Lisa Oswald
(Sorrelli)
Lisa
Oswald has been designing and creating jewelry from the time she was
a little girl. Her first works were oven-fired bead necklaces made
of clay that she dug from a stream bed near her home. From it, she
fashioned shaped beads, baked them in her mom’s kitchen and
sold her novel creations to her aunts. She was just eight years old.
Kermit
Oswald met Lisa ten years later when she was working towards her B.F.A.
in jewelry at Kutztown State College. She was goldleafing chicken
bones and carving them into unique shapes. After earning a degree
in 1982, she interned in New York City with the wonderfully talented
jewelry designer Debra Fine Yohai, whose own career was skyrocketing.
The experience provided Lisa with the foundation she needed to launch
a business of her own. And, in 1983, with her twin sisters, Susie
and Sandy, she began her jewelry enterprise, aptly naming it Sorrelli,
an Italian work meaning the sisters. Within a short time, Sorrelli
had a dozen employees and a feature story in People magazine.
From
the very beginning, Sorrelli jewelry has been handcrafted, first in
the Ozwald’s kitchen, then in their Brooklyn loft, and now in
the barn studio of their rural Pennsylvania home. To ensure the creativity
and design distinction that is Sorrelli’s signature, the crafters
use Lisa’s original prototypes (nearly 300 new styles per year!)
to guide them through each step of production. In this way, the hands-on
culture of Sorrelli continues, with every piece worked by hand using
no casts or jigs and the workmanship of every piece guaranteed. Genuine
semi-precious stones and high quality Austrian crystals are set into
the jewelry to enhance the beauty of the designs. Only the finest
quality materials are used and all Sorrelli designs are rendered by
artisans who understand the high standard of creativity that each
piece reflects.
Combining
antiquity and contemporary design, Sorrelli jewelry has a universal
appeal. It is created to become heirlooms, handed down through generations.
It graces the accessory collectibles of celebrities, career women
and jewelry lovers of every description and income level. It is available
at many of the most savvy department stores and boutiques in the U.S.,
and is displayed in showrooms in Los Angles, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas,
Manhattan, San Francisco, Tokyo, and Switzerland.
The
Sorrelli vision is as dedicated today as it was in 1983…to the
very simple dream of creating unusually beautiful jewelry that brings
enjoyment to those who wear it.
