Class 2002
County Achievement Awards
Hampshire County
The Perlman Family,
Silverscape Designs
Denis Perlman, a graduate of MIT with a major in molecular biology and a minor in architecture, was a man of many interests, principally in the creative arts. At Putney School in Vermont, Denis had worked with leather, ceramics, wood, and photography as well as the jewelry which would become his career. In his younger years he had transformed a school bus into a mobile workshop and traveled the country giving jewelry-making demonstrations.
In 1976, Denis founded Silverscape Designs in a Victorian house in Amherst, Mass. and subsequently expanded the gallery into a second, larger location in an art deco former bank building on a corner of Main Street in Northampton. Denis made himself a living space on the second floor of the bank to devote full time to his art, and took great pride in “making gemstones magical.â€Â Since Denis’s tragic death in a plane crash, the Perlman family and Silverscape Designs’ staff have continued “New England’s premier designer jewelry showcase.â€Â
Silverscape Designs has been a favorite in the Valley Advocate Readers’ Poll ever since the Best of the Valley poll was started in the 1980s. The store features fine jewelry and other art objects from hundreds of designers and makers; however Silverscape is best known for the one-of-a-kind jewelry created by its own resident designers. The gallery’s emphasis on personalized creation and superb craftsmanship is reflected in the motto “After listening to your dreams, desires, and needs, let us forge your fantasies into reality.â€