BBJ SIGHTINGS!

Jessica Alba in Honey

Elvira Kurt

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Toronto designers Robin Woodward and Ange Beever have created an exciting line of pop accessories for modern life and those who live it with humour and flair. Barbie’s Basement Jewellery celebrates individual identity and popular culture in a handmade, accessible, wearable form.

The threat of a layoff from the full-time switchboard job Robin held for several years prompted a friend to ask the question, "what would you do if you could get paid for anything?" When the answer was "make jewellery", Robin took action to make her hobby pay the bills. She did a couple of small craft shows, selling beaded necklaces etc., before hitting on the idea of rings with text and glitter embedded in them. Another couple of small shows and a self-employment course later, Barbie’s Basement Jewellery became a real company.

The name Barbie’s Basement Jewellery is meant to signify the pop, girly side of Robin’s personality and creativity, as well as hinting at slightly darker, more grown-up themes that lie beneath the sparkly surface. The work of pop artist Keith Haring has long been a source of inspiration, along with cult movies (John Waters’ films in particular), pinup art, The Simpsons, Madonna and Hello Kitty. Robin (aka President Glitterwhore) pushed her GlitterPop text idea further by developing a layering process that makes tiny images the focal point of the jewellery. These Image Collections have become the spine of BBJ, and have opened a treasure of design possibilities and new challenges.

A misfortune just before the holidays of 2000 changed the course of BBJ. While Robin was preparing for her first One Of A Kind show, her best friend (and future wife) Ange was working late one night installing decorations in a mall and suffered a serious fall. During her long recovery from ankle surgery, Ange decided that she preferred working on little accessories to big things that hang high in malls. Always supportive of Robin’s efforts in business, Ange became an integrated part of the company as production manager (or VP Gluesniffer) in 2001. Ange’s background in display and visual art (BFA, York ‘96) has been a valuable addition to Robin’s self-taught design skills, and together they’ve grown BBJ from a D.I.Y. home-based startup to a thriving wholesale line with its own production and design studio in Toronto’s funky South Riverdale. Thousands of playful-to-provocative BBJ rings, cufflinks, magnets, belt buckles and more have been created in under five years.

Barbie’s Basement Jewellery products are sold in independent stores across Canada, and at One Of A Kind Toronto shows. Select stores in the USA, Hungary and Japan also carry BBJ’s line.

When not working on BBJ, Robin and Ange enjoy moonlighting occasionally as Toronto nightclub performers. BEEVER & TRIXIE have hosted a monthly Trailer Trash Bingo night at The Bovine, and have made guest appearances at The Rivoli, Lee's Palace, El Mocambo, The Gladstone Hotel, and Buddies In Bad Times Theatre.

Robin & Ange have been fans and friends of acclaimed Toronto Burlesque troupe The Scandelles for a few years.  “Trixie Easybake” & "Beever" now regularly perform with the Scandelles, recently joining the troupe in the production of Les Demimondes at Buddies, where the pair created a 70's-era brothel lounge installation: "Tricks n' Beavers Lounge". 

And stepping from stage to gallery, BEEVER & TRIXIE have participated in several group art shows at Zsa Zsa, Paul Petro, Edward Day and S.P.I.N. galleries, including Zsa Zsa’s media-celebrated The Michael Jackson Project summer 2003 exhibition. Incorporating the pop outlook and glass-&-glitter media of BBJ into larger art pieces holds a great deal of appeal for this creative team; look for more of their unique works in the future!

BBJ, its products and proprieters, are all about a playful response to mass culture and subculture, labels, identity and all that can be expressed on a tiny piece of paper trapped under glass.