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As a child and aspiring fashion enthusiast, Lika Behar took her allowance and bought some costume jewelry. Her parents, including her father, a dealer in precious gold coins and estate jewelry in Istanbul, grounded her.
"My family believed that no matter what you bought, it had to be for real even if it was the latest fashion craze," Lika remembers. "It always had to be worth something."
That quest for something enduring is the hallmark of Lika Behar's jewelry. A self-defined classicist, she reveres ancient art and architecture. Growing up in Istanbul, the bridge between Europe and Asia, the ancient world and the 21st century afforded her first hand exposure to the best from the many civilizations around the Mediterranean.
While, in retrospect, designing jewelry may have been Lika's destiny, she took a circuitous route to her present career. She came to the United States to earn her BA in economics and a Master's in Business Administration. She worked for a major bank for several years before being lured back into something creative. Lika worked as a children's wear designer and as an apparel sourcing agent for many well-known designers, such as Donna Karan, Juicy Couture, Calvin Klein, etc.
While successful in the fashion industry, Lika felt the hunger for a new challenge. "I was in Istanbul having dinner with my friend and her husband when he suddenly said, 'Why don't you do jewelry? You were born into it,'" she says.
How true. With her father's encouragement she opened her own jewelry business in 2008. All her pieces are handmade in Istanbul with a nod to history.
"I'm a huge fan of ancient history, hence I love pure 24K gold and pure silver. Ancient jewelry was handmade without using metal alloys, only pure metals using simple tools. I shun anything than can be mass produced."
Lika Behar's love of history can be traced back to her favorite second grade teacher, who took her class on a field trip to Istanbul's major historic sites: the ancient Byzantine Cistern, the Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the Topkapi Palace.
Lika was mesmerized. "The stories from history were more much interesting than any fairy tales or fiction." She later cajoled her family into taking her to other historic sites such as the city of Ephesus. She celebrated her ninth birthday at the restaurant atop the famous Galata tower built by the Genoese in 1348.
"I was hooked," Lika admits. And so it seems with lovers of her historically inspired jewelry.
"My typical customer is a museum-going, art-loving, history appreciating, intelligent woman who does not have an ostentatious style. She looks for originality and above all, lasting beauty."
Among Lika's many inspirations--from special gemstones to history--none is as influential as her love of the azure colors of the Mediterranean Sea.
"My love of the Mediterranean Sea and other Mediterranean themes, such as olive branches, have had a significant impact on my work."
In fact, her favorite color is blue. "There is nothing prettier or that flatters any complexion better than turquoise.
Her favorite palette of gemstone colors reflects her love of the Mediterranean: milky aquamarines, and blue chalcedony.
"I try to use unsung heroes of the gem world, lesser known gemstones such as prehnites, kunzites, natural blue chalcedony as well as vintage elements such as cameos, etc."
Ironically, considering her years of working on Seventh Avenue, Lika Behar isn't so concerned with the latest trends.
"I am a classicist. But I also hate anything that looks 'dated.' I follow fashion to a certain degree enough to keep my own style fresh."
Indeed her collections feature combinations of pure gold, blackened silver, diamonds and gemstones, the same ingredients that have made up the best jewelry in Turkey for centuries.
Lika had an uncanny ability to take age-old looks and interpret them for a 21st century customer.
Since her family's heritage and business focused on antiquities and estate jewelry, Lika takes cues from those masterpieces but infuses them with femininity and romance.
And they are immensely wearable. What she calls: "casual elegance." "It's important to me that my jewelry is suitable for everyday wear just like your favorite pair of jeans."
That casual attitude has made Lika Behar's jewelry a favorite with collectors, who pair her designs with their existing jewelry wardrobe. "It's important to make jewelry your own. I can't believe some of the amazing combinations customers wear my jewelry. While it's my design, they have made wearing the jewelry a part of their lives."
Armani for his effortless classicism, Chanel for creating revolution in the way women dressed and their lifestyle. Moschino for whimsy, Prada for wearability and timeless designs, as well as Donna Karan who is the queen of draping.
I think she prefers comfortable clothing whether it's casual or dressier. And understated. She isn't a trendsetter, but a lover of enduring styles. I can see her in Donna Karan or Armani.
