Handcrafted modern and organic jewelry has a new home in Los Angeles at Bill Hermsen’s new August boutique on West 3rd Street. Intricate pieces created by New York-based jewelry designer Ted Muehling—which mimic flower buds, twigs, and other natural objects—headline inside the Hermsen-designed space, and many of the other designers whose collections are also carried at August worked for Muehling including Gabriella Kiss and Maria Beaulieu. The connector among them all is Hermsen who spent years employed by Muehling and created this new West Coast outpost to showcase pieces from the venerable designer’s braintrust.

“The store encompasses all of my interests,” says Hermsen who was a part-owner in Arp, the objects shop that formerly occupied the space where Hermsen opened August. “While I was working in New York for Ted Muehling, I became interested in design objects and environments,” he adds, noting that the new boutique’s fixturing, wallpaper, and paint all compliment the jewelry. Hermsen says the space was also “a bit inspired by the time I spent in Denmark where I have an apartment dating back to 1761, so I’ve suddenly gone from being such a modernist in my approach to loving antiques and Gustavian-inspired cabinets.” Everything inside August is handmade, from a simple and restrained bezel-set stones to little gold earrings and stones range from semi-precious to diamonds (though the sparklers these designers select have unusual characteristics, inclusions, and odd colorings). “I lean toward the more organic, earthy, and subtle,” says Hermsen, noting that such qualities tie the work together, but each jeweler interprets such influences differently. “Some designers create bird heads, hands, and insects, others are inspired by nature, but their work is much subtler.” Each morning, Hermsen reorganizes the bracelets, earrings, necklaces and rings when he arrives at the shop, using color and texture to create a beautiful story for day. This is Hermsen’s version of natural selection.

By Elizabeth Varnell

 

Pictured: Bill Hermsen’s new August boutique on West 3rd Street in Los Angeles.
Photo courtesy of August

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