A Charm’d Life

Lulu Frost jewelry designer Lisa Salzer links the trinkets of her success.

Lulu Frost designs can be found in Mitchells in Huntington and Matriark in Sag Harbor.

If you’re a Pretty Local follower, you may have seen a story or two (or 10) about my beloved Plaza Letter “K” necklace from Lulu Frost. A few years back, I treated myself to a gold initial charm and a long link chain at a holiday shopping event. Since then, I’ve added a small “K” to my collection, plus a few vintage charms.

My “K” necklace is a statement piece—a conversation starter at cocktail parties. The pendant was inspired by the original hardware from the iconic Plaza Hotel in New York City. It’s become somewhat of a signature piece for me, and it’s part of a signature collection that put Lulu Frost on the map almost twenty years ago.

So, who’s Lulu Frost? She’s designer Lisa Salzer, sort of. Lulu is the nickname Salzer got from her sister. Frost comes from her grandmother, Elizabeth Frost, who managed a high-end estate jewelry store in New Hope, Pennsylvania. “As a child, I got to be a fly on the wall and witness how much people love jewelry,” she says. “I also got to see a lot of incredible, one-of-a-kind pieces.”

As a young teen, Salzer started creating her own jewelry, selling her first pieces—beaded flowers on leather rings—at age 14 to Sedoni Gallery in Huntington. She continued to design through college. Salzer attended Dartmouth, studying art history and fine art. She’d make grosgrain ribbon belts and bracelets for friends and to earn some pocket money. She also started working with antique items—old skeleton keys or Czechoslovakian buckles that were no more than $10. “I thought, ‘I can afford this and transform it into a pendant or necklace to sell.’”

As graduation approached, Salzer’s friends were going the corporate recruiting route, but she decided to pursue full-time jewelry design instead. Her vision: a modern interpretation of vintage pieces—a blend of old and new, much like the generational sentiment behind the Lulu Frost name. 

Eye Candy

After graduation, Salzer took a business program at Dartmouth and set up a website. Her big break came when the fashion website Daily Candy came across her work and wanted to feature it. Salzer scrambled to get e-commerce ready and when the article ran, it drove 25,000 people to her site.

“When Daily Candy knocked, it was a huge gift because it spurred me into action.” Leveraging her recent press, Salzer cold-called Barney’s to set up an appointment, and they bought all of her pieces to sell at the luxury department store.

“T” at The Plaza

Another pivotal moment for the Lulu Frost brand arrived with a serendipitous find at Olde Good Things, an architectural salvage store in NYC’s Chelsea neighborhood. Salzer stumbled across the original hardware—letters and numbers from The Plaza Hotel in New York City. When the hotel was closed for renovation in 2005, many items went up for auction, but the hardware was junked and ended up at the salvage place. Salzer only bought five pieces, not knowing exactly what she would do with them.

She transformed The Plaza hardware into pendants for necklaces. When she had an opportunity to participate in a VIP gifting suite for the MTV VMAs in Miami, she gifted the necklaces to celebrities. “The response was crazy!”

Salzer returned to Olde Good Things to purchase the entire set of numbers and letters, using all her savings. The Plaza necklaces garnered attention from Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar and became a top-seller for her at Barney’s. Salzer then created a mold of the letters and numbers so she could continue to produce them long after she exhausted the originals. The Plaza Collection remains a best-seller for the brand almost 20 years later.

Salzer, who now lives in Huntington, sells her pieces on lulufrost.com and in many boutiques and retailers, including Matriark in Sag Harbor and Mitchells in Huntington. (Both stores carry the full Plaza collection.) She finds her local customers appreciate the specialness of her designs. “There is a huge appreciation of all things beautiful here on Long Island; maybe because the island is so beautiful and aesthetic with its beaches,” she says. “And living here is inspiring me to do more handmade, one-of-a-kind pieces.”

My Lulu Frost Plaza Collection “K” joined by the rest of my initials.

Charming the Country

 In 2023, Lulu Frost entered a new chapter, reaching an even broader audience with Charm’d by Lulu Frost, an exclusive line for Jared, one of the nation’s top luxury jewelry retailers. The line features a mix of birthstones, symbols, letters, and numbers miniaturized with pavé diamonds and in high-quality materials such as 10K gold.  

“Charm’d by Lulu Frost is all about meaning and symbolism, letting people express themselves through initials, letters, numbers, and symbols such as a lion or heart locket with two hearts embedded in one,” she says.

“The symbols are simple, but they have a deeper meaning behind them, and that’s the power of this collection: It’s all about people telling their own story.”

Scroll through a few of Salzer favorite charms from the Charm’d by Lulu Frost Jared collection:

Thank you, Lisa, for sharing your story with Pretty Local. Check out the latest Charm’d by Lulu Frost collection at Jared, launching this September, and follow @lulufrost on Instagram for updates and pictures of her stunning work.