ENK Accessorie Circuit & Intermezzo Collections Images provided by Seventh House PR
Summerized Jewelry Product Images Courtesy of www.summerized.com
Onna Erlich Product images Courtesy of www.onnaerlich.com 
Anytime I got to a trade show at Javits Center in New York City, it has the potential to be an Alladin’s cave of potentially beautiful things, as well as an adventure in terror. You never quite know what you will be facing but hey, life’s an adventure, so why not play? ENK is the most prolific trade show producer in the United States, yearly producing a series of trade exhibitions that include nearly 10,00 design companies in New York City, Las Vegas and Shanghai. ENK shows–16+ annual exhibitions including Coterie, Accessorie Circuit, Intermezzo Collections, Children’s Club, ENKVegas, and 
ENKChina in Shanghai–attract 250,000 domestic and international buyers and press, producing sales over $1 billion. Overall, more than 700 brands (big and small– including J Brand, Nicole Miller, Alex Bittar, Current/Elliott, Tracy Reese, Nonoo, Badgley Mischska, Erickson Beamon, Rebecca Minkoff, Vince, Cynthia Vincent, Andrew Marc, Dolce Vita, Equipment, Issa, Nanette Lepore, Tibi, Rebecca Taylor, Botkier) participated in this year’s Accessorie Circuit (featuring some of the world’s premier accessories and footwear designers) and Intermezzo Collections (contemporary ready-to-wear designers showcasing their Holiday 2013, Pre-Spring 2014 Resort and Spring 2014 Collections).
On the positive side of the fence, we saw and interacted with some very talented designers and craftspeople. Terracotta New York’s Alina Cheung and Yidi Xu (www.terracottanewyork.com) has a back story I found very fascinating. In 209 BC, 8,000 clay warriors defending the First Qin Emperor were sealed beneath China’s soil, as a once-powerful man sought lasting power for all eternity. Buried in an underground palace among rivers of mercury, these clay-fired, life-sized replica soldiers have come to be known as, “the Terracotta Warriors”. The Army is Art. Each soldier was crafted by hand and 
colored with pigments from pink to blue to lilac. They vary in height and claimed individual facial features. And below each face sit carefully sculpted neck ties – the first of their kind. The Terracotta Army is a harmonious whole, and yet no two are alike.
Over 2,000 years later, Terracotta New York was founded on principles reminiscent of this ancient wonder. Unique yet Uniform, Ambitious yet Artful. Created by two women who are no strangers to the corporate world and the ties that filled them, Terracotta New York seeks to encourage individuality and promote confidence by bringing the long-standing tradition of simplicity and pattern in menswear to luxury accessories for women. With a touch of feminine flare, women can have just as much fun with a bow tie and a penguin pattern!
Terracotta New York Scarves
San Francisco-based Summer Powell of Summerized (www.summerized.com) who creates jewelry that is at once Art Deco-edgy and seriously breathtaking. Influenced by her background in graphic design, Summer Powell’s 3d designs are fun, fresh, modern and lure. Summer lusted after massive diamond earrings, yet there was nothing on the market like the picture in her head. So she printed her own diamonds. After drawing them in CAD, she sent them to a 3d printer. Summerized jewelry designs are literally printed. They’re created in CAD 3d software, and realized using Selective Laser Sintering, a 3d printing technology. With SLS, a laser fuses material and builds complex objects one layer at a time. Two weeks later, Summer had the biggest rocks in town! She’d created her first 3d printed jewelry design, and the Gemetrica Collection was born.
A lover of dichotomies, Summer is inspired by the intersection of body and technology, natural and artificial, high and low, Barneys and K-mart, New York street style and Northern California zen. Her work lives on the continuum of quirky to profound. Other influences include a lifelong interest in patterns, mythologies, ancient symbols, geometry, origami, world travel, flora and fauna, and op and pop art. Summer brings graphic energy into three-dimensional reality. She’s always merged 2 and 3-dimensional media, creating vacuum-formed speaker-inspired briefcases for VH1, a mesmerizing motion graphic-based animated clock, and temporary technological tattoos for partiers. Her background includes an MFA in graphic design from Cranbrook Academy of Art; creative direction at several design firms; co-founding Elevator, a NYC-based boutique design firm with clients like Viacom and the Oxygen Network; and creative direction for Silicon Valley startups.
