The House
The son of a spine surgeon.
The hands of a sculptor.
Vertebral anatomy transformed into wearable art.
ABALLE, from “Abba.” The word for father.
FIG. 01 · THE SOURCE MATERIAL
01
The Founder
It started with skin and ended with gold.
My name is Julius Margulies. Most people know me as Snuffy. Before ABALLE, I was a tattoo artist. A waitlist measured in years. But I had a rule: if you wanted my work, you had to write me a story. Something meaningful. Something true. One of one. Never repeated.
Then I realized: everything I created would disappear. Every story I told on skin would vanish with the skin. A life’s work relegated to a life’s span.
I needed permanence. Light boxes came first, surrealist drawings backlit and glowing. Then sculpture: bronze, aluminum, brass. Apocalypse-proof. But something was missing. A through-line.
Then I looked back. My father, the spine surgeon. I grew up surrounded by X-rays clipped to light boxes, the blue-white glow filling his office. It had been there my entire life. I just took a lifetime to see it.
From stories on skin to stories in gold. From my father’s hands to mine.
Julius
FIG. 05 · ARTICULATION, TUNED BY HAND
02
The Practice
ABALLE is a New York jewelry house that transforms human vertebral anatomy into wearable sculpture. Designed in our Los Angeles studio. Each vertebra is cast, hand-finished, and assembled by master jewelers in the United States.
Articulation points are tuned by hand until the piece moves as the spine moves. Flexion. Extension. Subtle rotation. Never rigid. The space between vertebrae matters as much as the metal. Production is limited, and pieces are numbered.
Every day, we decide what belongs
on the only body we have.
03
The Standard
ABALLE pieces are designed for a century. Not a season. Not a decade. A century. This requires:
MATERIAL · STERLING / 18K GOLD / PLATINUM
Materials that patina, not decay. No plating. No concealment.
METHOD · 100% HANDMADE, USA
From casting to finishing, by American master jewelers in our Los Angeles design studio.
MECHANISM · GENERATIONS
Each articulation point hand-finished. Weight-balanced for all-day wear.
ACCOUNTABILITY · ONE PAIR OF EYES
Every piece is founder inspected before shipping.
The 100-Year Horizon
The Japanese concept of tsukumogami holds that objects gain souls after one hundred years of existence. We build for that moment. The first owner is not the last. They are the first custodian.
Not jewelry, but a future artifact.
The wearer is temporary. The piece is permanent.
ABALLE exists for people who already know this.
Visit the Studio · By Appointment The Collections