This brooch is by the American designer Jay Feinberg, who was born in Woodmere a suburb of New York in 1960. In 1981 Jay was a student at Rhode Island School of Design and it is here that he started making necklaces for his mother. These proved to be popular and were sold in a local store. This encouraged Jay to approach a number of department stores in New York; at Bendel and Bergdorf Goodman his necklaces were draped over mannequins wearing Oscar de la Renta gowns. So, after just two years Jay abandoned his college course and using the money his parents had set aside for his education, he set up his own business in 1982 designing and making jewellery. My brooch is from this early period as it is stamped ‘JAY FEINBERG’. During the 1980s glitzy costume jewellery was still popular and Jay’s creations could be found on the pages of Vogue and in shop windows of Fifth Avenue. In 1988 Jay took on an investor but it was not a successful partnership, and was dissolved in 1989, with the partner retaining the name Feinberg. Not to be deterred Jay relaunched his jewellery business using his mother’s maiden name Strongwater. For the early part of the 1990s Jay Strongwater jewellery continued to be popular and examples can be found in a number of vintage online stores. By the end of the 1990s the appetite for flashy costume jewellery was waning and Jay diversified into ornate picture frames and mirrors. Today Jay Strongwater produce a wide range of high end decorative interior objects but sadly no jewellery.
In all traditions the flame is a symbol of spiritual purification and enlightenment. A torch held high, as in the Statue of Liberty at the entrance to New York, is a universal symbol of freedom and liberty. At the Olympics a flaming torch represents the continuity between the ancient and modern games. One runner passes the lighted torch to another portraying the philosophy of the games of peace, friendship, and shared values.