Inspired by friend and architect, the late Bruce Gora, along with the concern of the residents of the Harlem Heights Community in South Lee County, Mark Loren, of Mark Loren Designs, has created a limited edition, commemorative pin/pendant to help raise $250,000 to name the Tower Art Gallery in the new Heights Center in Bruce’s honor. Friends who contribute $10,000 to the Heights Foundation capital campaign before December 31, 2010, will receive a Heights Mark Loren legacy pin/pendant.
The Heights Community and Cultural Arts Center is Bruce Gora’s last unfinished work as an architect since his passing in 2008. When completed, Bruce’s vision to create a community center that would become the heart of the community – offering education, opportunity, hope, and a sense of pride – will become reality.
“Bruce and I used to talk about how we want what we do to live beyond us when we’re gone,” says Mark Loren. “I believe we’re accomplishing that with a community center that will serve the residents of Harlem Heights and help this community realize its full potential in the years to come.”
More than 12 have already given at this level and will be receiving the commemorative piece.
“To have the support of Mark Loren means so much to the Heights Foundation,” says Foundation Executive Director Kathryn Kelly. “He gets involved in so many worthwhile community projects that we feel his involvement in ours means that we not only have his support, but we also have his endorsement which is the gold seal of approval that only Mark can give.” -article written by Carolyn Rogers
All of us here, at Mark Loren Designs, want to wish Newlyweds Chris and Beth Larson many happy years together! It was an honor to help them in creating the perfect rings to celebrate one another.
Chris writes:
“Hey Mark,
Just letting you know that we are very satisfied customers and the wedding went off without a hitch. We got married in Sedona, AZ in a spiritual wedding inside a Tipi. Mid ceremony the cold rain that had been pouring all day turned to snow. Frozen sunshine from God! It was a meaningful ceremony and our rings were blessed by the shaman and all of the angels present in our ceremony. We will wear our rings proudly and remember the great experience we had with your staff. Designing them was a snap with Cameron as he was really easy to work with and had a clear understanding of who we are and our vision. Going from the pencil sketch to the wax model was interesting and built excitement in anticipation of the big reveal. Wow!!! what an experience, and it is important to mention our thanks to your whole team of specialists, you all deserve the credit. We will be certain to bring in the rings from time to time for proper cleaning and to say hello. We will certainly recommend your company to anyone interested in a high quality custom piece of jewelry. We have had many comments already and it’s only been a few days since we tied the knot.”
He’s loading up his sleigh with all kinds of sparkling goodies, getting ready for tomorrow night! If you need any help with your Christmas list, stop in and we’ll find the perfect gift for you!
FOR HIM: This year, we are carrying Payne Mason Cigars. There are four flavors in the Connoisseur Collection – one will delight the connoisseur in your family. The cigars are available for individual sale, or in a gift set that comes with 3 cigars, a lighter and cigar cutter.
Or check out our William Henry Knives – these limited edition knives are collector quality and have a warranty so you do not have to fear using them. These make great family heirlooms for fathers to pass down to sons – a really great tradition to start!
We also have some unique leather goods, like stingray leather iPhone covers!
FOR HER: Our custom locking toe rings – Toe Touches - are the hot item! Living in Florida, we bare our toes 90% of the year! Add a little extra sparkle to her pedicure this Christmas!
Black and white diamonds are dazzling and perfect with any outfit! Earrings, rings and pendants – we have a large selection of really cool pieces featuring black diamonds – put some coal in her stocking, cause it’s extra good when she’s bad!
Colored gems – bright and brilliant gemstones = wow factor. Make her eyes light up with a vivid colored gem – select from our jewelry, already set with brilliant gems, or choose a gorgeous gem to present to her the Christmas and let her come in and design the perfect piece to showcase it.
Merry Christmas from all of us at Mark Loren Designs!
It’s not too late to bring in your puzzle piece! Bring it in before X-mas eve! You might be a winner, and if you are not – we will put your piece (with your name written on the back) into a drawing – so you have a second chance to win! There will be three winners – and as of yet, no one has claimed a prize!
Mark Loren and Cliff Williams have teamed up again to create another awesome custom necklace to be auctioned for Lee County Schools’ Take Stock In Children Auction. The pendant, designed by Award Winning Jeweler Mark Loren, features a signed guitar pick from AC/DC’s Cliff Williams. The pick is accented by a pear shaped pink tourmaline and a bezel set marquis diamond – suspended by a diamond bail. Congrats to Geoff and Robbie Roepstorff for the winning bid! Rock that necklace, Robbie!!!
One-of-a-Kind Mark Loren Necklace featuring AC/DC guitar pick
Mark Loren and Debra Guido at the event (picture by News-Press’ Downtown Diva)
Our own Susan Kim McDonald and her hubby Jason at the event! (picture by News-Press’ Downtown Diva)
Mark Loren and Cliff & Georgeanne Williams donated a spectacular piece for auction at the Betty & Frank Bireley Ribbons & Blues fundraiser for Lee Memorial’s Regional Cancer Center. An AC/DC Guitar pick donated by Cliff & Georgeanne Williams set in a beautiful one-of-a-kind gold pendant designed by National Award Winning Jeweler Mark Loren. The pick is accented by pear shaped green amethyst and blue topaz, and suspended from a neckwire created from one of Cliff Williams’ bass guitar strings from The Black Ice Tour.
