From Legos to 3D Printers: Eddie Borgo on His New Jewelry Line for Target
From left: Jamie Bochert, jewelry designer Eddie Borgo, and Poppy Delevingne. Photo: BFAnyc.com
Accessory designer Eddie Borgo is known for his cutting-edge creations that can count celebs like Blake Lively, Sienna Miller, and Rihanna as fans. This July, he’ll make his biggest splash yet when he launches his arts and crafts inspired line of baubles, bags, and trinkets as Target’s newest partner. But, before he was surrounded by celebs, the designer admitted to Yahoo Style that his biggest inspiration came from Toys R’ Us.
“I was very good at Legos,” he told us on Wednesday night at Milk Studios, where style queens like Poppy Delevingne got a sneak peek at the collection. “People were always asking me to help them build spaceships or whatever, because I could just figure it out. I got dragged into a lot of Lego wars.”
Perhaps that explains his Target concept: a series of build-your-own products like stackable bracelets, metallic clutches, and even geode crystal bowls that come with mix-and-match embellishments (charms, crystals, even gilded safety pins) and DIY suggestions.
“It’s the best arts and crafts party ever,” he grinned, before settling into an interview about friendship bracelets, tech backlash, and what to do if someone knocks off your label…
The makers bar at the Eddie Borgo x Target event. Photo: BFAnyc.com
Yahoo Style: When Target approached you about a line, did you hesitate?
Eddie Borgo: Not once I spoke with their design team. Fashion is all about collaboration and people coming together, and this is a great collaboration. It’s inspired partly by my mother, who was such a proponent for us kids—for all kids, really—to be creative. She used to show us Arts and Crafts books she collected from the ‘70s. And I used all those old books from my mom when I presented this concept to Target.
YS: So you’re the one who said, “let’s make everything a bit DIY”?
EB: I’m calling it “Maker Culture.” People want to customize things themselves; people want to own their unique sense of style. There’s a lot of pride and ownership.
YS: Is this a revolt against Internet culture, where people make apps but not actual things?
EB: It’s sort of… I wanted to go back to the point in time when everyone’s using their hands. They’re all creating things together. They’re all exploring new possibilities. This collection was made in the spirit of that idea, with a little nostalgia, I guess. I mean, I made friendship bracelets. I had sticker albums. I remember how much it meant to make something.
Eddie Borgo x Target collection. Photo: BFAnyc.com
YS: A lot of people try to knock off your designs. How do you deal with that?
EB: Watching different people take inspiration from our collection and use elements of our designs, it really motivates our studio—which is full of really incredible people—to just take things further and do more. We want to overcome those obstacles. We want to always focus on the future of engineering and the future of technology. Do you know we use 3-D printers in our studio?
YS: That’s cool.
EB: You know what’s even cooler? This collection for Target uses 3-D printers, too. You’ll be able to go onto Target.com and 3-D print customized charms for yourself. You can go online and print out your own name on Target’s 3-D printers. And I don’t think that’s ever been done before. We’re a new business. We couldn’t make all of those things on our own.
Do you still use Legos?
Not really, but friendship bracelets—those never quite leave fashion, do they? I think we were all the kids making them during class…
Eddie Borgo x Target is available starting July 2 at Target stores and target.com
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