Summerized Jewelry
Summerized Jewelry
Summerized Jewelry
Summerized Jewelry
At the California-bassed Onna Ehrlich Collection (www.onnaehrlich.com), California cool and sophistication is melded with the designer’s Nigerian heritage, resulting in handbags, jewelry and accssories that are truly affordable luxury. Everything is designed and produced at a company-owned design studio/factory/showroom in the Los Angeles area, making it a real “Made in America” company. The dotted handbags (Embossed Cow Leather) are handmade using Italian leather and priced according. Her big, out of the box item is a patent-pending envelope day bag that, when opened, is revealed to be an iPad case with pockets and slots for credit cards, cash and loose change. How cool is that? She also designs a fine jewelry collection, using conflict-free diamonds, colorful gemstones and rich metals.
Onna Ehrlich “Bella” Wallet in orange
Onna Ehrlich iPad Case with Pen (Patent Pending)
Onna Ehrlich Black otted Embossed Cow Leather Handbag
Onna Ehrlich mini “Jill’ Handbag
The downside, of course, is that you are liable to suffer sensory overload–and not in a good way–at some point while attending the show. This mostly happened to me when I was confronted with vendor booths that simply felt like too much, that was so overcrowded with merchandize that I was visibly turned off. A friend of mine with a shoe line explained that, in such cases, the vendor was looking to get rid of excess inventory and brought everything from the warehouse/studio, including the kitchen sink. I guess the idea of “less is more” is completely lost on some people.
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
At this year’s Accessorie Circuit & Intermezzo Collections Shows, ENK launched two new initiatives: Fraîche and K-Fashion, a partnership with the Korea Fashion Association and Patricia Field.
Fraîche @Circuit is an incubator for emerging talents presented in an open-gallery environment. Carefully curated by ENK, this exclusive mix of innovative collections from emerging designers including Hokum, Sarah Magid, Orly Genger by Jaclyn Mayer, Arielle de Pinto, Gracelette NYC, Mani Maalai and Terracotta New York. “For its debut season, Fraîche designers were handpicked based on their creative skills, craftsmanship, and originality. We are especially excited to showcase these designers, as all of the brands created collections specifically for this new initiative”said ENK Executive Vice President Joanne Mohr.
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
The other new initiative was ENK teaming up with Korea Fashion Association and stylist Patricia Field. The mission of the Korea Fashion Association is to take Korean fashion internationally and nurture it in the United States,” with Field curating and styling the Korean Collections at Javits.
“This [was] an opportunity for me to work with K-Fashion again and I am looking forward to styling with the clothes of the four Korean brands,” said Field. “With their own unique identities and styles, I’m excited they are participating at Intermezzo and hope they are able to show the essence of Korean fashion.”
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
2013 ENK (August) Accessorie Circuit and Intermezzo Collections
The four Korean designers were Buckaroo Jeans, Jesse N.Y., UGIZ and Culture Call; and to kick off the partnership, K-Fashion hosted a launch event on Monday, August5 from 3-5 pm with K-pop music, Korean cuisine and live model styling by Patricia Field. “The Korea Fashion Association aims to bring global recognition to the Korean brands. The K-Fashion Project, in collaboration with ENK and Patricia Field, will help accomplish that goal,” said Korea Fashion Association Executive Director Cindy Hahn.
Filed under: Fashion, Fashion Plus - Accessories, Fashion Plus - Jewelry Tagged: Alex Bittar, Andrew Marc, Arielle de Pinto, Badgley Mischska, Botkier, Buckaroo Jeans, Culture Call, Current/Elliott, Cynthia Vincent, Dolce Vita, ENK Accessorie Circuit & Intermezzo Collections, Equipment, Erickson Beamon, Fraîche @Circuit, Gracelette NYC, Hokum, Issa, J Brand, Javits Center, Jesse N.Y., K-Fashion, Korea Fashion Association, Mani Maalai, NANETTE LEPORE, NICOLE MILLER, Nonoo, Onna Erlich Collection, Orly Genger by Jaclyn Mayer, Patricia Field, REBECCA MINKOFF, Rebecca Taylor, Sarah Magid, Summer Powell, Summerized (www.summerized.com), Terracotta New York's Alina Cheung and Yidi Xu, Tibi, TRACY REESE, UGIZ, Vince