"Wire is the staple for creation at Silver and Gold this season."
After her only break throughout the year, Mackenzie Haiss is back with new pieces to debut at Mackenzie's Silver and Gold. For the past 25 years, Haiss has been closing her shop in July for vacation, which Haiss said gives her a mental break in order to be revitalized and renew her creative spirit.
"I get this chunk of time, and then I can do a series of jewelry or I can work on a theory or a style or a concept, and I actually have time to let it grow," she said. "To grow is into a whole new collection."
Although Haiss does not spend the entire month on vacation, Haiss was able to visit Paris this year with her daughter. The artwork seen while in Paris will provide inspiration over the next year, she said.
"I was just wanting to get refreshed on artwork because then, all year long, I think of furniture or decorations or paintings. I think of Van Gogh and it just inspired me to do designs because I think of myself as an art shop, not a commercial jewelry shop," Haiss said.
During Haiss's two weeks of creative studio work, she said she decided to work on one-of-a-kind necklaces that focus on wire work.
"You want to pick an area and dive into it, and I picked wire," she said. "This time, I worked with wire and hammering, bending wire, involving stones and not involving stones, and that was my focus this time."
Wooster resident Mary Jo Barnett said she was impressed by the new line of wire necklaces since they seemed lightweight and wider without being heavy or chunky.
"It's hard to decide which piece to select because it's just so creative and different and unique with her designs. You want to buy it all," Barnett said. "Marty herself is unbelievable. She knows her product, not only does she know her product... but she's good at pairing up a piece of jewelry with the person buying it."
A longtime customer of MacKenzie's Silver and Gold, Cheryl Moon said she enjoys seeing the creative and artistic pieces Haiss churns out year after year.
"The reason I go back to her is she listens to what the client wants. She knows you as a client," Moon said. "She's not your run-of-the-mill jeweler."
Moon, who has taken heirloom jewelry to the store to have Haiss repurpose, said the use of color and stones in her pieces are what make them stand out.
In terms of color, Haiss said she tried to pick out the most trendy-colored stones for the heart of the newest wire necklaces.
In order to determine which pieces are popular for fall. Haiss said she goes into clothing stores and observers all the popular colors.
"You always have some kind of red, you always have some kind of blue and you always have some kind of green, but you're never sure what it is," she said. "So I literally look at the fall collection and then I go to an October trade show and I buy more heavily in those colors."
While she had her time off, Haiss said she tried to take advantage of every creative day she could. "It's all about your hand-eye coordination. When you have a good day, you just take it and enjoy it to the max. And then when you have a day when your hands aren't quite so turned on... that's when I clean or I organize," she said. "You can't be creative 100 percent of the time, so when I do get the creative urge, I set aside other things and take full advantage of that."
While Haiss said the shop is always busy once August hits, she loves to give customers unique pieces that are custom made and fit the jewelry-wearers personality.
"I love to take old jewelry and remake it for them into something like an heirloom piece that's their style because everybody has a different style," Haiss said, "So I'll take an older piece that's and revamp it ... I make it wearable, but in their style."
Haiss said she enjoys revitalizing older jewelry pieces that have been passed down for generations and likes to create pieces off-the-cuff featuring all different kinds of stones, beads, and pearls.
"I love having people come in and they go, 'This is like a museum', "Haiss said. "I think this is the highest museum ... because its like, yes, I try to get everything kind of stone that exists. I try to get a little bit of everything."
"She is so talented," Moon said. "She's very creative and uses a lot of art in her creations."