Private Commissions

Antique Cuff and Box

2002

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Commissioned by Nick Chiodini, Los Angeles, California
Medium: Cuff: 19th-century metal beads, thread, silver clasp; Box: paper board, raw silk, thread, nickel snap
Dimensions: Cuff: 7 1/2 × 1 1/8 in. Box: 7 3/8 × 2 3/4 × 7/8 in.
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
This was one of our very first jewelry commissions. Nick Chiodini, a dear high school friend, had been the eccentric, theatrical kid back in St. Louis. Around the time we moved to New York, he relocated to Los Angeles to pursue a career in casting. He often tells the story that I encouraged him to set a deadline to leave St. Louis and to follow his dreams, which he did.

Nick landed a job as a casting director at MTV and quickly found himself making real money, while we were in New York, broke but determined to live out our artistic dreams. We’d cross paths often: flying to LA to work as assistants on fashion advertising shoots for MAK, or seeing Nick when his casting work brought him to New York. He would take us out, feed us, and cheer us on. When he saw one of our antique bead cuffs, he decided to commission one. He loved it and he believed deeply in the “Ladd universe” and wanted to support it.

Artistic Approach
The cuff was constructed using 19th-century antique metal beads and thread, with a contemporary tubular silver clasp. The beadwork was stitched in peyote stitch, with four beaded carriers anchoring each end of the cuff to the clasp.

Equally significant was the box, one of the earliest we ever made. Crafted from yellow and green raw silk over a paperboard structure, it closed with a nickel snap. Likely reinforced with Bontex, the box appears to have been glued rather than sewn, something we abandoned almost immediately in favor of hand-stitching. This makes it a rare early experiment, marking the very beginning of our evolution toward fully sewn, jewel-box-like containers.

Engagement and Impact
For Nick, the cuff was a way to connect support our work and to have a bit of the Ladd’s back in Los Angeles. For us, it was both a lifeline and a milestone, an early commission that signaled how much our friends believed in us, even when we were struggling to survive as artists in New York.

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Context and Legacy
Antique Cuff and Box stands as one of the first pieces in our long history of jewelry commissions. It represents early explorations with antique materials, the beginnings of our signature boxed presentation, and the crucial role of friendship and support in sustaining our practice. The raw silk, the glued seams, and the snap closure are reminders of how quickly our work evolved, and how these earliest experiments laid the groundwork for decades of refinement.