6397 doesn’t make jewelry and honestly, I’m not much of a jewelry person. I don’t like to decorate spaces or accessorize things, that’s just my own frame-of-mind. But there are 2 jewelry makers whose work I love and they happen to be friends of many years with a shared history of this city we all love -New York.
Matt Swope came to New York by way of San Francisco in the late 80’s. I had met Matt a few years earlier when I was visiting from Japan and we have been friends ever since. In the early 90’s when I finally migrated from Japan to New York with a stop in Los Angeles, we began to work together. I was starting to build a fashion showroom in downtown Manhattan and Matt was there to help me. We have been in and out of our lives professionally - Matt left my company to continue his education in Art History and I continued to build my showroom and represent various talented designers. We always stayed in touch though and shared many experiences together. Somewhere along the way, Matt started to make jewelry and now there are many fans waiting for his new work. Matt’s pieces are made from precious and semi-precious gems and feel organic and honest. All stones have an innate spiritual and healing quality to them and when you put them on you can feel the love and integrity that went into making each and every one by hand.
Eric Gabriel came to New York from San Francisco in the mid-80’s. Although he currently lives in Los Angeles, we first met soon after he arrived in New York, searching and wanting to experience and explore this wonderfully crazy city and find his way. He did via the way of beauty and photography and now Eric is a professional photographer creating beautiful pictures. In his spare time, he makes jewelry and these are some of his wonderfully eclectic pieces juxtaposing fresh-water pearls with steel and plastic hardware. It is delicate and tough at the same time, just as Eric himself is. They are all made by hand, one-by-one, and you can feel the beautiful energy that went into each and every piece. They are all one-of-a-kind and reflective of his mood and the music he was listening to at the time.
Happy Holidays to everyone - the past 2 years have been so bizarre and full of surprises. 6397 wishes everyone the best for 2022, the year of the Tiger. And we hope you’ll also love Eric and Matt’s pieces as we all do at 6397.
