ROBERT LEE MORRIS
GALLERY
Catherine O’Hara. Losing her sure hurts! Here she is wearing many styles of my earrings in Home Alone, and let me tell you how many people have been writing to me to ask about their availability! Especially the ones in the last shot where she has the little gold loops and she screams KEVIN! And faints…people all around the world have been asking for those very earrings, as this movie ( which recently played during the holidays) is so beloved! Who knew? Catherine is SO SO MISSED! There are no more of these earrings people, NO MORE.
Fall 2024/ Donna Karan gives me a fabulous book launch party in her Fabulous Madison Ave store. Bill Cunningham, Koos VanDen Aker, Sigourney Weaver, Judy Licht, Elsa Klench, what a gang and what a turn out! Memories of the golden age are always fun for us to re- visit…
Sterling silver just seems suddenly so precious now!
Some examples of my Bold Gold earrings that are runway capable, for people who love power jewelry.
These Cara Croninger bangles are so perfect for this new years beginning. Colors of love.
I just found a big bin of my old belts!! OMG I have SO MANY archives to sort out! I have always made buckles and in the 70s I would go to Gucci on 5th Ave in NYC and buy plain straps to put them on si so I could wear my own buckles. Then when I worked with Donna Karan for 37 collection s, I ended up making zillions of buckles for her which were major parts of how she held her clothes together. Then in the late 80s I had a belt license with Cipriani Max Leather and had my belts in all the Saks and Neimans and Bergdorf…such dense history!
These sterling silver bracelets are all from a time when I had a huge staff of bench workers. I was able to create so many new designs and have them executed by wax carvers and silversmiths all under my studio roof in SoHo. These unique bracelets each had a new generation of clasps, complex mechanisms that I had no patience to figure out as I was so overwhelmed with the many licenses I had to design for such as leather goods, tabletop in metal and ceramics, watches, scarves, Warner Brothers, Donna Karan, on and on. My journey is such a BLUR, as I look back at the speed my life now, and I rediscover and re-polish the hundreds of silver pieces knowing that the price of silver has skyrocketed to $57 an ounce, these pieces become more precious to me. ( When I made the silver was under $10/oz!) I will be listing them on my website during the next week, though I may decide to hang on to some as it’s always bittersweet when they leave the nest!
Sunday afternoon in studio with my ladies…
Claudia Schiffer modeling some of my bold gold earrings. I hired her in the mid 80s for a campaign and used one of her glamorous images to use of her for scale. These earrings and many more are being uploaded and listed to my website this weekend.
OMG my keychain display is a whopper of powerful symbols and characters and signs and meanings all massed together from years of anthropological exploration for new but old forms of art.
I just received a new batch of sterling silver knuckle rings, knowing how silver is becoming a hot item once again!
Making a ton of one of a kind pendants in copper brass and verdigris for holidays.
Bringing back my classic Alpha and Gamma cuffs from the late 70s in STERLING SILVER
New sculpture ELECTRIC ARCH experimenting with COLOR! My fave colors, Japanese red lacquer and Verdigris, POPS and electrifies. Love how it blends into my iconic blend of tribal futuristic merchandising
This collection of earrings was a kind of alphabet or language of shapes that I began around 2003.. I am not sure what to call it. Bold graphic shapes, maybe like an alien language that I am simply downloading from Source? What to call it? Any suggestions my friends?
From Apple TV this most beautiful array of flying flapping sting rays looking like fall leaves, is deeply inspiring to me
Here is an assortment of my bracelets showing the wild variations between themes and architectural studies as they bend to wearability.
I am soon launching a new section of my website called Beaded Necklaces. Some of them like the ones shown here are mostly composed of individual strands sold independently so its all about layering your own look. The first necklace is an anomaly as it is not a beaded piece at all. Oh well.
Color for Fall, new necklace collections using some of the yummy beads I have collected over the decades. Making these pieces has been the most relaxing and rewarding way to thrive during the general world madness.
URBAN ZEN Summer silk collection by Donna Karan collaborates yet again with me in the jewelry department. I love her vibrant colors and how my beaded tribalesque jewelry works so damn well! Now I have been making one of a kind pieces just for Donna again, to sell in the Sag Harbor UZ store on Main St. The sensation of being in synch again with another designers mentality is blissful. These photos are from the Urban Zen summer 95 line list and I have just snitched a few examples of the sheer gorgeousness of the colors in jewels and fabric.
Just a reminder of my ARTWEAR collections often Muehling, Tone Vigeland, Gloria Lomas, Lisa Spiros, John Iversen, Kris Ruhs, Cara Croninger and many more.
WELCOME TO MY MUSEUM & GALLERY OF COLLECTIBLE WOMEN’S AND MEN’S JEWELRY
Herein you will find the archives from the Robert Lee Morris personal collection that has been slowly gathered over a 52 year range, containing works of art to wear and adore. These are all original handmade pieces of stunning women and men’s jewelry that have been created to sell through ARTWEAR jewelry gallery. These pieces come from the many collections that Robert made for fashion designers such as Geoffrey Beene, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Karl Lagerfeld, Michael Kors and Kansai Yamamoto. Many of the archives have now been selling through fine art auctions and it is exciting to see how the original values have soared.
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Review of THE POWER OF JEWELRY by Robert Lee Morris on AMAZON
Robert Lee Morris is unquestioningly one of the most innovative designers of body ornament of our time. Long noted for his distinctive fusion of primal forms, hand workmanship, and cutting edge sensibility, his organic pieces are enthusiastically sought by connoisseurs of high fashion around the world. This book written by the artist himself and profusely illustrated with examples of his work, presents the varied production of his design genius over the course of his career. The many images of Morris’s work in metal and stone will fascinate anyone interested in the history if design and will be an inspiration and will be an inspiration to collectors, designers and students alike.
From Publishers Weekly
By the time he was 31, Morris had become one of the most influential jewelry designers in North America: his creations appeared all over fashion magazines like Vogue; his Manhattan jewelry store had become a favorite spot of celebrities like Bianca Jagger and Andy Warhol; and his work was marching down the runways of Calvin Klein, Karl Lagerfeld, Kansai Yamamoto and Donna Karan. In this coffee-table book cum memoir, Morris explains “how he grew from a self-taught jewelry designer to a recognizable brand name in such a relatively short time.” The designer, who is known for his “edgy blend of modern and tribal effects,” attributes his global sensibility to his college courses in anthropology and to his upbringing as an “Airforce brat.” He moved 23 times before he was 18 and lived for several years in Japan and Brazil. But its clear that the mainsprings of Morris’ success are his joyful, single-minded focus on his work and his savvy entrepreneurial spirit. Though his book contains asides on his marriage, his travels and his study of shamanism, it centers mostly on the origins of his signature creations, the development of the “designer jewelry” consumer niche in the 1970s and 80s, and the way he managed his brand “as if it were a wild horse in a rodeo.” Morris now designs up to 10 jewelry collections a year, and though the name-dropping can be a bit heavy-handed in spots, his memoir is full of friendly advice for young artists. Morris fans will appreciate this careful history, but readers unfamiliar with his designs may find themselves skipping pages to stare at the large, full-color photos of his smooth knuckle rings, gently bulging necklaces, mesh belts, herringbone collars and sensual bracelets. They are unlike anything else.
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