Wish List: I ♥ BOCAGE.

There are no two ways around it. I love Bocage. This haven, this "movable feast of treasures for discerning designers," as Bocage proprietress Stephanie Bodine so perfectly nails it, has become my go-to showroom for THE most luscious findings for my hair adornments and jewelry. I think that this place actually revived my soul. My actual soul. I am not even kidding.

My friend, Jay, suggested I contact "this super cool girl" who owns a showroom of jewelry materials that he thought would suit me exactly right. His big sell- knowing my innate need to connect with East Coast peeps- was that she and her husband, owner of the kick ass Playback Recording Studio, have more recently moved to California from New York. They are an incredibly talented couple, insanely well versed in the world of design and music, and I took to them immediately. Also I want to kidnap their dog, Charm, and make her Mars' new BFF.

But I digress.

Bocage is a dynamic melding of vintage yumminess and edgy innovation... the unconventional meets traditional in an opium den of embellishments. It's seriously like that. I get light headed if I spend too much time in there. But giddy. Light-headed giddiness is the best thing ever. And that's Bocage in a nutshell.

Stephanie is unbelievably brilliant. She's got a knack for just about everything design related... and by "knack" I mean she's a genius for creating multi-layered beauty with any material you place in front of her. For someone who's been on Martha Stewart, Style TV, is designing charms for Waxing Poetic (like the Wish tonic bottle above), has been featured in Nylon, Flaunt, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine and...AND has contributed projects in both books, Material World and 50 Tease, you'd think she'd be an intimidating or condescending bitch. Nope. Neither. Not even close. She's a sweetheart.

Here she is with Martha. (I'm not jealous. Not one bit.)

For those of you not in the Santa Barbara area, you'll miss out on her fabulous mini-universe of a showroom. But, you can still purchase unique treasures from New York to Paris for your own designs at www.BocageNewYork.com .

A few of Bocage embellished designs below:
A stylin' key necklace...