Gold tourmaline beaded necklace with faceted citrine pendant in 22K gold from Denise Betesh.

The appeal of beads spans many levels, from the spiritual to the financial.

By Marlene A. Prost

From a single strand of pearl and sapphire on a cashmere sweater to a cascade of bright gems draped over a décolletage, gemstone beads are making a bold statement in fashion.

Most bead designers would insist that beads have never left the fashion scene. Beaded jewels are a classic whose appeal goes back to ancient times. What has kept beaded jewelry exciting and marketable in recent years is the creative use of unusual colored stones in varying hues and combinations.

Color is what attracts both consumers and designers to beads, say design experts. Added appeal comes from their versatility, free-spirit image, and relative value compared to stones set in metal.

"I actually think, I feel, beads are a classic, and have been since the beginning of time," says designer Wendy Brigode of Encino, California. "There are basically two options in neckware: metal and beads. Beads add an element of color in every hue that you can't achieve in metal. The person who wants a sense of color opts for beads. The woman who enjoys color and drama goes for beads. Women who [want to] feel safe in their choices opt for metals."

Beads are the traditional color accessory for that other fashion classic - the basic black dress, says designer Denise Betesh of Santa Fe, New Mexico. "I think [beads] are a little bit more [of a] romantic, soft look because of the color and the texture."

There is "no doubt" that the appeal of bead jewelry is its color, agrees Piero Ferro, who runs a New York jewelry company with his wife and business partner, designer Paola Ferro.

Beads are no longer only for semiprecious gems: More and more designers choose high-end stones for their strands. Red spinel beads courtesy Black Star Trading Co., photo by Morgan Beard.

Close behind color as a factor is the versatility of bead jewelry in creating a look and a mood. Designers variously describe the "look" of bead jewelry as glamorous, dramatic, romantic, spiritual, and "hippy chic" - and all are right. With the variety of stones, hues, and lengths and the option of adding large pendants, bold gold clasps, and diamond accents, beaded jewelry can be worn to good effect with a cocktail dress, ball gown, or cropped sweater.

"Very glamorous, new and exciting," is how Jackie Rogers, designer, stylist, and sales director for Cinder in New York, describes the current look. While beads appeal to all age groups, says Rogers, the recent trend has been popularized by the "young, affluent money today. That's what they want."

Beads are also part of a Bohemian trend, Ferro asserts. "In terms of style today, the 'hippy chic' or 'Bohemian chic' trend is really strong. Many designers, including Paola and myself, are old hippies, or were so during their teenage [years] and twenties. . . . And beads were a best toy at those mythical times. Today, eclecticism and fusion are in vogue, and so other concepts of jewelry are involving beads in the more conventional and classic style."

Finally, beads in the past few years have been linked to a spiritual, healing quality, an association as old as beads themselves. Looking back over the 30,000-year history of beads, says Ferro, "Beads have always appealed to women - and even men - because of their 'amuletic power.'"

The same color and versatility that draws consumers also attracted some of the best-known bead designers to the craft.

Color lured Brigode, a one-time interior design stylist, to work with beads nine years ago. "Originally I did costume jewelry in metals, and I got bored with that. . . . I had been a makeup artist [and a] stylist. In all these trades, color, shape, form excited me."

Betesh had been working strictly with gold, but decided to explore bead design a few years ago because the industry's focus shifted to higher-quality gemstones.

"Many years ago, [designers] used lower-quality goods to facet into beads. Today they are using better-quality beads. [They are] clear and vibrant, the faceting is sparkling and well-done. It attracted me," says Betesh.

Anne Mottek Lucas of Black Star Trading Co., a bead wholesale company in Flagstaff, Arizona, preferred working with precious and semiprecious stones when she began her bead line a decade ago. She has since made a specialty of introducing new, less common gemstones, such as Mexican fire opal, chrysoberyl, and kyanite, working closely with miners, who provide her with new supplies of rough.

