A Guide to the Best of Southern California : HANDMADE : Flower Child in the ‘90s

A FASCINATION FOR myth, exotic cultures and rare animals still inspires Laurel Burch. Those of you around for the ‘60s will remember Burch as the pretty flower child who made jewelry from old coins, necklaces, beads and pins and peddled her creations at San Francisco street fairs and flea markets. Now the ‘60s are well in the past, and Burch’s little business is now a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Burch has been showing her jewelry at San Diego’s Bazaar del Mundo for 17 years. A new shop, the Laurel Burch Gallerita, has opened there to showcase her more than 600 earring designs of cloisonne and cast metal ($20 to $38), belts, necklaces, pillboxes, canvas tote bags, sweat shirts and T-shirts. About her latest line, The Art of Human Being, Burch says, “I wanted to celebrate the diversity, as well as the similarity, among peoples of the world.” Maybe the ‘60s aren’t completely over.

Laurel Burch Gallerita at Bazaar del Mundo, 2754 Calhoun St., in Old Town, San Diego; (619) 294-3361.