Miley Cyrus’ sights set on Chapel Hill jewelry

Jeweler William Travis Kukovich never watched the Disney Channel.

But now one of the channel’s most popular teen sensations — Miley Cyrus — is a client.

Kukovich, who is the owner of William Travis Jewelry, has owned his University Square store for five years. Three years ago, he opened a second location in a Costa Rican resort, FlorBlanca.

Celebrities visiting the resort noticed his designs, and Kukovich was asked to make jewelry for “Main Street,” an upcoming movie starring Orlando Bloom and Colin Firth, partially filmed in Durham.

Many members of the “Main Street” team then went to work on Cyrus’ newest movie, “The Last Song.”

Originally, Cyrus was not meant to wear jewelry in the film, but after she said she wanted to, crew members suggested Kukovich’s jewelry and directed Cyrus to his store Web site, Kukovich said.

Soon after, crew members called Kukovich to the Georgia movie set, he said.

But when he arrived on the set with $16,000 in jewelry for the Disney star’s latest movie, he was promptly removed by the producer, who didn’t know he had permission to be there.

“Miley went to the producer and personally called and brought me back on set,” he said.

The same day Kukovich was removed from the set, Cyrus chose about 20 of his designs to wear for a private photo shoot, he said.

Kukovich described Cyrus’s style in the movie as “emo-edgy,” the theme he kept in mind when he designed the jewelry, which mostly uses larger, darker earthy stones with gold backing.

John Sanders, the propmaster for “The Last Song,” said he recalled helping pick out jewelry for the shoot with Kukovich and Tish Cyrus, Miley’s mother.

Despite Kukovich’s rocky start, he looked to Deirdre Imershein Haj of Ruffian Media as his mentor in on-set manners.

Their UNC connection is Imershein’s husband, Joseph Haj, the producing artistic director of UNC’s PlayMakers Repertory Company.

“Without her, I never would have made it there on set. She told me what to do, how to act, everything,” Kukovich said.

Imershein encouraged Kukovich to find similarities between himself and Cyrus to help bridge the age difference. Imershein, who has purchased jewelry from Kukovich, described his work as “stunning.”

“I think this (experience) gave him an idea of whether he wants to delve into that world or not,” she said. “It’s a unique business. You have to know who to call and what to say, and I was happy to help.”

Kukovich noted that both he and Cyrus started their careers around age 12 or 13. He started pursuing jewelry professionally at age 16, coming from a family with a metalsmithing history of 250 years.

Now that he has the Cyrus gig under his belt, he said he hopes to continue pursuing movie jewelry contracts,


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