Lulu Frost & Co., jewelry store with celebrity appeal, opens in Huntington

Spot the woman with a big, shiny number 8 dangling from her necklace at Lulu Frost & Co., the new jewelry-and-more boutique in Huntington, and it’s likely you’ve found the owner, Lisa Salzer, 42.

Eight, in her world, symbolizes "abundance," she says, and she’ll be the first to tell you that numbers and letters are powerful talismans. She should know, because these put her brand on the map some 20 years ago.

Salzer, who grew up in Muttontown, has been churning out jewelry designs she describes as a combination of "Old World glamour and a little modern irreverence" (others have called her work a "genius mashup") since 2004, when she founded Lulu Frost.

It was one year later when she introduced her "Plaza Collection," created after she discovered a cache of discarded copper room numbers and letters from the venerable Manhattan hotel during its renovation. "They were tossed into painters’ buckets in the basement of a salvage place," she says. "I thought, how cool to wear them as a pendant."

Consumers thought so too. That year, she sold almost 2,000 of them at Barneys New York, now closed, but then the pinnacle of fashion. "I realized I had to make a replica of these before they disappeared," she explains. Salzer discovered how with the help of a foundry, creating molds and turning them out in brass to make them less expensive. "That’s when I became a jeweler," she says. Today, she sells the new models in two sizes although she keeps a limited stash of the original numbers in her private collection.

Widespread fan base

Salzer’s clientele is as luminous as her jewelry and includes the likes of Syosset High School friend Natalie Portman, who recently purchased several pieces; pop star Lady Gaga; former first lady Michelle Obama; actor Sarah Jessica Parker, who owns the brand’s blingy Nina heart charm, and even music superstar Taylor Swift, who has been spotted wearing a Plaza Collection "S."

Salzer's reputation in the industry is equally stellar. In an email, Karen Giberson, president and CEO of trade organization The Accessories Council, writes: "Lisa Salzer has been part of the fabric of the jewelry industry for more than two decades. Her hands-on approach and determination have kept Lulu Frost moving forward, even as the business grows ever more demanding. She remains one of those rare creatives who seems to be everywhere at once — always juggling, always creating."

In the beginning

The journey started when Salzer began making jewelry for friends and professors during her years at Dartmouth, where she studied history and fine art. There, she explains, "I set a goal to try to create a jewelry business in lieu of getting a formal job as I neared graduation."

She dubbed her brand Lulu Frost after her childhood nickname, Lulu, and the surname of her maternal grandmother Elizabeth Rock Frost, a well-respected member of the estate jewelry business for more than 40 years and an inspiration to Salzer.

A homecoming

While Salzer is thrilled with her new digs, she’s equally psyched about the location. "Huntington is a bastion of creativity and it’s a well-kept secret how fun and chic it is here," she says.

All parts of the Lulu Frost enterprise are consolidated under this roof, including the design and web department. And to underscore her homecoming, (a mere 9 miles from her childhood abode) she says, "I wanted the store to feel like a home. And like a window into my life. The door is painted what we call 'Salzer green,' the same color as the house I grew up in. There are historical references, and I wanted to fill it with things I love."

Two 1950s metallic light fixtures hung from a patterned ceiling add a glow to the pristine space. A lush floral wallpaper backs a far wall, and soft peach paint adds to the serene atmosphere. "It looks like a boudoir," Salzer says. "It’s very much about nostalgia and family lineage. I think it conjures the feeling of rifling through a mom’s jewelry box or trying on a favorite auntie’s jewelry."

The dreamy vibe is a perfect backdrop for the stars of the show, the jewelry, of course, where 80% of the inventory is costume, 20% fine jewelry. Prices are approachable. A starry "Electra" charm is $45; chains start at $125; letters and numbers from her famous Plaza Collection are $95 for small, $125 for large. Among the most expensive items in the store is a 10-karat gold Victorian seed pearl and diamond crescent moon for $1,200. She’ll also take commissions, and rework and refresh antique pieces.

And to make it interactive, the new shop has a section called the "Frost Bar," where people can choose their own charms, baubles and chains to create personalized, DIY masterpieces. Grandmother Frost would certainly be proud.