First things first, tell us about yourself & your product!
My name is Richard Anthony Sandomeno Jr – you can call me Rich.
Inspired by the post-industrial wasteland of Northeastern New Jersey, SPRAGWERKS was created in 2002. I create custom jewelry and belt buckles that fuse my passion for industrial design with my vision of a post-apocalyptic world where the borders between the organic and the mechanical dissolve. [Handmade and wrought by myself, all the jewelry is cast out of sterling silver and accented with copper, gold, and found objects.] Made in NYC and L.A.
What makes you Haute Macabre?
Because I can’t help feeling goodness in darkness, [finding] beauty in both death and decay, and a passion for the bizarre and absurd.
Were you a potential serial killer as a child, that instead evolved into a designer?
I was, and still am, an obsessive collector of dead things, curiosities, odds and ends (mostly odds). I was always seeing everything as something else, noticing the things that most people [disregard as mundane] don’t, and [re-]assembling them in no particular order. I evolved into a designer unintentionally – [when I found what I loved to do, I dove into it obsessively.] I took to making Jewelry the same way I took to collecting bugs as a child – it engulfed my thoughts. It seeped into my brain…and at some point people started to notice.
How would you describe your personal style?
Equal parts: Little Richard, Soda Pop Curtis, and a hobo (circa 1920’s).
What would you wear for a moon landing?
A custom made skin-tight black leather spacesuit made by Agatha Blois, accented with silver clasps and fasteners made by me, and a titanium ray-gun.
Leather or Lace?
Leather
Why?
How dare you!
Do you ever notice footwear in your dreams?
I think of footwear constantly…it’s the first thing I notice.
What style advice to you have to share?
Be bold and daring…and above all, make no excuses.
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oh wow, im in love with his jewelry.
“Because I can’t help feeling goodness in darkness, [finding] beauty in both death and decay, and a passion for the bizarre and absurd.”
Perfect answer.
And my eyes did that muppet-style, viral-lemur wide eye stretch as soon as I saw his wares. Talent is beautiful.