z o
o
m
V
Y
JacQueline
ScmShez
J-acQueline Sanchez spells her
name that w ay “ to have some
fun.” Good times have long been
a creative wellspring for her
jew elry. A s a teenage Grateful
Dead fan, she made silver danc-
ing bears (the band’s logo) for
fellow Dead Heads. Today,
at 37, she turns Lego bricks into
colorful, minimalist jew elry
that’s sophisticated yet playful.
“ It hits so many demograph-
ics,” Sanchez says o f the appeal
o f her Forever Young lin e -
accessories made o f Legos that
include large square pendants
w ith a three-point diamond set
in i4 k g o ld © and hinge b race-
lets set in sterling silver© . A r -
chitects love the building refer-
ence. M om s savor memories
o f those little pieces they used
to step on. M en covet her c u ff-
links as a stylish accoutrement
to their French shirts. E ven the
L ego C om pany has em braced
her w o rk, featuring it on the
L ego C reation N ation w ebsite.
A native o f L ong Island,
N ew Y ork, Sanchez found her
calling in a high school jew elry
class. “ I realized that’s where
m y passion w as.” A fte r train-
ing at the Texas Institute
o f Jew elry Technology, she re-
turned East and for a decade
honed her skills as a bench je w -
eler and manager at jew elry
stores. Y et w hile her pieces
w ere w ell crafted and wearable,
Sanchez felt she lacked a clear
direction and distinctive look—
an instinct echoed by the jew -
elry marketing consultant Cindy
Edelstein, whom she w ent to
see in N ew York. R iding home
on the train from that m eeting,
Sanchez thought, “ M aybe,
I need a fresh material to w ork
w ith. But w hat?”
Her “eureka” moment came
soon after. “ O ne morning, I
literally w oke up and thought,
“ T oys R Us. L egos.”
So she bought a tub o f
Legos and started to play. T h e
rings w ere a hit at the 2003
A m erican C ra ft C ouncil Show
in B altim ore, w in n in g her
an achievem ent award. H appily
focused ever since, Sanchez
launched her studio in 2006 in
A tla n ta, w here she lives w ith
her husband and their three-
year-old son.
For her raw material, San-
chez shops the internet, where
“ Lego geeks” trade in collect-
ibles. Beyond the fam iliar reds
and blacks, she hunts for rari-
ties like pinks and lime greens.
O ne o f her best finds w as “ this
crazy blue, betw een seafoam
and light blue, that I got on
eBay.” T hen there are the trea-
sures found in Lego theme play-
sets: “ I love the H arry Potter
one, because that’s where I get
my purples.”—j .l .
Gim m e M ore!
jacquelinesanchez.com
legocreationnation.com
© C A / Clarem ont
Scripps C ollege W illiam son
G allery:
65th Scripps Ceramic Annual
to Apr. 5
w w w .scrippscollege.edu/Wil-
liamson -gallery
Provocative w orks that chal-
lenge view ers to contemplate
political issues and other univer-
sal subjects, such as Charles
K ra fft’s
Spone Sentry Series,
marks Scripps’s ceramic tradi-
tion this year.
C A / S a n Jose
San Jose M useum o f Q u ilts
& T ex tiles:
Changing Landscapes:
Contemporary Chinese Fiber A rt
Feb. 3 -A p r. 26
w w w .s jquiltm useum .org
T h e museum hosts selections
from five biennials at Tsinghua
U niversity since 2000, present-
ing a snapshot o f responses to
China’s enormous transforma-
tions over the past decade.
D C / W ashington
T h e T e x tile M useum :
Timbuktu to Tibet: Rugs and
Textiles o f the H ajji Rabat
to M ar. 8
w w w .textilem useum .org
T extiles take visitors on a jour-
ney into the cultures o f N orth
A frica, the M iddle East, Central
A sia and beyond.
022 american craft feb/maro9
