MICHELE and WHITNEY HENDERSON | HENDERSON DESIGN

Abalone Shell and Gold Vermeil
Teardrop Earrings

Though small in size the Village Creek State Park, located in Lumberton, Texas, is known as “The American Ark” due to its wide variety of wildlife.  Texas is also home to featured jewelry brand Henderson Design.

Anyone who tunes in for the flurry of award show broadcasts early in the year--particularly the Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards--knows that dazzling designer jewelry literally floods the red carpet. 

Names like Neil Lane (USA), Fred Leighton (USA) and Cartier (France) fall from the lips of the celebrity adorned in the glamorous trinkets from these iconic jewelry brands.

What the viewing public may not know is that stunning designer jewelry from lesser known jewelry artisans is often behind-the-scenes in gift bags for nominees. 

Europe-based brand Simply Sublime, founded by Canadian Constantina James, provided gorgeous baubles for nominees of the 2009 Academy Awards; and Mina Hassan (Egypt) offered the beautiful wares of her brand MINU Jewels to nominees for the 2007 Academy Awards.

Mother-daughter design team Michele and Whitney Henderson also have the distinction of contributing their brand’s lavish gemstone necklaces and lovely 24-karat gold vermeil earrings to nominees and winners for the Golden Globe Awards since 2008.

“With our combined backgrounds in fashion and art, my daughter and I draw a lot of inspiration from our travels and interest in old world artisan techniques,” says Michele.  “Establishing Henderson Design is our quest to find the most unique precious and semi-precious gemstones to adorn women while enhancing their individual style.”

Basket Weave Leather Cuff Bracelet
with Gold Vermeil Accents

Henderson Design’s variegated gemstone and fashion jewelry collections alternate between statement pieces such as the Abalone Collar Necklace and Black Agate Horn Necklace, as well as dynamic yet pared down items like the White Pearl Starburst Collar Necklace.

This daring and streamlined aesthetic makes for stylish and unmistakably exotic jewelry.  There is lots of great color with luscious gemstones like chrysocolla, lapis lazuli, topaz, and Tundra Sapphire.  There are also plenty of textures that are so palpable you can almost feel the ridged, spiked and hammered surfaces just by looking at them.

The leather cuff bracelets in camel brown, two-tone, and black are an unexpected contrast to the other collections.  Bulky and organic the leather holds pebbled and embossed surfaces or is accented with chunky gold vermeil drops, baroque pearls, tassels and fringe.  They are edgy, funky and provocative.

Actors Lisa Vidal of The Event, Ashley Jones of Trueblood, and Jennifer Love Hewitt of The Client List are a few of the lucky attendees of the 2011 Golden Globe Awards who were gifted with fabulous jewelry selections from Henderson Design.

Abalone Shell Collar Necklace

“Our jewelry exemplifies the union between the ancient world and the contemporary,” says Michele.  “Our designs are all about accentuating the beauty, personality and individuality of both nature and woman.”

Note: There is no official website at this time.