelry: Carnival 18-inch Necklace and Carnival Bracelet. I chose Casanova Red Square Zig-Zag Earrings to complete the look. Thank you, Beth, for your great entries!

Below is a close-up of me that shows the necklace a little better … and, of course, I wanted to include a photo of Claude so that everyone could see how dashing he looked! In the pic, we’re posing with actor Christian LeBlanc.

We continue to have a blast running “pop” contests, and will keep on surprising you! It feels very rewarding for us to “gift” our designs to appreciative fans so that they can see, touch and appreciate them up close.

Surprise contests also allow us the opportunity to showcase the nearly two hundred fine jewelry stores, galleries and boutiques that carry our designs. When friends and fans win Marco Polo Designs jewelry items, we ask them to visit their nearest store/gallery to be given their awards. These stores carry our designs, but they also carry stunning and broadly creative inventories from many different designers. We’d love for you to become familiar with them!

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Ciao!

Penny

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Claude and I caught up with Kayla at the LA Celebrity Suites post Emmy event during our recent trip to Beverly Hills. We were delighted to show her our Marco Polo Designs Jewelry, and she LOVED it! She chose Aurora 34-inch and Silver Sparkler Necklaces to wear layered.

We received a tweet from Kayla over the weeking letting us know that she was “sporting the beautiful necklaces at the Hard Rock Pool Party in Las Vegas” – and she very graciously sent us a photo:

Kayla Tabish sports Aurora 34 and Silver Sparkler Necklaces

We think Kayla looks gorgeous! Below are several other photos of Kayla from the Red Carpet event. Don’t you agree with us that Kayla Tabish is a sparkling beauty!

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Ciao!

Penny

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What a thrill to present celebrities with their favorite pieces of Marco Polo Designs jewelry to pose for the cameras and keep to wear later.

We have tons of pictures, and are sorting through them now so that we can share them with you! But just to get started, here are a few celebrities you may recognize wearing our designs:

Christian LeBlanc chose a Spring Green Sparkler and Rialto Sphere Earrings

Krisily Kennedy layering Denim 18-inch, Denim 34-inch and a Silver Sparkler Necklace

Little Black Dress	Little Blue Dress
Accessorize Me!	Accessorize Me!

Contest rules: Using jewelry from our website, assemble a beautiful combination of accessories to go with either dress – or both! I’ll wear at least one necklace, a pair of earrings and a bracelet. Note: pieces do not need to come from the same collection – use your own creativity! I’ll be wearing my new red shoes, of course, but I’ll be switching (for comfort) to black shoes off and on during the day. Soooooo, don’t restrict your choices to just red – please select from any pieces in our collections that you think would compliment my dresses.

Important: Post your selected jewelry ensemble on our fan page.

I’ll judge the best entry on Friday, and award the winner a gorgeous Pendant Necklace valued to $66.00.

Ready, set, go … and good luck!

Ciao,

Penny