Leigh Batnick Plessner

Rony Vardi, Founder (left) and Leigh Batnick Plessner, Creative Director of Catbird

City of Women Denizen: Leigh Batnick Plessner

Bona Fides: Leigh is the Creative Director of Catbird, the loveliest, coolest jewelry shop with roots in Brooklyn and a growing number of locations.

City of Women Induction: Leigh’s experience as the founder of a stationery company, a woman who loves children’s literature, and a creative director who puts narrative into everything she makes, whether its brand identity or jewelry, qualifies her as the person I’d elect to design baubles for a real-life City of Women. She’d ensure that all of us who lived there were adorned with dazzling, dreamy jewelry while also designing the overall aesthetic of the City. I wanted to know about her favorite things…

RPO: This year, Catbird is celebrating its 20th anniversary… congratulations!! Please tell me Catbird’s origin story.

LP: Rony Vardi founded Catbird in 2004 as a small shop that could evolve over time. She sold clothing, patches, some jewelry - bits and bobs that brought joy. I met her that same year at a stationery show at the Javits Center, where I was selling my stationery. I started working at the store one day a week, then two and more and more until I closed my stationery line to focus on the work we were doing at Catbird.

RPO: If your personal jewelry style could be conveyed by a fictional character, who would that be?

LP: Charlotte from Charlotte’s Web.

RPO: Describe the creative process for choosing new/seasonal pieces. 

LP: We are always looking for the thing that tugs on our heartstrings - and that we want to slip on our fingers, ears, etc. right away.

RPO: How did the current collaboration with Jenny Slate happen?

LP: Jenny is an old customer, so we sent her an email!

RPO: What’s your favorite piece of jewelry in your personal collection, either received as a gift or bought for yourself?

LP: My engagement ring as a gift, and then for myself I would say a pair of our Spring Fairy diamond earrings. 

RPO: What’s your favorite piece in Catbird’s current collection?

LP: The Swan Lake Earrings. They are like gossamer raindrops.

RPO: The first time I shopped at Catbird in 2011, I immediately felt it was a different jewelry experience. What makes Catbird feel so special? 

LP: The intimacy—and in stores that our cases are vertical, I think it lends itself to getting lost in a dollhouse world. There always used to be forehead prints on the front window of Bedford from people leaning in close and bonking their heads.

RPO: What do you hope your clients *feel* when they wear your jewelry?

LP: Glimmering - even in the darkness.

Scribbles, — Scribe New York’s short answer section.

Diamonds or pearls? — Both

If you could wear a ring ONLY on one finger, which finger gets adorned? — Right pinky

Your style, in one word — Quiet

“Jewelry makes me feel ___________ .” — Like a poet

Favorite font — My daughter’s handwriting