Mary MacGill grew up in and around New York City, where her father’s art gallery represented luminaries in the photography world such as Robert Frank, Richard Avedon, and Irving Penn. When young Mary decided she was interested in making jewelry, her well-connected parents sent her to Robert Frank’s muse Kazuko Oshima, a ground-breaking jeweler who sold her crystal, stone, and wire wares exclusively at Barneys.
Like her mentor, MacGill favors smooth-cut or cabochon stones or all kinds of pearls (example: a Tahitian black pearl wrapped in gold wire). MacGill was also inspired by the work of Alexander Calder. “The concept behind my jewelry has always been how to figure out how to suspend pearls and stones with wire to give the viewer the impression of floating in space, that lightness and simplicity,” MacGill says.
She showed at the original Field + Supply and met local artists. Convinced to move to Tivoli, she discovered Germantown, where her studio/showroom sits on Main Street in an old dry goods store. In her brick-and-mortar, as online, she sells her own 14-karat jewelry there, along with a hand-selected assortment of art, objects, tea, books, clothing, and accessories from other makers. Part gallery, part concept store, the studio is an elegant showcase of Macgill’s aesthetic and curatorial eye. There is swimwear from Lido; dynamic vases from Hudson-based ceramicist Sarah Mijares Fick; relaxed, elegant clothing from brands like Black Crane and Jesse Kamm, and stone-and-string sculptures from California-based artist Laura Fischer.
In a best-of-both-worlds outcome, Macgill also has a pop-up shop on Block Island, where she has spent summers since she was a girl. “I am very much inspired by the ocean,” she says. “I grew up going there and that’s where I started the business.”
MacGill’s delicate wares are carried by a few dozen boutique jewelry retailers around the country, including Gravel & Gold in San Francisco, Clic in Manhattan and East Hampton, and Vestige in Philadelphia. She also sells through her online shop.
The Germantown location’s summer hours are Thursday-Saturday, 11am-6pm.
