A look at artist Janis Provisor’s move into jewelry design.
Janis Provisor’s foray into jewelry design was not an orchestrated career move but a creative accident. The renowned artist—whose paintings have graced the walls of such institutions as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York—discovered her passion for creating jewelry around the time that she and her artist husband, Brad Davis, established Fort Street Studio in Hong Kong. (The company also has locations in Los Angeles and New York.) When Provisor was not designing silk carpets based on watercolor paintings for Fort Street (prices for the rugs start at $20,000), she spent her time exploring Hong Kong. Her excursions led to the discovery of unusual pearls and beads from which, on a whim, she assembled some necklaces. “I put together elements for their color, shape, texture, and sense of whimsy,” she says, noting that, because she has no formal training in jewelry design, she feels free to pursue her own concept of wearable art. Her lack of professional credentials did not deter admirers: To Provisor’s surprise, her homespun bijous attracted the attention of friends and art collectors, who made offers to buy the pieces right off her neck. – From Robb Report