|
|
| Mary Mundy,
Lunacy Designs
Artist's Statement
There she was, poking in and around the London flea markets. Her
artistic eye soaking up all the wonderful metal treasures that dotted
the streets. As a young girl of 20 while strolling down those
cobblestone streets, Mary Mundy had started up an infatuation with
antique purses and boxes. Though attending school at Schiller College,
she always found time to roam through the famous Portabello Road Flea
Market. With every imaginable thing under the sun waiting for the right
buyer, it was here that Mary found an old metal purse used by ladies of
high fashion during turn-of-the-century England. Delighted with such a
find, she snapped up this metal treasure and a collection was born.
England had left Mary enchanted and full of ideas. Back in the states,
Mary absorbed all there was in art, sculpture and jewelry making at UT
Austin. As her passion for metal work developed, and her mind merging
shapes and objects into functional designs, she still yearned to seek
the wonders of the world. So after graduating she flew right into work
as a flight attendant. Mary's wonders of the world consisted of flea
markets where many unique items simply talked of art and culture. From
Canada to India Mary bartered herself into a wide array of old purses
and boxes. Today her vintage purses have inspired many of the designs in
her current Lunacy collection.
Sydney, Australia caught her heart and she took leave from the carefree
blue skies and settled down designing jewelry for the Berta family's
opal business. Their store, Opal Fields, is renowned for their quality
of opals and creative designs. But three years was enough and armed with
experience, Mary headed for home ground and returned back to the US.
It was 1989 and Texas was ready for some new creations. She setup shop
and begun work on metal pieces that incorporated her experiences of
jewelry design and her memory of all the wonderful items she beheld in
her travels, including purses and boxes of old. Her design and
production methods yield pieces that hold the beauty, complexity and
inspiration she found in them. Today you can see her magic in each and
every design, a certain mystical spell blossoms out of each work of her
art. Collectors from all over the world have many of her pieces. Each of
her pieces is signed with the company name, Lunacy, and it's trademark a
tiny crescent moon and star.
|
