Of the 40,000+ people who will test HIV positive in the United States this year, 50 percent will be under 25 years old. Women now account for 50% of people infected with HIV worldwide.

My friend Adriene (team captain of Project Roadway) will be riding her bike 545 miles with AIDS/Lifecycle from San Francisco to Los Angeles in June to help end this epidemic.  She has set a personal goal to raise $5000 by May 31st.

Aiko Designs played a small part in helping Adriene reach her goal by donating a necklace valued at $130 for a recent fundraiser/auction for Adriene. The necklace actually brought in $150!

For ways you can help/contribute, see Adriene’s page here:
http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/adrienecrimson

and follow her training progress here:
http://crimsonic.blogspot.com/search/label/AIDS%2FLifecycle%208

Go Adriene!

Spring open studios are here again — please stop by and support local SF artists.  You can find me there at the Alabama & 19th location.

Preview: Thursday April 23 5 – 8pm
Opening Reception: Friday April 24 7-11pm
Open Studios: Sat & Sun April 25 & 26 12-5pm

Please join us in celebrating our 15 year Anniversary with Art Explosion Open Studios 2009. Each year over 100 artists at three locations join together in opening their studios to put on one of the best art shows of the year. There will be many fabulous works of art and jewelry on display in the galleries and studios during this event. It will be an exceptional opportunity to add to your collection, buy unique gifts and visit your favorite local artists. We will be having a preview Thursday night from 5-8pm which is a good time to stop by after work and get the first look. On Friday the studios will be hosting spectacular opening receptions from 7-11pm with free admission and refreshments. Make sure to stop by for an evening of art viewing and mingling. Saturday and Sunday we will have our open studios from 12-5pm.

Opening Receptions: Friday April 24th  7pm – 11pm

All three receptions are within walking distance or a short drive and will make for an enjoyable evening out.

Art Explosion Studios 2425 17th St @ Potrero
Art Explosion Studios 744 Alabama St @ 19th St
Art Explosion Studios 2345 Harrison St @19th St

Online Map:

Unfortunately, there’s been some bad news coming out of Oakland recently.  Fortunately, there are some bright spots to Oakland, and one of them is the Temescal neighborhood.

The Wall Street Journal considers the neighborhood to be the new gourmet ghetto of the Bay Area, and I can see why with Bakesale Betty, Pizzaiolo, and Doña Tomás.  You can even sense the gourmet-ness at the Temescal Farmers’ Market.  I just checked it out today and was really impressed.  It’s held year-round in the Oakland DMV parking lot every Sunday from 9am-1pm and the vendors there have some really delicious and unique products.  Blue Bottle Coffee has a booth with a line that winds down through the market.  Hodo Soy Beanery has some delicious soy products, (including yuba which I love, love, love) and Scream Sorbet has fantastic flavor offerings like Coconut Thai Basil, Lemon Shiso, and Lime Jasmine (dang! so good!).

It’s inspiring to see small, independent vendors with delicious and unique, quality products.  You get a sense from walking around the market that good things are happening — entrepreneurs are growing their businesses, community is being built and in general people are sharing some really good stuff!  Love it!

OK, so this isn’t jewelry related, but it’s inspiring…

I recently saw an episode of Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-ins & Dives (I love the Food Network and secretly wish I could be a cake decorator) that featured Gorilla BBQ in Pacifica, CA (a small beach town just south of San Francisco).  W-e-l-l, it turns out I was invited to an event in Pacifica today and decided that on my way back to SF I had to stop by Gorilla and check it out.

Gorilla BBQ was opened by two native Pacifica guys in 2006 and it’s a free-standing, sort of orange-y-red railroad car right off of the Coast  Highway.  There’s nowhere to sit inside– everything is to go, although there are a few picnic tables up the hill.  I heard one of the co-owners say they smoke 600 pounds a day and since the episode on the Food Network there have been lines of people waiting for them to open and pretty much until they close.  They used to be open until 8:00pm and now they’ve marked out their open hours to say they’re open until they sell out.  Today they sold out around 3:30 (they open at noon!).  I stood in line for over an hour and once I got to the counter, all they had left was the pulled pork (see their menu here).  I’m so glad there was something left so that hour wasn’t wasted — there were quite a few people still in line when I left, I hope there was still some BBQ left for them.

There was a lot of chit-chat while waiting in line and some local guys behind me were saying that it’s amazing how different things are now that Gorilla was featured on the Food Network — which reminded me of the whole “Oprah effect”.  While we all love our little local favorites and don’t always want to share them with the oustide world, it’s really great to see them succeed.  Both of the owners were in the train car working away and I was really happy for them — doing what they love and doing fantastic!  I’m definitely going to go back and try the ribs — probably on a weekday.

Aiko Designs is Nest’s Designer of the Week!  See the blog post here.

Just got back from Philadelphia last week.  I really liked Philadelphia (the little bit of it that I had time to check out).  For some reason it was 68° F the second day I was there (mid-Feb!).  It did get colder, but was pretty nice for East Coast winter.

The Buyers Market was a great experience for me — Aiko Designs will be in several new stores very soon and I met some amazing jewelry designers and artists while I was there.  Some of my new favorite designers: Mashka Jewelry, Ashleigh George and 314 Studio (funny, they’re Russian, Zimbabwean and Japanese — I’m always drawn to expats!).  I’ll post more about these lovely ladies soon and will be back in Philly in August for the summer show.

Lots of new pieces on the site…check them out *here*.

I spent a few days in gemstone heaven this past week.  Tucson is definitely “the” place to buy stones.  I’ve been to smaller shows and to places like Thailand to look for stones, but there’s nothing like going somewhere where there are 50 different venues filled with hundreds of gem dealers from all over the world.  I saw vendors and buyers from Japan, Spain, Brazil and Hong Kong.  Some of the venues are huge tents that are at least a city block large and are nice and air conditioned (it was around 80 degrees in Tucson!). For me, finding the right stones is exciting and inspiring — makes me want to get to work!

The Tucson show is on and I’m going! The Tucson Gem & Mineral Show has been held since 1955 and is one of the (if not “the”) biggest in the world.  There are about 50 different gem show events in Tucson where the small city is taken over by gem dealers and buyers from all over the world.

As most people, I’m on a very tight budget so will mostly be looking for inspiration and am hopeful that this will be the first trip of many more to Tucson for the big show.  I won’t have to say, “I’ve always wanted to go” anymore!

The Princess Project is a nonprofit that provides free prom dresses and accessories for high school girls who couldn’t otherwise afford them.  Their 2009 dress and accessory drive is from February 8th-14th.  Please consider donating jewelry, purses, wraps, and new or nearly new gowns in EXCELLENT condition in all fabrics, sizes, and colors — see the donation guidelines.

The Princess Project is currently operating in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego — you can find donation drop off locations here.