June’s birthstone is pearl. Most people do not know much about pearls, and many of them don’t realize that there is much to know!
Pearls are the only gemstones grown inside of a living organism. Natural pearls are formed when a small foreign object, such as a parasite, grain of sand, or piece of food lodges itself in the mantle tissue of a mollusk. When the mollusk is invaded by a foreign object that it cannot eject, it responds by defensively entombing the offending entity in successive, concentric layers of nacre. Nacre is a combination of crystalline and organic substances that form the iridescent mother-of-pearl lining of mollusk shells.
Well formed, symmetrical natural pearls that are large in size are extremely rare. For pearls to form in nature it may take many years of near-perfect conditions for them to make a significant gain in size. Before the beginning of the 20th Century, pearl hunting/pearl diving was the most common way of harvesting pearls.
Divers would manually pull oysters from the ocean floor and river bottoms and checked them individually for pearls; unfortunately, not all natural oysters produce pearls. It would take nearly one ton of oysters to produce only three or four perfect round pearls, making them highly scarce, and valuable. Because of their scarcity, natural pearls are almost always used in single-pearl jewelry pieces. The most common natural pearls are Penn, Abalone, Conch, and Oyster.
It is commonly assumed that only one out of ten-thousand mollusks naturally produce gem quality pearls. Thankfully, the process to culture pearls was developed – otherwise ownership of pearls would still be relegated to the wealthiest and pearl producing mollusks would be on the brink of extinction due to over-harvest.
The principle difference between Natural and Cultured Pearls is the thickness of the nacre, and human intervention. It can take two to five years for a quality natural pearl to fully develop in the oyster. Quality in the culturing process is key: lower quality cultured pearls are created by inserting a large nucleus to hasten the process – resulting in a pearl with a very thin layer of nacre that will not have a great deal of luster, and will not be very durable. TAHITIAN PEARLS: Tahitian pearls are produced in the black-lipped oyster ‘Pinctada margaritifera’, in and around Tahiti and the French Polynesian islands. This oyster itself is quite large – sometimes over 12 inches across and weighing as much as 10 pounds – which often results in much larger-than-average pearls. Not only are the pearls beautiful, but the black-lipped oyster’s mother-of-pearl inner shell is also extremely attractive. By the early part of the 20th century, before conservation and repopulation efforts began, the Tahitian pearl oyster had almost been hunted to extinction for its shell alone.
SOUTH SEA PEARLS: The waters of the South Seas, that lay between the northern coast of Australia and the southern coast of China, are the native habitat of a large oyster known as Pinctada maxima. There are two varieties of Pinctada maxima, the silver-lipped and the gold-lipped. The two are distinguished by their distinct coloration of the outer edge of the interior. This type of shell is also known as mother-of-pearl, and is responsible for the coloration of the cultured pearls produced, therefore the name. The nacre of a South Sea pearl is unusually thick, ranging from 2 – 6 mm, compared to the 0.35 – 0.7 mm of an akoya pearl resulting in a unique, satiny. South Sea pearls also have a subtle array of colors; typically white, silver, and golden, that are rare in other pearl types.
AKOYA: In the early 1900s, Kokichi Mikimoto of the Mikimoto pearl company was the first to successfully and consistently grow round pearls in the akoya pearl oyster utilizing a technique discovered by William Saville-Kent in Australia. The akoya pearls have been synonymous with classic beauty and elegance. They are the roundest of all pearl varieties, and are known for their sharp luster and pink overtones – they are the classic, elegant pearl that springs to most of our minds when we think of a strand of pearls.
Cameron Pelle, our Gallery Manager & Appraiser, is a gemologist (G.J.G.) certified by G.I.A. (the Gemological Institute of America). Melanie Payne, from the News-Press’Tell Mel column, contacted Cameron for his expert opinion for her current article. Cameron analyzed the gem in question and regretfully informed Mel (and Lee Koneval who purchased the ring) that it was not authentic and that she had paid nearly double its value. There are good deals to be had out there – but always remember, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is! Be ware of any merchant who will not give you the opportunity to do some independent research. Also, if you are nervous about the purchase – be sure that you can return the item if you have buyer’s remorse. If the stores policy is ‘no returns’ or they have no storefront to speak of, and therefore would be hard to track down – you are really taking a gamble. Our gallery offers insurance appraisals (which are legal documents) for a fee, but we are always happy to give you our professional verbal opinion if you have a piece you are curious about.
It was an honor to provide a venue for Tammy Hall’s Pearls of Wisdom campaign fund raising event, this past Monday (June 28th). All of the ladies who attended had a wonderful time and there was much merrymaking: delicious hors d’oeuvres from Cru, sumptuous wines, and delectable chocolates from Norman Love. Tammy Hall shared pearls of wisdom and thanked her constituents. She is very optimistic about her re-election; thanks to all of her supporters! Mark regaled the audience with our rare and lustrous pearls. Video soon to come!
