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Make Vroom For Jewelry From Luxury Auto Parts | February 18, 2015 (0 comments)
Los Angeles, CA—Recycling is a growing trend in luxury jewelry, but usually it means diamonds bought from the street or gold from old jewelry that’s been melted down. It typically doesn’t suggest pieces made from the front end of a Mercedes-Benz.
Enter Crash by Minabea. The company was born when, struggling with precious metal price hikes, jeweler Christi Schimpke was inspired to make a bracelet from the damaged hood of a Mercedes-Benz SLS Roadster. Schimpke’s husband, Dan, is a mechanic specializing in high-end auto body repair, and it was in his shop that she spied the hood that needed to be replaced. Rather than scrap it, he cut it up for her to work with; she cut it into smaller pieces and after some trial and error was able to bend the car metal into a cuff bracelet. One thing she says amazed her was the car’s paint—it was as beautiful as any enamel she’s ever seen on jewelry. She’s observed the same with paint from other high-end autos like Lamborghinis and Maseratis.
“I just acquired a Lamborghini Gallardo in a very special color – Arancio Argos – a gorgeous orangey red,” she told Forbes magazine. “I am in the process of designing a cuff with diamonds and colored gemstones set into the car metal for a much more luxurious experience. These cuffs will be my most expensive to date and each will have a custom VIN number that denotes its special status as a limited edition item.”
Her pieces range from less than $100 to upcoming editions for more than $10,000, and her planned luxury line will incorporate traditional high-end materials like gold and precious stones.
Her metal comes mainly from late-model Ferraris, Maseratis, Teslas, Mercedes-Benz, Porsches, Bentleys and Audis that have been in minor fender-benders. She doesn’t use vintage or totaled vehicles, but even a minor dent can require a lot of metal to be replaced on these luxury automobiles.
She also takes custom commissions, such as the cuff she named after a customer who wanted something made from the hood of his Audi, she told The Centurion.
Schimpke, who already had a custom jewelry business, quickly learned that automotive metal will test a jeweler’s mettle.
“I am in the process of adding high-end materials like diamonds, etc. I am trying to finesse the gem setting process with the car metal. It's an unusual marriage,” she told The Centurion. Car metal is generally steel and/or aluminum, a very tough, springy metal. Her processes have improved, as have her tools, but it still takes a lot of time to fabricate car metal into a bracelet. Cuffs are inscribed with the car make and come with a certificate of authenticity stating the make and model of the car and the date the bracelet was created. Some cuffs are lined with leather or lambskin, and she’s recently figured out a process to etch the auto paints into snakeskin and other patterns.
Cuff bracelet made from a Maserati. Schimpke added sterling silver and turquoise, and has developed a process to etch snakeskin and other patterns into the auto paints. At top of page, a cuff made from the hood of a Lamborghini sports 14k gold accents. Photos, Forbes.
Schimpke does some wholesaling of her auto jewelry, mainly to boutiques, she said. But she is interested in wholesaling to other jewelers. Email her at hello@minabea.com.