b'Lauren Eulau and Paul Schneiderwhen they found the brand Lotus Jewelry, which made ceramic and[Payer] didnt do crafts shows, she did fashion accessory shows. porcelain jewelry the couple felt was true to what we were. TheyWe had no idea those even existed.stocked the designers porcelain flower stud earrings, displaying themSchneider and Eulau began expanding from art jewelry to fashion in a 20-inch square case. jewelry, which required a mental adjustment for the former weaver Pretty soon, more money was changing hands off that 20-inchand potter. We realized most people wear jewelry not as a piece of square than in the whole store, Schneider says. art but to enhance how they look, Schneider says. Simple artisan jewelry was the gateway drug, so to speak, to moreAs they began exploring the marketplace, they discovered there creative work crafted in bronze and silver. was plenty of talent to be found. By now it was the 1980s. Schneider and Eulau opened a sister storeThe bridge to fine jewelry followed just as logically. Schneider to Eugenes Clay Trade in Beaverton, a suburb in the Portland Metroremembers clients shopping for silver Jeanine Payer earrings at the area, answering the call of the much-larger pool of customers in Ore- Portland store who were wearing gold watches and gold hoop earrings. gons only major city.It was kind of the same thing, again, Just as they followed what felt likelike, Whats going on here? We just each logical next step in their careers,presumed that all fine jewelry was made their personal lives demanded changesby Tiffany and big companies, and it when the couple was expecting a child.Im not looking for thewas traditional and without creativity Schneider recalls driving with Eulauregular kind of people toand why would we have anything to do from their weaving and pottery studiossell my jewelry[Twist]with that?in the couples Honda Civic while sheseemed fearless.Soon, Twist would enter the world of was pregnant with daughter Sasha.fine jewelry, and it wouldnt look back. It was kind of a conversation that, CATHY WATERMAN,we make things and we sell things andDESIGNER A Fine Connectionwere having a baby. Three is too many.The first fine jewelry brand Twist We either had to stopever stocked turned out making things or stopto be the companys most selling things. It couldimportant relationship. have gone either waySchneider and Eulau be-because we liked it all.came familiar with design-We closed our studioser Cathy Waterman more simultaneously and start- than two decades ago. ed selling other peoplesNothing about Water-work only. mans work said tradition-Sasha was born in 1986.al, mass, or commercial, or For several years, Schnei- any of the qualities Twist der and Eulau commutedassociated with precious back and forth betweenjewelry. Furthermore, their stores in EugeneSchneider and Eulau and Beaverton, their newidentified with Waterman daughter in tow.as an artist. Eventually they relocat- The fact that [my jew-ed to Portland permanently,Cathy Waterman 22-karat gold rings with sapphires and emeralds. Waterman iselry] was so different from drawn by the opportunitiesthe first fine jewelry brand Twist stocked nearly three decades ago.what you could find is what available in a major city.attracted them, Water-They shuttered the Eugeneman remembers. They store and soon moved their Beaverton store to Northwest Portland.love beauty and I want to make beautiful things that people want to wear. One thing that has always struck me is that its not purely about The Unexpected Jewelry Store commerce for them.Looking back on the decades of evolution that shaped Twist, theAt the time, Waterman was stocked at Barneys New Yorkthen the path is punctuated with designer meetings that changed the coursedestination for designer fine jewelryin addition to a few other stores. of the stores trajectory.Twist, on the other hand, only carried fashion jewelry. But they At a San Francisco crafts trade show, Schneider recalls encounter- pursued Waterman nonetheless. ing a woman wearing a necklace from jewelry designer Jeanine Payer.Waterman was purposely difficult to reach, but Schneider and It was a silver egg engraved with a quote from the poet Rumi that,Eulau tracked down her phone number. on one side, featured a small photograph held behind a thin piece ofSchneider remembers, We called her up and told her the whole glass with gold prongs. story, that we had never done [a fine jewelry buy] before. She said, Continued on page 3028 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2022'