Wright Designs Lucky Bracelets

By BRENDA HIMELFARB Palisadian-Post Contributor After giving birth to her third son, Justin, Palisadian Annette Wright was vacationing with her family in Mexico, when she noticed that the locals would go out of their way to touch her baby’s red hair. ‘People would make a beeline to touch his hair,’ says Wright, mother of sons, Thad, Patrick, Justin and Jordan. ‘As they touched his hair, they would say ‘ojo, ojo’ and I soon found out they believed that just by touching his hair, they could ward off evil.’ Wright was just fascinated by all of this, and after doing some research learned that many cultures revere the ‘ojo.’ She learned that the ‘evil eye’ comes from a person who can harm you, your children, your livestock, or your fruit trees just by looking with envy and praising them. The earliest written references to the evil eye occur on Sumerian clay tablets dating to the third millennium BC. The French call it ‘Mauvais Oeil.’ The Germans, ‘B’se Blick.’ The English, the ‘Evil Eye Protector.’ ”Soon Wright began wearing a bracelet, a gift that featured an eye. ”’The bracelet was small and kept breaking. Yet, when I was wearing it, I felt very protected,’ Wright explains. ‘And everytime it broke, something bad would happen. So I was determined that I was going to make something that was going to be durable. Something unisex that people could wear anywhere on their body’the wrist, the ankle, the hair. Something they could wear at all times to protect them from evil.’ And so began Wright’s company, Divine Invention. For five years, it was trial and error. The beads, as well as the special elastic on which they would be strung had to be not only strong but a specific thickness as well. A particular bond that would fuse the ends together before they were crimped also had to be perfected. ‘All of this was intensely laborious,’ Wright says. ‘It was a labor of love.’ ”Eventually, using fine Italian Moretti glass, Wright introduced a bracelet she dubbed the LOOK”her unique version of the ‘eye’ concept. Each eye bead is designed by Wright and crafted by artisans. No two beads are the same. And Wright has incorporated such things as gold, silver, diamonds and various other stones into the designs. It wasn’t long before celebrities that include Steven Tyler, who before each concert had an ‘eye’ painted on each shoulder, discovered the ‘LOOK’ bracelet. Madonna, who practices Kabalah, a facet of Judaism that is loosely described as ‘a focus on Jewish mysticism,’ recently ordered the bracelet in gold. ”Also seen wearing the ‘LOOK’ are Brooke Shields, Christina Aguilera, Jackie Chan, Pamela Anderson and the entire Osbourne family, to name a few. ”Wright has also designed bracelets for specific charities, including the Golden Needle Award, which benefits the John Wayne Cancer Center and the American Cancer Society. A bracelet for a City of Hope event to benefit ovarian cancer research is currently being assembled. But it is the bracelet for the Expedition Inspiration Fund for Breast Cancer Research that is very meaningful to Wright, whose family has been struck many times by the disease. ”’My aunt died of breast cancer at 39,’ says Wright. ‘My mother had breast cancer, but died of ovarian cancer. My sister, Lynda is a 22-year breast cancer survivor and my niece, Tammi Jacob, who is 33, just completed treatment for the disease.’ The pink ‘Inspiration Bracelet,’ that Wright has designed for Expedition Inspiration benefits the fund’s Los Angeles Take-A-Hike, to be held on Saturday, October 2, at Paramount Ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains. Proceeds will support research at the Revlon/UCLA and USC’s Norris Lee Breast Centers. The three-level hike event will be chaired by actress T’a Leoni, along with co-hosts Cindy Crawford, Debra Messing, Kim Raver, Kathy Smith and Richard Roundtree. ‘I’m doing everything I can to raise money to find a cure for this horrible disease,’ Wright says. ‘You can wear a beautiful talisman on your wrist. It’s pretty, has a wonderful meaning and pushes away all the bad stuff! This is just very special to me. It’s my way of reaching out. ”’In every language there’s a name for this. It’s a common denominator that almost every culture shares. How different are we all, anyway? We all worry. Cancer is all over the world. Just about every culture in the world believes in the protective cover of the eye and its help in warding off evil. ”’In this country, it’s more worn as a fashion piece. But many are beginning to understand the beautiful meaning behind this piece.’ ”To order the ‘Inspiration Bracelet or to register for Expedition Inspiration’s Take-A-Hike: www.eitakeahike.org. To order the ‘LOOK’ bracelet: www.divineinvention.com