Strength. Sustainability. Creativity. Innovation. These big-picture ideas are everyday concerns for Dana Hurwitz and Mariah Pershadsingh, partners since 2017 in Bond Hardware.
“Our customers are united by a psychographic, not a demographic,” says Hurwitz. “It could be somebody with a bold political or aesthetic point of view — definitely somebody who understands the creative potential of sartorial expression.”
Of course, those words also perfectly describe Hurwitz and Pershadsingh. Hurwitz launched the brand in 2012, when she was an art student at New York’s Pratt Institute and “bopping around hardware stores” to create edgy designs for her club-kid friends. Although the materials and execution have become much more sophisticated, the design inspiration remains the same.
“Dana will take something that hasn’t previously been wearable and make it wearable,” says Pershadsingh, pointing to pieces like a ring modeled on coupling hardware or a hammer ring in gold-coated steel. “I think that with a lot of these recognizable motifs comes nostalgia.”
Sustainability guides every decision. Recent innovations have made this easier. For example, the partners use surgical stainless steel that’s resistant to corrosion as well as hypoallergenic 935 Argentium silver, which doesn’t include nickel and so won’t oxidize. Using metals that are resistant to corrosion and tarnish, Hurwitz explains, not only circumvents the need for toxic chemical baths (and the subsequent dumping of the chemicals used) but also increases the “longevity of the pieces, because they maintain their original luster.”
Bond Hardware was accepted in March 2020 into the Council of Fashion Designers’ Elaine Gold Launch Pad program, a residency offering design and business mentorship, as well as funding “to support idea activation.” Unfortunately, the day Hurwitz and Mariah Pershadsingh learned they had been accepted — with the program’s highest monetary award — was the day New York City shut down due to the coronavirus. Nonetheless, the city continues to inform their work.
“New York has such grunge and glamour to it, right on top of each other,” says Hurwitz. “That feeling imbues everything that we do. Our work is not for the faint of heart.”
Find a collection of Bond Hardware earrings, bracelets and other jewelry today on 1stDibs.
