Glitter and Ice

These days never know who you're going to run into on the roof of the Thompson Hotel in Beverly Hills. While recently enjoying an overpriced glass of wine (the view and easy parking at the hotel made up for the bill) we met Courtney Prince, a New York transplant now living in Santa Monica who was catching up with nine-time national figure skating champion Michelle Kwan and her sister, Karen.

So basically, we were the only ones in the group who hadn't mastered a double axel. Prince herself is a former figure skating competitor who channeled the sport's creative glamour — ditto the work ethic — to create her own custom jewelry business, Doloris Petunia. Her cuffs, necklaces and hair accessories aren't for the timid, but everything we've seen is well-crafted, eye-catching and staggeringly reasonable in price.

We caught up with Prince (after an interminable wait at the valet) to discuss her emerging business and favorite pieces she's recently designed.

Style Section L.A.: How did you get into jewelry design? Was there something missing in the market that you felt you could add to?

Prince: I started making accessories a few years ago by accident. I was living in New York and frustrated that there would be neat things I would see on some European tourist or a passenger on the subway, for example, and I wouldn't be able to figure out where to buy it. So I started making these things for myself. I first started making feather headbands — we now know how that trend just exploded, and we are all now happy to see it go away! — but a few years ago you couldn't find one anywhere.

I started making them for myself, then for my friends. Finally it got the point where I was going to craft markets in SoHo and selling out of hundreds in a single day. That then blended into experimentation with millinery flowers and other materials. All of a sudden I had a very devoted following of brides-to-be hiring me to make their custom fascinator and birdcage veils. Then I began experimenting with statement necklaces when I moved (for love) to L.A. I had developed a large enough base of clients that I had a little more room to do more of what I wanted in my own closet.

One of my most popular services among my clients is taking their own old broken jewelry, maybe that box of vintage brooches or missing pieces in their grandmothers' attics, and transforming them into lovely pieces of art. It’s an eco-friendly and economical way to give new life to what you already have, and it has been tremendously popular with brides who are looking to wear a very special piece on their wedding day. I guess it is like a fresh take on old, new, borrowed and blue.

CUSTOM CUFF A Doloris Petunia Swarovski and vintage crystal cuff, $220.

What are you obsessed with these days?

I tend to take broken and vintage jewelry and redesign it to create a congruent piece of wearable art. Lately I am quite obsessed with cuffs. I love mixing different textures and things that normally do not belong together in the traditional sense. I have been using a lot of friendship bracelets, nautical rope, sliced agate and other materials to intertwine amongst Swarovski crystals and vintage jewels for a fresh take on many well-known objects that are not thought of as being used in high end jewelry. I’ve also started working in wax carving and am anticipating the trend of shifting to the smaller pieces, yet remaining totally personalized and unique (away from the big and obscenely bold).

Tell me about your skating career. Do your colleagues in the sport wear your designs?

I stopped skating competitively around 16 when I got too tall for the sport, but continued to skate professionally for many years after. I was always in love with the drama of the sport and always looked forward to the creation of a "whole look" when it came to my performances. I loved to make sure that the music and choreography and costume all came together to tell the story. I do have many skating colleagues who have worn my work, both on and off the ice, and it’s incredibly flattering to me to have them be so supportive and interested in my designs. Figure skaters all really do seem to love sparkles.

HAUTE HANDIWORK Doloris Petunia's Courtney Prince wearing her own design.