He was kind of a cheeky man in his day when Kenneth J. Lane was alive and making copies of David

Web jewelry all the time. All the time. There are some good quotes about like, I thank him for the work he's doing

to put out my aesthetic to kind of the masses, right? Because then more people will want David Webb Jewelry, which was true.

And they kind of had like a frenemy situation.

I'm Carol Horton, the voice of jewelry.

Welcome to If Jewels Could Talk.

I'm an author and broadcaster and the woman who initiated the role of jewelry editor at magazines like Tatler and Vogue.

This is a podcast for everyone, for people who do like jewelry, for people who don't realize they like jewelry,

and anyone intrigued by fascinating facts, new ideas and forgotten histories.

So join me as I tell sparkly tales and meet all sorts of people delving into four

centuries of jewelry culture and investigate what's happening now.

Welcome to Madison Avenue. We're in New York in the archives of David Webb, the quintessential American jeweler with a highly original style in modern jewelry, best known for his distinctive carved enameled animal bracelets that any woman you could think of who was chic in the sort of 50s,

60s, war one. He passed away age just 50, very tragically. But after this loss,

the company has continued producing jewels in keeping with his spirit, imagination and

quality, using the archive of 40,000 drawings and design, which we are surrounded about

today. We're above the flagship store, and I am delighted to be here with Levi Higgs.

Levi, thank you for hosting us.

Thank you for having me. This is great.

So Levi is the archivist at David Webb. I don't often get job envy, but I have to say, looking at the

space and looking at what you look at all day is fabulous. It's pretty amazing. I mean, it's a great

place to be. And you're a decorative art historian trained at Parsons. David Webb said,

jewelry, though more personal than painting, should be treated as great works of art,

...