One of her most popular precious stone beads is multi-colored sapphire, says Lucas. Also popular are red spinel and hessonite garnet, which is striking when all the shades of hessonite are put on one strand, light to dark.

There is no limit to the types of gemstones that will sparkle in a bead design, agree designers.

Giuseppe D'Arcangelo uses "basically everything," as one of two bead designers with Jaded Jewels and Jaded Studio in New York. "Aquamarine, peridot, pearl, cultivated and not cultivated, Venetian glass . . . Everything that makes things interesting and beautiful."

"Anything can be used in beads," concurs Cinder's Rogers. "Whatever we're interested in using. We work with all [stones]. . . . We get our inspiration in looking at a bead. That's where we start."

Five-strand beaded necklace with phrenite, pastel South Sea pearl drops, and 18K gold clasp from Wendy Brigode.

Brigode works with a lot of faceted stones and pendants. "A pendant is an accent as far as I'm concerned, [and] diamond [accents] look good on beads. They're more fashion-forward."

At the higher end, Brigode works with ruby, sapphire, and tourmaline; her wholesale prices go from $100 to $5,000, which is the price of a strand of Kasumiga pearls, a rare type of freshwater pearl from Japan.

As high-end bead jewelry becomes more popular, the quality of workmanship in the beads becomes critical. Designers especially keep an eye out for the quality of drilling. Individual beads may be useless if the holes are not drilled through, or are not centered.

Often, beads come back from India or Hong Kong with holes that don't meet in the middle. "You can't redrill without cracking them," although they may be used on necklaces if the wire can push through, says Shaune Bazner of Mei Fa/Shaune Bazner Accessories Inc. in Washington, D.C.

Poor centering is another defect that costs designers. "The beads will not lie right if the hole isn't in the center," says Bazner, who began her business 23 years ago designing beaded hair sticks. "Everything comes on a strand. They can have six to 20 beads. If you get a semiprecious strand of 20 and four are no good, you have to account for that in your pricing."

In general, Lucas says, you don't use as high a quality of graded rough in beads as with single-stone jewelry, because the quality of the individual bead is not as important.

"As long as it has a nice, saturated color and some transparency, you don't need that clarity," says Lucas.

Betesh's beads are strung locally in New Mexico. "I have a very small business. Two women do my stringing." She specializes in very long, double- and triple-strand cascades of 16 to 32 inches, often with a pendant, so strength is very important. Betesh makes sure that her strands are knotted every two or three beads, so if the strand breaks, few beads are lost.

Even using hand labor, designers say beads are easier and less expensive to work with than faceted gems and metal.

Brigode imports faceted beads cut and drilled in India and Hong Kong; they are strung in her studio, which has 16 full-time staff members. It can take 20 minutes to three hours to string a necklace, depending on the design. In general, based on labor, stringing is far less costly than setting stones, she says.

For example, it can cost $4 to set an individual diamond. "If you do a pavé ring, you might use 130 diamonds. . . . With materials on top of casting and labor, you can't compare the cost."

Not only the labor, but the gems themselves are less expensive. Beads are seen as a "great value" because the buyer purchases dozens of gems and colors for the same price as a single large stone, says Lucas. "You get more for your money. You can buy over 100 carats of sapphire for about $250. You can't get anything close in faceted goods. . . . You get the feeling you have more. [Customers spend] $500 for a strand; it makes them feel good."

It is also easier to design a "free form" bead necklace, says D'Arcangelo, who has worked in beads for 18 years. "I think it is much more difficult to design for calibrated stones. [A piece using faceted gems] has to have some kind of pattern and logic. A free-form stone necklace is more easy. You can make whatever you want. It does not have definition. [With metal jewelry], there is a size you have to respect. You have certain metal that has to be filled in."

Technically speaking, it may look easier to work with beads, Ferro says. "Of course, chiseling and engraving gold is more difficult and complicated. But everything can be very hard if you want a real quality work. Sense of harmony is needed, like for any other activity in life."