The Flames Burn Bright: Designer Stella Flame Finds Inspiration in Family

While Stella Flame finds inspiration all around the world, it is her mother, Hanna Flame, who has been her most constant muse.

“My mother loved flowers, fashion and jewelry. She spoke several languages and there was an easy, natural elegance about her. She survived internment in a slave labor camp during the Holocaust, was liberated by the Allied forces, met and married my father, and they immigrated to America. As a child, we lived on a farm, yet she always managed to ooze style,” says Flame, who owns Stella Flame Gallery in Bridgehampton.

Hanna instilled that love in Flame, a born designer who always wants to put her stamp on things.

“I was always designing clothing and interiors,” says Flame, whose master’s degree is in public health administration. “While I was in school, I worked in New York City’s Diamond District, and later in the antique jewelry department at Barney’s on 17th Street. I loved the art, the craft and the sparkle. It was there that I learned about the history and provenance of the bejeweled pieces I worked with, but I really didn’t set out to be a jewelry designer.”

It was on a trip to Istanbul, Turkey in 2008 with her daughter, Sabrina Somers, that Flame was inspired to design a few rings. Upon her return to NYC, a friend saw the pieces and showed them to a mutual acquaintance with a high-end fashion showroom. Serendipitously, that sent her back to Istanbul, where she now spends half her time, and also has her design studio.

“Much of what I design has been inspired by my mother, I realize,” Flame says of her work that can feel both familiar and fresh at the same time. Channeling her mother’s love of all things floral, Flame often looks to nature in her design. One enduring theme is the primrose, which signals first and ever-lasting love, and is one of a handful of blossoms with both a nighttime and daytime blooming variety.

The primrose motif is woven throughout her collections, and is a signature motif that adorns the shanks of all her rings. Other sources of inspiration include a myriad of fanciful creatures from land and sea that can often be found ornamenting large, lustrous South Sea and Tahitian pearls.

“I see things and create something that often can be a close translation, but with a twist,” says Flame, whose gallery also is home to the works of guest designers and pop and conceptual artists from around the world. Their work is highlighted via a year-round calendar of art exhibitions, trunk shows and lively meet-and-greet events.

“That combination of familiarity, unfamiliarity and discovery is what draws many to my work, my aesthetic and the gallery’s curation,” says Flame.

For her own design efforts, she recently won the coveted Visionary Award from the Cultured Pearl Association of America for her jeweled interpretation of the story of Daphne and Apollo. The Sun God, symbolized by a large golden South Sea pearl, fell madly in love with Daphne, but she had vowed to remain a virgin. He chased her, but the moment that he caught her, she turned into a laurel tree — immortalized here by a heart-shaped, hand-carved green peridot.

“Some aspects of my work may make you reevaluate what you find or don’t find appealing,” says Flame, who opened her first solo gallery in Sag Harbor in 2015. She was there for seven years before recently moving to a much larger space in Bridgehampton. “The garden is full of surprises. Snakes and scorpions mingle amongst peonies, roses and dahlias, and I believe my bejeweled interpretation of those garden denizens will win you over. I like to take things and stylize them. And, happily, people are drawn to that. I don’t design things exactly as I see them. Why bother? That already exists.”

She views her gallery space in much the same way as her jewelry: luxurious and layered, yet accessible.

“We want it to be approachable,” Flame explains. “Yes, it is all fine jewelry with precious metals and gemstones, but we want to have an accessible opening price point for a wide range of jewelry and art enthusiasts. We’re happy to have people come in to browse and enjoy the art, antiques and textiles — it’s the discovery and interaction that makes it all fun.”

Flame collects all manner of treasures during her travels around the world, including recent trips to Germany, India, Thailand and, of course, Turkey.

“I speak six languages well enough to get around,” says Flame, whose favorite traveling companion is her daughter Sabrina. Flame says Sabrina also inherited the jewelry gene from her grandmother. “I remember when Sabrina was young, I would dress her in colorful patterns and stripes. When she turned 6 and began picking for herself, she chose a solid black jumper. She marches to her own fashion drumbeat. Yes, she has an interest in jewelry — but only in wearing it!”

Thankfully, Flame didn’t stifle Sabrina’s early attempts at fashion independence. She views visitors to the gallery in much the same way — hoping they’ll come in and find what speaks to them. Her goal is to make visitors to the gallery feel at home and also feel a sense of the exotic.

“We love having people come in to explore and discover treasures throughout the gallery. … We’ll give you as much or as little attention as you want,” Flame says.

“People often want to know more about what inspires me and my design process,” she continues. “I grew up on a farm, but I also have a legitimate, professional design background. Everything around me inspires me. I’ll often see something that sets off a spark, takes me down a design rabbit hole and lights my creative path.”

Flame also takes inspiration from the Hamptons, not the least of which includes its spectacular horse farms, beaches and marine life. “It is an incredible privilege to be here in every season. Everyone talks about the quality of the light. You really have to experience it and the way it literally and figuratively colors our world here. … The Hamptons feel at the same time quintessentially local and yet very international,” she says of the place she has long called home.

This is true even of the gallery’s new location, which is the former home of C&W Mercantile and more recently, RJD Gallery.

“This space has some very positive energy,” Flame says.

The gallery is located at 2385 Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton. For more information, call 631-899-4424 or visit stellaflamegallery.com.

Todd Shapiro is an award-winning publicist and associate publisher of Dan’s Papers.