Tiffany’s taps into mythology for redux

Paul Clinton

As part of an extensive remodeling of their Costa Mesa store, Tiffany

& Co. is keeping one thing the same: the distinctive blue boxes.

Of course, the company’s classically simple, elegant jewelry will

also see little change. But the look of the store is undergoing a

face-lift expected to be complete in September.

Workers added the company’s distinctive Atlas-style clock and have

begun reconfiguring the floor plan, installing more windows and

lightening the color scheme of the interior.

The New York-based company installed the clock, a familiar symbol

of the luxury jeweler, after several years of lobbying from shopping

center owner C.J. Segerstrom & Sons, spokeswoman Debra Gunn Downing

said.

“We’re so thrilled to have that clock,” Gunn Downing said. “It is

stunning.”

The distinctive clock, which sits above the store’s outer

entrance, features a 9-foot sculpture of the Greek god Atlas

balancing, instead of a globe, a Tiffany timepiece.

The sculpture was first used in 1853, when store founder Charles

Lewis Tiffany placed it above the entrance of his Manhattan store.

Craftsman Henry Frederick Metzler first carved the figure,

modeling it after the classic figureheads placed on the bows of

sailing ships. Metzler carved the statue out of white pine, which was

then bronzed. The bronze coating is then given a green patina to

simulate a weathering effect.

In addition to the changes at its own store, Tiffany is also

branching out to other ventures at South Coast Plaza, a powerhouse

center than generates about $1 billion a year in sales.

Tiffany is the lead investor in Temple St. Clair, a new jeweler

set to open this fall at the plaza in an adjacent storefront.

Shoppers will notice a difference between the two stores. Jewelry

at Temple St. Clair, a store making its first appearance at South

Coast Plaza by its eponymous designer in September, will go for a

bolder, more colorful design. It is expected to lean toward a more

fashion-oriented style.