To Market: Gems & Jewels by Enise

Enise Han sells silver and gold jewelry at Eastern Market

Neighbors come and neighbors go, and trust me, all of mine have been interesting characters, including the former drug kingpins of 14^th Street. The only one who has tempted my pocketbook is Enise, owner of Enise Jewelry and Silverado jewelry stores, and a stalwart of the North Carolina plaza at Eastern Market. Girls, you know her – she’s the indomitable Turkish woman who knows how to make her handmade sophisticated jewelry a wardrobe must and woos you with her wares featuring simple lines, graceful links, freshwater pearls, and neutral-colored gemstones.

Enise moved to the U.S. from Istanbul in 1980 to earn degrees in business administration, marketing and French at Indiana University before landing corporate positions at Erol’s Video, Subway, and McDonalds, and then with the first Bush Administration and a large department store chain in Turkey. She returned to the U.S. and broke into the jewelry business in 1997 by setting up a booth at the market. Remember the 90’s? When we all felt, if not indeed were, flush? Consumers were king and she rapidly expanded into shops at National Airport, Pentagon City Mall, Crystal City Shops, Fair Oaks Mall, Dulles Airport, Ballston Commons Mall, Tysons Corner Mall and Pentagon Row. All this from a woman who says she knew little about jewelry but had mastered adaptability.

Back then, most of her rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces were made in Taxco, Mexico, and featured colorful lapis, malachite, turquoise, and silver. These days Enise will adorn you in 18k gold-plated sterling silver and gemstones, and you can share company with shoppers like Desperate Housewives’ Marcia Cross,  CNN correspondent Christiane Ampanour, and Patti LaBelle.

I like her pieces because they’re simple and elegant, the kind of things that look perfect with anything — attention grabbers, not hoggers. The way she pairs amethyst, jade, aquamarine, and peridot with silver or gold linkwork works well with business neutrals, yet can add a dash of sophisticated sparkle to nighttime grownup clothes.

Photo courtesy of Enise Han

Enise says Eastern Market serves as great source of market research for her wholesale business. After closing the mall-based stores, she began to expand by selling to specialty stores and has teamed with Bloomingdale’s, Takashimaya, and Fifth Avenue’s Henri Bendel. She travels to New York at least once a month to work with personal shoppers and hold trunk shows, and can regularly be seen at those stores with, among others, ladies who lunch as well as the hipper broadcast mavens. Enise creates custom pieces for clients and happily adjusts budgets, colors and lengths, and has tailored pieces for many a wedding party.

Her use of gold references her Ottoman ancestry, she says, and reflects the East-meets-West position and attitude of her Turkish homeland. She hopes her work reminds people of the opulence of, “Istanbul’s grand palaces, colorful spice bazaars, and the treasures of the Aegean Sea.”

“We Turks have been making jewelry and using precious and semiprecious stones to adorn the ones we love for thousands of years,” she notes. “To me, creating jewelry is creating art.”

With so much work by jewelry artists to pick from at the market, Enise has a few tips for what to look for as you dress up your spring wardrobe. Her big tip is to use jewelry strategically, like using long necklaces to add length to a short neck and bring attention away from hips and to the front and center of your body. Chandelier earrings say, “look at my face and not my middle,” and sparkly cuffs, stacks of bangles and cocktail rings draw the eye to wrists instead of upper arms.

Which other vendors at Eastern Market would you like to see profiled by The Hill is Home?