If you don’t wear all of your jewelry and accessories round the clock — and all at the same time — you need somewhere to store them. But not all storage methods are equally kind to treasured pieces.
“We definitely see people who will just throw a chain into a bag, and it turns into a little mangled mess,” said Caitlin Mociun, a jewelry designer and the owner of Mociun, a jewelry and housewares store in Brooklyn. “When you’re not wearing it, it should be in a place where you’re taking care of it.”
For Ms. Mociun, that means storing jewelry in various ways, depending on the piece and how often she wears it. She keeps fragile, antique and particularly valuable pieces in their own boxes, in a safe. She stores everyday jewelry in a couple of large jewelry boxes. And she has a series of small ceramic containers throughout her home to temporarily hold whatever she’s currently wearing.
“I have a dish next to my sink, so I can take my rings off to go about my kitchen work,” she said.
Such a container, she added, can help prevent disaster: “Everyone’s heard of someone who has dropped a ring down the garbage disposal.”
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Does a jewelry box need multiple compartments? Larger boxes “should have ways to separate your jewelry,” Ms. Mociun said, including “slots for rings and little compartments for different things.”
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Can multiple pieces be stored in each compartment? That depends. “You have to think about what one stone will do to another stone,” Ms. Mociun said. “The goal is to keep things from scratching each other.”
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How should necklaces be stored? “You need a big tray,” she said, or a way to hang them. “I’ve put tiny brass nails in the wall, and hung them there.”
Stacking Jewelry Boxes
Lacquer jewelry boxes with velvet interiors by Kathrin Dennig
$25 a set at MoMA Design Store: 800-851-4509 or store.moma.org
Color Pop Jewelry Holder
Ash-wood jewelry stand with lacquer details
From $19 at West Elm: 888-922-4119 or westelm.com
Umbra Stowit Jewelry Box
Wood-and-metal storage box with slide-out compartments
About $60 from Amazon: amazon.com
Leather Books Cufflink Case
Container resembling stacked books, handmade in Italy
$525 at Scully & Scully: 800-223-3717 or scullyandscully.com
Beauvais Velvet Jewelry Box
Velvet jewelry box with suede interior, brass details and removable tray
$975 at Aerin: 866-647-3330 or aerin.com
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