In the 1970’s, when Mitchell Binder - designer and owner of King
Baby Studio - was a teenager, he and his mother moved from Jackson,
Mississippi to Los Angeles. It was when music reflected a new
spirit of idealism, and new found freedoms. Musical artists like
Hendrix, Joplin and The Dead ruled the airwaves. As Mitchell puts
it “it was the ‘summer of love’ and my mind was officially
blown”.
At 15, Mitchell became a jeweler’s apprentice and shortly
thereafter began designing on his own. With his trademark,
charismatic personality, he soon made the right contacts and
quickly became the ‘go to jeweler’ for both Hollywood and rock
stars. His fans ran the gamut from Liz Taylor to the rock &
roll royalty of the era. The biker crowd soon caught on, requesting
personalized jewelry and buckles. Being an avid biker himself,
Mitchell has always considered the origin of his company “half rock
& roll and half outlaw biker.”
Designing with men in mind, he soon realized many women were buying
for themselves. In 2007, King Baby Studio officially launched Queen
Baby for women, with extraordinary success.
Based in Santa Monica, King Baby Studio offers handcrafted pieces
that unite chunky sterling silver with precious stones and leather.
Mitchell’s creations are bold and substantial, featuring edgy
motifs such as skulls and daggers for the King Baby line, and
slightly scaled down feminine motifs such as roses and crowned
hearts for the Queen Baby’s out there. Many styles span both
collections appealing to that ever expanding “chosen few”.
Q: Where did the name King Baby come from?
A: The phrase “king baby” was coined by Sigmund Freud in the
1930’s. It refers to a mental condition where the patient really
believes the world revolves around him. I can relate to that, and a
lot of my clients have that same kind of feeling, where they think
they’re the center of the universe. It’s the “I want it and I
want it now” mentality, which I find humorous because I deal with a
lot of jewelry emergencies. Just those two words together are
hilarious. So that’s where the name King Baby comes from.
Q: What led you to
seek out an apprenticeship with a jeweler at such a young age? You
were only fifteen, right? A: Yes, I was. I had just
moved to California from Mississippi, and I had to get a job right
away. It just so happened that was one of the first jobs I
got. But even at an earlier age, I remember when my dad had a ring
made for my mom. I was probably eight or nine years old, and he
took me over to the jeweler’s house to pick up the ring in time for
Christmas. I saw this guy’s jewelry bench and all his tools,
and something just clicked. I thought “Man, I have got to figure
this out!”
Q: I picture you like the
mythological character Hephastus, welding in the underworld, making
magical jewelry for the gods… A: Yes, beginning with
even the tools that are required, you really have to just feel the
metal and make something out of nothing. Thank god I was good
at it! I think I was really fortunate because I knew what I was
interested in at a very early age. Q: What inspires
you? Music? Trends? Subculture? A: I’ve always been
considered the black sheep of the family. I could always relate to
the outsider mentality - so when I make things, I make them for
myself. When I try to find an audience, I realize that there
are a lot of subcultures that support what I do. My work is
not mainstream, and I never thought of my self as
mainstream. But there’s evidently enough of an audience to
support me, so that’s a good thing.
Q: That’s great. What kind of
bike do you ride? A: I ride several of them. Right now
my favorite is a bike a friend of mine built for me a couple of
years ago, and it’s an old pan-head Harley Davidson with a jockey
shift that I made in sterling silver with a suicide
clutch. It’s like a rigid old Harley Davidson, the
quintessential outlaw bike that I used to dream about when I was a
kid. And I’ve got another Harley Davidson road glide that I use for
longer trips. If someone wants to ride on the back, I take
that one. Q: Which of your own pieces do you wear the
most? A: Usually when I finish a new piece, I wear it
myself for at least a couple of weeks, to make sure that it’s
comfortable and that it’s durable and that it doesn’t get hung up
on my pocket. It’s like a road test. So I’ve probably worn every
piece of jewelry that I’ve ever made. But what seems to stick, what
I continue to wear, is the flag-buckle belt-buckle, and the flag
ring that I’ve made a one-of-a-kind out of. It’s a basic flag
ring from my collection, but it’s the combination of stones, gold,
and silver that makes it unique. I always wear some of my motif
chains. And there’s one 22 karat gold bracelet that I made for
myself a few years back that I seem to always wear. The other
stuff changes. Q: What’s the biggest challenge
that you’ve overcome in your career so far? A: A couple
of them. One is probably people knocking me off, which is just
inevitable. I think I’ve gotten to a place where I’m okay with it,
because I have so many things I want to make that I just move on to
the next thing. But it is a little disturbing to see people or
companies making money from my designs. Q: I noticed
your T-shirt with the slogan that says ‘No More Chrome Hearts
Repairs’ so I think that’s probably what you’re talking about.
