A South Street boutique will celebrate marriage equality with a fundraiser for national nonprofits.
The owner of Workshop Underground, Ruben Luna, came up with the idea to donate portions of sales to Mazzoni Center, an LGBT health and wellness center. The center will receive 25 percent of net proceeds from all wedding jewelry sold in the shop.
“In light of the current political climate, I wanted to do something to celebrate marriage equality and also ensure that people don’t lose sight of what a significant milestone it is and hopefully no actions will be taken to overturn it,” Luna said.
In a statement, Luna said he wanted to “support and welcome” Mazzoni, which recently moved to 1348 Bainbridge St., a few blocks away from Workshop Underground’s location, 1544 South St.
As part of the fundraiser, Workshop Underground will sell wedding jewelry and wedding party gifts, including cufflinks, watches, engagement rings and wedding bands.
Luna also creates custom-designed wedding rings and bands. He meets with couples to determine the types of styles they like before presenting them a hand-drawn model. He then develops the design into a 3D model, which he next casts in metal. Luna said the whole process takes between three and four weeks.
Luna noted a more personal connection to the fundraiser. He married his now-ex-husband in New York, one of the first states achieving marriage equality, soon after Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed it into law.
“I remember going there in City Hall,” Luna said. “It was a Sunday morning in Manhattan. It was such an exciting event. There aren’t many times where you know you are being part of history. Having that experience, it just meant so much to me. Just after hearing all of these threats about civil liberties being threatened, I was thinking, What little part can I do?”
Luna originally held the fundraiser in honor of LGBT Pride Month but ended up extending it through the end of the summer.
“I want this to be a decent turnout and create awareness,” Luna said. “It’s so recent that we’ve had marriage equality in this country but some of us are already taking it for granted. I want to put it on the front burner to celebrate it versus being afraid of it being taken away from us. I wanted to put more of a positive spin on it.”
For more information on Workshop Underground, visit www.facebook.com/workshopunderground or www.workshopunderground.com.