Private Commissions

Netting Necklace

2008

Commissioned by: Bee Ladd, Brooklyn, New York
Medium: Glass beads, silver, thread
Dimensions: 36 1/2 × 1/4 × 1/4 in.
Created in: Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Artists’ Registration Number: 2008.031.001
Photograph: Courtesy of the artists

Exhibition History: Function and Fantasy: Steven and William Ladd, Mingei International Museum, San Diego, California, 2014. Curator: Christine Knoke

Commission Overview
Our sister Bee commissioned this Netting Necklace during a period when we were refining open-bead structures in the studio. It grew out of ongoing conversations between Bee and William about color families, leftover bead inventories, and how pattern can read on the body.

Artistic Approach
Hand-sewn in a five-diamond netting pattern, the necklace forms a flexible mesh that moves easily while keeping a crisp geometric rhythm. It closes with polished silver SW clasps. The palette features a luminous blue that also appears in a related necktie from the period. What is exciting here is seeing the same beads inhabit radically different architectures: airy, open structure in the necklace versus a tight surface pattern in the tie. The netting necklace came first, and its material choices informed the later piece.

Engagement and Impact
For Bee, the commission was personal and practical, a piece to wear and live with. For us, it was another instance of family support shaping the work in real time, where shared taste and available materials met the discipline of precise handwork.

Context and Legacy
This necklace reflects a mature phase of our netted constructions. It consolidates ideas about repetition, drape, and structural clarity that we had been exploring, while opening a direct dialogue to other beadworks from the same moment in our practice.