Mr. M and I are just back from a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles, prompting me to take some time off from the various writing projects that I've been juggling with summertime child wrangling. Now that I'm back, it's back to the juggling grind as I fit some writing in at nap time (it's Kara's day off from the kids and she is enjoying herself at the beach for a long weekend).
Assuming none of the sleeping munchkins wakes up in the next hour, my next task will be the beginning of a plan for a fall hunting weekend with some friends we met on our last trip to New York. Florian and Wolfgang Koechert are cousins who are in the family business (along with Wolfgang's brother, Christoph) of jewelry design. A.E. Koechert was founded nearly 200 years ago in Vienna, where Emmanuel Köchert became the Kammerjuwelier, or Chamber Jeweler for the Hapsburg-Lothringen imperial family. During this time, the firm designed the diamond stars that adorn the hair of Empress Elisabeth of Austria in the acclaimed portrait of the young royal. The stars caused an international sensation that is currently resurfacing across Europe.
It just happened that on our first evening at The Carlyle on this last trip, the Koechert's were showing their jewelry in America for the first time. At a cocktail party held in the Versaille Room at the hotel the firm's stars and more modern pieces were on display for a glowing crowd to fawn over. Everything was breathtaking. The design and craftsmanship is intricate and exquisite, and all is done in-house at their Vienna headquarters.
Currently, A.E. Koechert jewelry is only available in the shop of the Neue Galerie in Manhattan, but the company is exploring a further reach into the American market. For more information, visit the company web site at www.koechert.at.
Please forgive the iPhone photos... this was an unexpected pleasure!