1. Hermes open-toed flats. 2. A classic pair of Manolo Blahniks in a fun color that you will wear all the time. I am a shoe fanatic. 3. The most flattering blue jeans you can afford. 4. A draped dress in a solid, dark color--no black so you stand out. 5. A fabulous bag like the Longchamp Le Pliage tote. You can fill it up with a million things and not feel like a bag lady. I tuck two or three in my suitcase every trip.
The hand-hammered gold hoop earrings, perfect for every occasion. Also a big ring.
I have a busy trunk show schedule, but I hope to see Yosemite and Death Valley.
A diamond engagement ring from my grandmother. I admired it as a child so much she would have given it to me then, but I was only 9.
The Krissy necklace. It appeals to women from age 14 to over 70. No wonder it's my all-time best seller.
Jackie O and Elizabeth Taylor. Ideally a mixture of both is my ideal.
A Turkish TV series I've been watching on YouTube. It's sort of a historical soap opera. Right up my alley.
A beautiful Tsavorite piece I got as a birthday present from my husband.
She is a collector and has a passion for jewelry--and a deep down secret passion to showcase her personal collection. They often tell me, "I bought a dress to go with my necklace."
The Bosphorus, sometimes called Istanbul Strait is the boundary between Europe and Asia. And has great meaning to Turkey, a country which has been the bridge between civilizations for centuries. If you are from Istanbul, like Lika Behar, the blue waters of the straits and the nearby Aegean and Mediterranean Sea have incredible shares of blue, from deep midnight to azure. Lika celebrates these blues in her Blue Lagoon collection which features her signature, hand hammered 24K gold and silver with blue gemstones.
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Given her studies in ancient Mediterranean history, it seems inevitable that Lika Behar would be inspired by one of the great legendary beauties, the one whose "face launched the thousand ships:" Helen, or Helena of Troy. The earliest stories surrounding Helena of Troy date back to the Mycenaean Bronze Age, but Lika interprets her as contemporary warrior woman, persevering through any challenge. Her Helena collection uses Lika's signature hammered 24K yellow gold, oxidized sterling silver and even diamonds, to create jewelry befitting a 21st century legend.
With her fondness for ancient cultures surrounding the Mediterranean, it's not surprising that Lika Behar would pay tribute to the goddess Minerva, who the ancient Greeks called Athena. According to myth, Minerva oversaw poetry, medicine, commerce, crafts, magic and invented music. Most of all, she was associated with wisdom. In tribute to one of the world's first recognized women "leaders," Lika created this 24K yellow gold and oxidized sterling silver collection with some amulet-style pieces resplendent with gemstones in feminine colors. It's enough to make you want to sing along to Minerva's music.
Pearls have been associated with the goddess Venus so there's no denying that they also are associated with femininity, the moon, and, of course, love. Never one to do anything ordinary, designer Lika Behar uses some unusual, even one-of-a-kind pearls in this 24K gold and oxidized sterling silver collection that almost cannot be believed. Besides their beautiful luster, Lika hand selected the pearls in this Pearlesce collection, some with a delicate, blush of color, others shimmering like moonlight on a pond.
True to her love of ancient history and antiquities, designer Lika Behar has a fondness for rose-cut gemstones. One of the earliest forms of faceting gemstones to increase their brilliance, rose-cuts remain popular today in diamonds and colored stones. In her Pebble Rose collection, Lika sets the delicate but brilliant colors in her signature hammered 24K yellow gold. Like the classics these designs are based upon, they surely will be pieces you'll reach for time and time again.
The feeling of a bright Mediterranean sun beating down on a field of sunflowers has inspired poets and painters alike. Lika Behar, too. Her Sunshine collection in warm and sunny 24K yellow gold with oxidized sterling silver and diamonds is inspired by the fruits and flowers that bask in this sun, such as sunflowers and pomegranates. Using special setting techniques, Lika's diamonds seems like seeds ripe for the plucking.
Luscious gemstones that remind her of her native Turkey and the surrounding Mediterranean are favorites in Lika Behar's collection. Her collection of Roxy rings made from hammered 24K yellow gold and oxidized sterling silver is no exception. Every woman needs a bold ring to show her confidence, Lika believes, so she reinforced that fact with some amazing colored gemstone or pearl center stones. Wear them like a badge of honor.
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