august LS. 2001*
Photo-philology
Lighting up
the ru n w a y
Charming jewelry designer pictures big business
by Timothy Krause
'm just enraptured by the myth of photographs,"
exclaims Heather Pittcnger. “You hear all these
stories about how these people were, but when
you see them in photographs, it tells you a dif
ferent story."
Pittenger’s obsession with old photos, espe
cially those that speak to feminism or sexual
minorities, once led her to discover a rare
cache at a Portland antique store.
“1 had tears running down my face,” she
recalls. “Here was this picture from the late ’40s
of these two women kissing at a party.... The
woman has a child, and it seems to me the
father is this nelly gentleman who has all these
wonderful other [male] friends. Then there are
all these portraits of just him, her and this child
with grandparents that look totally Victorian
and have no idea what’s going on around them.”
These moments captured in time spoke to
Pittenger. As her collection grew, she knew she
had to find a way to share “these crazy people
doing crazy things.” So this 33-year-old queer
jewelry designer borrowed a friend’s idea for
placing tiny photos into charms and launched
a business, Charming Zelda, a play on the
name her father always wanted to give her.
Working from a studio in the inner Southeast
Portland home she shares with her partner, Katie,
Pittenger carefully cuts out color reductions of
her prized photos. Then she pulls out her dictio
nary— one of her favorite books, she confesses—
to collect words she’ll place on the reverse side.
Words such as Icing, tramp and buckaroo.
I
Future fashion designer Cameron Hamilton
models clubwear at a recent P D X Fashion
Incubator show
DX Fashion Incubator— a nonprofit
organization dedicated to helping design-
ers and entrepreneurs succeed creatively
and monetarily— played host to one of a hand
ful of runway fund-raisers July 27 at the Blue
Monk in preparation for September’s Fashion
Week. Executive director Stella Farina wel
comed about 100 guests to this fashion-show
teaser featuring recent works of local designers
that ranged from swanky swimwear to summer
evening dresses to dance-fever club couture.
T he evening’s highlight was the oh-so-cute
Cameron Hamilton, the token guy strutting
his stuff in hot club duds befitted with red lines
of patent leather, fishnet accents and cargo-
style pockets by Kaplanova. Though we wish
he’d stay on the runway where we can see him,
look for this gay hottie to join Portland’s fash
ion ranks as a designer when he moves out of
his University of Oregon dorm room and into
the Fashion Incubator sometime next year.
PDX Fashion Incubator will play host to
Portlands first-ever Fashion Week from Sept. 15
to 19 at Portland Art Museum, 1219 S.W. Park
Ave. A “People’s Choice” awards ceremony will
accompany a fashion finale featuring the spring
2004 collections from local designers. For details
visit www.pdxfashionincubator.org.
— M EB
P
PEACE
CHURCH
By juxtaposing antique photos with words of
endearment that hold a surprisingly modem
sensibility, Heather Pittenger reinterprets
myths of days gone by
We are an o p e n C h ris tia n c h u rc h that
w e lc o m e s p e o p le of all races, ge n de rs,
sexual o rie n ta tio n s, a b ilitie s , e th n ic itie s
an d ages.
• W e b e lie v e the B ib le has p re se rved
an d su p p o rts d iffe re n t p e rsp e c tiv e s of
C h ris tia n fa ith .
1 2727 SE M a r k e t St.
P o rtla n d , O reg o n
C h a r m i n g Z e l d a jewelry can he found at
Greg's, 3707 S.E . Hawthcjme Blvd. ; Retread
Threads, 931 S.W . O ak St.; and Stella's,
1108 N .W . 21st A ve. Contact Pittenger at
charmmgzelda&yafvx). com .
Features Editor T lM tTFH Y K r a u s e can be reached
at thn@justout.com .
“I’m , A V A ILA B LE, „
of
THE
BRETHREN
Justice • R econciliation • Simplicity • Welcoming
•
“From that point on, 1 pretty much work on
the juxtapositions. A lot of times I have ideas
in my mind about what the image is going to
do, but sometimes it floats around until it finds
a match,” Pittenger says. “Probably most of my
time goes into that part of the charm, deciding
which pictures goes with which words."
For example, one bauble reveals a shapely
woman dressed in hold horizontal stripes. On
the reverse appears the word revolution. Anoth
er shows the picture of a baby chicken opposite
the word mighty.
Although the words and pictures range
from naughty to nice, sex is what sells. “People
really go for the sexy charms because a lot of
times people can’t say what they want,” says
Pittenger, explaining how charms encourage
intimacy. "You have to invite someone into
your space. And that’s one thing that can go
terribly wrong with the charms, too. You defi
nitely don’t want to wear the nun-with-the-
boohs out to the grocery store unless you’re
willing to deal with people and their issues.”
Pittenger sandwiches the image and its lit
erary twin between glass, wraps copper foil
around the edges and solders the piece togeth
er. Each charm comes strung on simple chain
that she procures from the neighborhmxJ hard
ware store, but the lcx>p also is large enough to
attach to a bracelet or necklace.
While working at Bagdad Theater, Pit-
tenger began to sell her one-of-a-kind jewelry
to employees and friends. But her passion soon
became public when she took a batch of 10
charms to the owner of Greg’s, a retail shop
across the street on Southeast Hawthorne
Boulevard that began carrying the Charming
Zelda line six years ago. She since has recruited
two additional retail outlets in downtown and
Northwest Portland.
“T h at’s the hardest
part— represent ing
yourself,” says Pit
tenger. “Just fol
lowing through and
learning how to get to
the next step. I’ve failed
miserably at that— until
these past two years."
That’s when things began
to change. Instead of juggling her creative
entrepreneurship with working at a flower shop,
offering child care or selling antiques, Pittenger
now focuses exclusively on mixing art and busi
ness. She’s still a one-woman operation, hut
instead of making a dozen unique charms, Pit
tenger is churning exit hundreds. Many are trav
eling with her to the Michigan Womyn’s Music
Festival, but others are for the launch of her
commercial line carried by Holden and Co., a
wholesale representative of hand-crafted jewelry..
“I have lived on the edge for so king. That
used to be really important to me. 1 didn’t want
to give in and play this game that I was
repulsed by. But, ultimately, it’s only going to
benefit me to succeed and take care of myself
so that 1 can help take care of the rest of the
people in my life,” she says.
Making her creativity pay doesn’t mean
she’s giving up the charm’s emotion. Amid
mass production, Pittenger still sneaks in a few
unique amulets for the added element of sur
prise and a nod to fate.
“Sometimes I’ll make 20 of one kind I know
will sell, hut I’ll make one just by itself that has
nothing to do with anything— other than it’s
something I’m trying to say. Maybe it will never
sell. Maybe I’ll give it away. But maybe some
body will come along and say, ‘Oh my goodness,
this is so meaningful to me,’ ’’ says Pittenger.
“This is my little way of speaking my mind. It’s
definitely one of the only ways I get any points
across...this is like my little revolution.” J H
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