A: Yeah, I think you’ve got to keep a sense of humor
about everything or you just end up miserable. And I’m a big fan of
happiness and a big fan of fun, so I think humor is the key.
Q: And the other challenge?
You said there were two? A: Anybody that’s in business
for themselves faces the financial challenges of taking care of
employees and overhead, and as the company gets bigger there’s more
and more of them. I really feel the weight of taking care of a lot
of people on my shoulders, and I probably feel that a little more
than I should, but I don’t know any other way. So I would probably
say that, especially in the current economy… You know, my industry
has really been hit hard, and I think I’m really fortunate, because
in some areas we’re even doing better than we were last
year. We’ve just had a record-breaking year financially, but
it’s pretty scary when some of the big accounts, like Neiman
Marcus, are cutting hundred - even thousands - of
employees. It’s just a difficult time. I’m sure we’ll get
through it, but it’s scary. Q: Who are your favorite
people you’ve worked with so far, and on what projects?
A: It kind of started when I was a kid, learning how to make
jewelry. The first thing I did was literally sell jewelry on
the streets on the weekends, like Ankhs and stuff. So during the
day I worked for the jeweler, learned how to make jewelry, and
created my own line. Then then on the weekends I set up as
kind of street vendor in Westwood, California. And I met a lot of
different kinds of people, like a lot of musicians starting their
careers who wanted a lot of really big showy pieces that could be
seen on stage. So all of a sudden, just through word
of mouth, I kind of became the go-to-guy for musicians. In that
arena, I would say anybody from Bruce Springsteen, Neil Wolfram —
who’s his lead guitarist, and Glen Hughes, going right back to Deep
Purple, and Billy Idol…you know all these guys really weren’t who
they are today. Even Steven Tyler…we were all at the beginning of
our careers, so now, to enjoy the relationships I have with these
guys is a whole different thing. We’re still the same guys who
met each other on the streets, when they were just trying to get
the thing that they wanted that nobody else would make. On
the other side, I was the guy who made a lot of things for
motorcycle clubs. For some of the most notorious clubs in the
country. I did the rings and the buttons for their vests and that
sort of thing…the wallets for their chains. So there were two
subcultures that kind of crossed over, and that was the essence of
my dial. That’s what people kind of knew about me – that for the
rocker or the biker, or some combination of the two, Mitch was the
guy to go to. I still enjoy the relationships I have with all those
people today, I don’t do the motorcycle club stuff anymore, because
that comes with a whole array of problems.
Q: Fans of your
designs certainly run the gamut. A: Part of the appeal
is that when people put my pieces on, it really becomes theirs.
It’s the kind of thing where they can either pull it off or they
can’t. Some of the celebrities, like Jennifer Lopez, and that ring
that she wears — you know she wears that big rose ring — that’s now
become the Jennifer Lopez ring. So part of the appeal, like I said,
is that what I make really becomes a part of whoever wears it, if
they can pull it off. Jewelry is meaningful on so many
different levels, especially if it’s a lucky talisman. It can be
very personal, or it can simply be a fashion statement that people
are not that attached to, so they switch it up. But I find that my
pieces seem to become part of the permanent wardrobe of my clients.
There’s some core pieces that they just never take off.
Q: Were you initially nervous about designing for women?
A: Yes, I was. Because the whole concept of what I do
evolved from my own desire for jewelry that I’m making for myself.
I needed stuff that was really durable, really heavy. I work with
my hands, so I am really hard on my stuff. And so the women’s
thing…well I thought that the proportions had to be be different.
In my first attempt at women’s jewelry I simply made things lighter
and more delicate, and the reaction was “No, no, no. We want what
you do, but for women.” So I went back to the drawing board,
because the women liked the proportion that I had created for men.
