Tarina Tarantino at Book Soup before the talking about The Sparkle Factory, her new book.
TARINA TARANTINO
Tarina Tarantino Gets Crafty With New Book
After more than 18-years of making runway ready jewelry out of the most accessible materials, helming collaboration projects with pop culture obsessions such as Hello Kitty and Barbie, as well as shocking and captivating people with her fuchsia colored hair, Tarina Tarantino has talked to a lot of journalists. Now the designer tells her own story.
It’s called The Sparkle Factory. The book was recently published by Running Press. There was a book signing for The Sparkle Factory Nov. 2 at Book Soup, one of the centers of L.A.’s literary scene. The Sparkle Factory not only tells the story of Tarina. It’s a how-to book on making jewelry and it delves into her aesthetic. “My goal is to marry fashion with crafting,” she said. “It’s to make runway ready, fashion jewelry using material you can find from the 99¢ Only Stores to your junk drawer.” Tarina also uses Swarovski crystal and German lucite in her jewelry collection.
She also talked about being a serious devotee of the color fuchsia. “Color tells a story,” she said. “It also starts conversations.” Some of them gratifying. Some of them are like this.
A woman once told her, “You are so lucky that your boss lets you dye your hair that color.” Tarina replied. “I am...and my boss has the same color hair.”
Tarina also gave an update on her upcoming Sparkle Factory compound in downtown L.A. It is scheduled to debut in Summer 2014. Located at 910 S. Broadway, it will be the headquarters of her company. She moved into the compound this year. Tarina’s headquarters will be located on the second floor. The first floor of the building will be devoted to high end retail, the tenants are yet to be announced, and the basement will be a bar. Bottoms up!
