Rita's remarkable collection, available on ritaokrent.com, reflects her profound interest in beads and related artifacts, and her multiple opportunities to travel and live in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and China. On each trip, she searched for ancient and antique beads and pendants, for small antiquities and for unusual collectibles. She used ancient and antique materials such as amazonite, amber, amethyst, coral, faience, glass, horn, ivory, jade, jet, shell and silver, combined with a related pendant, to design ethnic, one-of-a-kind necklaces, using her own hand-made, sterling silver hook-and-eye clasp. Her necklaces are known internationally and were the subject of a feature article in Ornament Magazine.
Rita collected ancient glass and stone beads from many places, including Egypt, Iran, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Indonesia, China and Africa. She assisted Robert Liu in the writing of his fascinating book “Collectible Beads”, by making her bead resources available to him. Rita's collection includes ancient eye beads from the Middle East, Mali, Mauritania and Indonesia. It also includes dzi beads, pumtek beads and Warring States beads from the Far East, as well as ancient and antique beads from the African trade, such as chevrons and marbles, and African-made beads, such as Kiffa and Bodom beads. Rita acquired a large collection of Early Islamic Period glass beads, by purchasing a complete collection in Damascus many years ago.
Rita acquired Egyptian, Roman, Persian, Afghan, Chinese, and pre-Columbian antiquities during her many trips to Cairo and from other sources. She traded with merchants from Ghana, Mali, Nigeria and other parts of Africa for more than twenty years, providing her with a wonderful collection of African Trade Beads, as well as unusual African wood and ivory carvings and masks. Her customers, both collectors and designers, come to us from all over the world.
Rita died in June 2005 after a long illness. The website and collection are now managed by her daughter, Jocelyne. Rita's artistry and talents live on through the website and through her collections of beads, original necklaces, pendants and antique items. Thank you for visiting our website!