And some of the motifs have changed, like the hearts and the
designs, but the collections are what both men and women wear. The
hardest thing about women’s jewelry for me are earrings. I find
them really boring to make. So that’s a challenge. That’s one of
the reasons I put off doing women’s jewelry for so long, the whole
earring thing. I just don’t enjoy it. But also, the reason is that
it’s not something I can wear myself so I can’t figure out what’s
wrong with it.
Q: What do you consider your
greatest accomplishments so far? A: That I’m alive -
that’s amazing! I made fifty-two this year, so that’s pretty
great. Wow, I don’t know if there’s one specific thing.
Q: What are you striving for now? To go to the next level? To
create new things, so that it doesn’t ever stop?
A: Exactly, it’s all about the journey. Those cliché quotes
and things that you hear, well there’s always truth in them. If
you’re happy to do what you do, and you’re able to make a living,
there’s nothing better. So it’s all about time management. Who you
want to spend time with? That’s my biggest battle these days,
not enough time to do what I think I should be doing.
Q: How many hours a week do
you spend creating? A: Whew. You know, for me it’s a
just a constant process. I get some of my best ideas when I’m
traveling, I always carry my sketchbook, and write down ideas. It’s
a constant process. I try to work at my design studio two days
a week, and then at my other workshop, I’m down in the production
area probably another two days or so per week. So my schedule is
still pretty full with design and conceptualizing where we’re going
next. Q: What do you hope to accomplish next?
A: I really want to see if I can make King Baby a legitimate
band, worldwide. So now I’m exploring the design of everything from
clothes to bags, to eyewear to watches. With my same sensibility
and aesthetic, to see if there’s an audience out there for it. This
is the next step when you reach a certain level of success. I feel
that I’ve got a really solid foundation, and now I want to see if
we can move it to a much more international level that will lead to
working with some really interesting people and businesses —
whether it’s fashion or automotive. The sky’s the limit, really.
Q: Do you like getting
feedback or critiques? A: I love that, and that’s one
of the reasons that I still do the personal appearances in stores
and the trunk stores, because my goal is to keep things
interesting. And as for the clients who wear the jewelry, whatever
they have to say interests me. Q: What are your
mornings like? A: I’m not a morning guy. Mornings are
rough. On a good day, I’ll roll out of bed, go into my backyard,
and try to make friends before the day gets going. But like I said,
time is my biggest problem right now, so it’s hard to do that these
days. Q: How does California inspire your work?
A: When I moved out here, it was during a really interesting
time. It was back in the whole summer of love, Hendrix, The Doors -
there was a whole revolution happening. And I came from Jackson,
Mississippi, which is about as far away from California as you can
get. So I loved it. It was like landing on a different planet. Just
the beach - the ocean - was something that I have never
experienced. And so much of what young boys are attracted to. Fast
cars and music and motorcycles and girls…you find that at the
beach, especially in Malibu and Santa Monica. That’s what I
did. Unfortunately, instead of going to school, I’d go out to
the beach and meet new people. It was really an exciting time. I
don’t think you can do it these days, because it’s a lot more
dangerous now. But back then, it was safe to hitchhike, safe to
talk to people. The environment was much different. It certainly
set the stage for who I am today. So I just feel really lucky to
have experienced it.
Q: Which pieces or
projects are your favorite? A: Probably the Lion ring.
But that always changes. When I’ve made something and worn it, then
it becomes one of my favorite pieces. Q: What role
should jewelry play in an outfit? A: It’s pretty
individual. It depends where you’re wearing it. It depends if
you’re going to a rock concert, or if you’re a professional. One of
the things I really like these days is that I’ve been having
clients who are professionals - like lawyers - figure out how to
wear m products on a daily basis without being too flamboyant. So I
think there’s a balance. I’ve got some really fanatic fans,
you know, who think the more stuff you wear the better. But I think
the line needs to be drawn because at a certain point it’s kind of
comical. I didn’t wear jewelry for a long time, so I really
appreciate a really simple plain look. Now I’ll wear probably three
or four bracelets every day, a couple of rings, three or four neck
pieces. Somehow I seem to pull it off, but I guess, to answer your
question, it’s very individual. It just depends on where you’re
going.
Q: Who are your favorite
artists, in any medium? A: In terms of painting, I
would say Diebenkorn. And music’s a tough one. I’m still old
school, so I would definitely put The Doors and Hendrix at the top
of the list. But I’m definitely enjoying the music that’s happening
these days, as well. Learn more about King Baby and his
designs at
kingbabystudio.com
