Henry Dunay

"Henry Dunay's life reads like a great American story. Born Henry Loniewski, his career began on the Bowery in New York City and took him to Switzerland, Japan, Hollywood, and eventually all the way to the White House. It is a chronicle of hard work, imagination, ingenuity, passion, determination, and an absolute unerring instinct for being in the right place in the world at the right time. The excitement grows steadily over a period of more than fifty years as Dunay singlehandedly built his business to fit the luxurious mold of the great jewelry houses of all time: Faberge, Cartier, and Van Cleef & Arpels. What separates Dunay from the rest is his ability to design the jewelry and make it with his own two hands. No member of the Faberge, Cartier, or Van Cleef & Arpels family ever had the skill to work on the jeweler's bench, a practice Dunay continues to this day. The combination of Dunay's one-of-a kind story and jewelry, along with beautiful photos of his designs and anecdotes from the notable women who have worn them, makes this a gem of a book. This volume includes a text by leading jewelry authors and editors Penny Proddow and Marion Fasel, as well as an essay on Dunay's longtime love affair with colored stones by George E. Harlow, Curator of Minerals and Gems at the American Museum of Natural History, and interviews with some of Dunay's clients and family by journalist Jeryl Brunner."--Jacket.