1971. Kismet ( Fate) finds me living behind a Gypsy Parlor, formerly an ancient cigar store of immigrant pedigree. nestled in the land of early Soho’s cast iron palaces . To fill this little store with silver work, I begin. From my hands fly the first design; a fulsome heart carried on silver wings… inspired by the Sufi symbol and Rick Griffen’s flying eyeball, it is an insignia for the Airborne Love Force !
This little heart serves at marriages, memorials, birthdays, and has been given for decades to girlfriends, daughters, worn by Divas and Sweeties. At last exhausted , the heart was taken to Istanbul, Turkey to renew production . Left for years in the Byzantine catacombs of my Gold Caster Murad { ex-paratrooper and champion bowler} calls were made from Uncle Joe, my life-long metal caster in new york to Murad, and the mission was set… only a face to face return transfer of an original could be made according to the culture of the Grand Bazaar.
Armed with two vintage bowling shirts and contacting agent Lily Streeter at our rooftop hotel, we set of for the heart, past the Turkish cisterns of Medusa, the Disneyland spires of The Sultan Ahmet Mosque and down the quarried stone streets to the Grand Bazaar. Still there above the doorway the sign “ Kismet” were the worn steps up to the factory. Three-cheek Turkish kisses and Green Tea greeted us at the top floor, with a look at pots of Murad’s glowing molten gold. Then the silver heart was pulled from seas of castings and I held it again after a lost ten years and forty years later… So, with the heart’s return to New York City, it’s life is renewed to continue on the necks and fingers of dear ones worldwide.
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