metallica

Inside The Great Frog, Jeweler to Harry Potter and Aerosmith

Filed under: Jewelry, Luxury Travel & Hotels

The Great Frog has been making jewelry in London's ever-chic Carnaby area since 1972. They are probably best known for their immaculately gothic, daring bespoke pieces for the fashion and music industry -- as well as creating all the jewelry for the Harry Potter movies. I was lucky enough to visit their legendary Ganton Street location and get a peek into the magic lair where the sometimes sweet, sometimes scary pieces are created (aka the basement).

The Great Frog's showroom is designed to look like a French funeral parlor, a darkly appropriate choice for the originators of The Skull Ring. The workshop, however, is appropriately non-designed, with graffiti on the walls and ceiling, an enormous music closet, and cluttered work desks which look like they belong in the props trailer for the Puppet Master series. We're talking creepy dolls and skulls in beer cases.

It's fun to imagine the legends that have browsed in the shop and dictated their jewelry desires to talented, biker-chic staff. Get a look at the charmingly grungy room where the magic happens below, and check out more of their client list, including Harry Potter, Aerosmith, Metallica and Iron Maiden, (and do a little online shopping) here.

Gallery: Peek Inside The Great Frog

This trip was paid for by VisitBritain, but the ideas and opinions expressed in the article above are 100% my own.

Tags: aerosmith, goth, gothic, harry potter, Iron Maiden, IronMaiden, jewelry, london, Metallica, the great frog

Kirk Hammett in San Francisco, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates, Celebrity Shopping

Today's San Francisco home isn't just a piece of celebrity real estate, it's a before and after. We first checked out the home of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett in 2006 when it was listed at $12.5 million. At that time the Georgian home in Pacific Heights was so decked out in velvet and wine colors that one commenter called it the "Shady Rest Funeral Home." Even the kitchen was red. The home disappeared off the market but now as the Wall Street Journal's Private Properties column reports, it's back. And it's a whole lot brighter inside. Hammett has had this home for a while. He paid $2.56 million for the home in 1993. The home has eight bedrooms and a music studio and a billiard room with a bar in the basement. The renovation did not change any of the home's beautiful lines and vintage wood details, but those touches are showcased much better against a more neutral palette. The former music studio is now repurposed as a family recreation area and the listing states that the area would be perfect as a home theater. This home is now listed at $9 million.

Gallery: Kirk Hammett in San Francisco

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Tags: celebrity real estate, CelebrityRealEstate, estate of the day, EstateOfTheDay, kirk hammett, KirkHammett, metallica, san francisco, SanFrancisco

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Metallica Drummer to Auction $12 Million Basquiat

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions, Art

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich is selling a massive 8-ft. wide Jean-Michel Basquiat painting at Christie's in New York on Nov. 12, where it's expected to fetch about $12 million. Untitled (Boxer) (above), painted in 1982, is an important "proxy self-portrait,'' Brett Gorvy, Christie's international co-head of postwar and contemporary art, tells Bloomberg. "The black artist as defiant hero.'" In 2002, Ulrich, a noted collector, sold Basquiat's 1982 Profit I at Christie's for $5.5 million. In July, Irish rock band U2 sold the artist's Untitled (Pecho/Oreja) for $10.1 million at Sotheby's in London. The auction record for a Basquiat work was set at Sotheby's in New York last year with the $14.6 million sale of 1981's Untitled.

Tags: Basquiat, Christies, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jean-michelBasquiat, Lars Ulrich, LarsUlrich, Metallica, U2

A Metallica Mansion, Estate of the Day

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Estates

Via the gossip watchers at ONTD comes this celebrity-owned beauty. This moody masterpiece belongs to Kirk Hammett, the guitarist for Metallica. The home, located in Pacific Heights is a Georgian home dating back to around 1899. This exquisite example of classic San Franciscan excess is located on a hill and offers privacy and a touch of mystery. The home's facade matches well with the interior's velvet and burgundy style. The home has large rooms with details of carved wood ceilings, wainscoting and French doors. Newer touches can be seen in the gleaming appliances and granite countertops in the kitchen. The master suite has views out to the Bay. Special rooms include a billiard room, bar and cigar/wine room and a music studio. The home is one of San Francisco's treasures and is listed at $12.5 million. After the jump, the perfect shade of rock star red.

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Tags: estate of the day, kirk hammett, KirkHammett, mansion, metallica, real estate, san francisco

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