Bill Smith

Bill Smith (born 1933) is an American fashion and jewelry designer who was the first black recipient of a Coty Award for his designs. He has designed for a number of companies, including costume jewelry for Coro and Richelieu, leather goods for Mark Cross, and furs for Ben Kahn, along with designing jewelry for Cartier. in Madison, Indiana, in his early childhood Bill Smith was encouraged to develop and make the most of his talents. He went to Indiana University Bloomington to study art from 1951 to 1952 and whilst there, also explored dance. Whilst studying dance, he worked part-time soldering and casting for a jewelry company, which gave him technical and artisan knowledge to support his designing. Later that year in October, he was commissioned to exclusively create all the jewelry for the Broadway production of Coco, a stage musical about the life of Coco Chanel starring Katharine Hepburn.

Bill Smith was one of six jewelry designers honoured with a special Coty Award in 1970 alongside Daniel Stoenescu and Steven Brody of Cadoro, Alexis Kirk, Marty Ruza and Cliff Nicholson.

His designs draw inspiration from his African heritage and have been described as sparse and sculptural.

In 1972, he posed with Naomi Sims for a fashion spread on black designers and their muses for the April 1972 issue of The Look magazine, which showcased one of his 18-carat gold cuffs for Cartier, modelled by Sims. His life and designs are chronicled in the book Visionary Designs by Bill Smith, tj. written by JoAnne M Spiller. An obituary posted only in the August 28, 1991 issue of Women's Wear Daily states that Bill died at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City on August 22, 1991.