State of the necklace – Speaker of the House dons Houston designer necklace

If you watched the State of the Union Address last night, I’m sure you saw the eye-popping necklace worn by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi – which was designed and made by local Houston jewelry phenome Mariquita Masterson [www.mariquitamasterson.com]. The one-of-a-kind recycled red glass necklace set in sterling silver with blue agate beads was purchased by the Pelosi’s daughter last year at the designer’s eponymous River Oaks showroom (2505 River Oaks Blvd.) for the retail price of $650.

Pelosi donned the striking Mariquita Masterson necklace in front of tens of millions of captive viewers for a solid 82 minutes – serving as a colorful juxtaposition to the all-white ensemble that she and her fellow congresswomen wore for the joint session of Congress in tribute to the women’s suffragette movement – a reference to the suffragettes who would wear white dresses in hopes of getting their photos printed in the newspapers.

Mariquita Masterson has been creating jewelry for over 30 years and began while she was working with a glass blower designing a table setting for a museum gala in Houston. When she saw the chunks of crystal ready to go into the furnace, the idea came to her of how beautiful they would be set as jewelry. As such, she got out a drill and made her start. In her store on River Oaks Blvd you will find the designs that came directly from this love of the crystal as well as a beautiful selection of colors, set in sterling silver and in vermeil. Sometimes she uses recycled glass, like from gin bottles, and sometimes she orders directly from glass companies that produce a variety of colors and textures. And sometimes she gets lucky and an antique vase shows up in pieces and she gets to make something beautiful out of the wreckage.