DESIGN
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THE CREATIVE URGE Montreal jeweller Gloria Bass continues to innovate and create BY SUSAN KELLY
THE FAMOUS PSYCHOANALYST Carl Jung once claimed, “Nothing can discourage the creative spirit.” And pandemic or not, the creative fires within jewelry designer Gloria Bass blaze brightly. “Any time I consider not working, I find a project that excites me— usually more than one,” Bass says. Throughout the uncertainty of 2020, she has continued to produce new work for an international clientele, and has made it easier for them to buy via her online store. And when allowed, the doors of her store on Greene Ave. in Westmount, Quebec are open to customers by appointment. It’s an offer that people such as chanteuse Lara Fabian
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take advantage of. Fabian has worn Bass’s creations to events for years and now serves as spokesmodel. Fabian heads a customer list that contains myriad prominent names. Examples of the pieces designed for them appear on the Gloria Bass Design website under the Private Collection tab. But you will not find the name of the person who commissioned, say, the striking black granite and diamond cufflinks there. “I could not have stayed in business for 45 years if I were not discreet,” Bass says. “But I make each piece to express something about the person wearing it, so there is a story behind every single one.”
About 50 per cent of the award-winning designer’s time is spent crafting custom commissions. An artist at heart, she sometimes designs pieces just for the sheer love of creating. She draws inspiration from nature, art, architecture, popular culture, and the world around her. Often, it is a gemstone from her private dragon’s horde that serves as her muse. She loves them all: sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, and more. “I also have a lot of unusual stones that people haven’t heard about: spinels, coloured sapphires, beryls, moonstones, tourmalines, peridots,” she says. “They are of fine gemstone quality.”
