Catbird is my favorite jewelry company. I own several Catbird pieces. I browse their website regularly. I even have a running wishlist of items I want from Catbird.
So when I heard that Catbird was opening a store in San Francisco back in 2024, I was so excited because I knew that meant there would be San Francisco charms. I’d seen the New York and Boston charms and couldn’t wait for the San Francisco ones.
My favorite jewelry company + my hometown = a perfect match.
So I was really disappointed when the charms were released because none of them - the trolley, the sourdough bread, and the Karl the Fog - appealed to me. If I had loved one, any one of them, I would have bought it. But I haven’t.
I’ve looked at the collection occasionally over the past two years and still get sad when looking at it. Every time I look at it, I think, Come on, Catbird! Couldn’t you have created something better?
I really wanted to love these. I just don’t. And after two years, I don’t think I ever will.
I should mention first, though, that I have been collecting and wearing Catbird pieces for years. I have some pieces that I absolutely love and that you don't see very often anymore: The Vito’s Gems collection little Ludwig flower vase charm and the tiny ribbon charm that I had engraved with my dog's name, Penny, and love wearing close to my heart. I also have the July water lily flower poem charm. July isn’t even my birth month, but I love the charm because it has the shape of the water lily on one edge and the little swan on it.
And I have the suffragette ribbon ear climber, which is not a charm, but another older Catbird piece that I love for its beautiful design and the meaning behind it.
So I know Catbird’s jewelry and have seen enough to know what makes me stop in my tracks, admire a piece, and want to add it to my collection.
Unfortunately, the San Francisco collection didn't do that for me.
The current Catbird San Francisco collection
The cable car AKA the trolley
The cable car is the most obvious San Francisco charm. It’s not bad, but Catbird calls it a trolley. It’s not a trolley.
San Francisco has both cable cars and streetcars, sometimes called trolleys, but they are not the same thing.
Streetcars run on electricity drawn from overhead wires. Cable cars run on steel rails and are propelled by gripping a continuously moving underground cable.
I’ve even ridden the cable car with a conductor wearing a MUNI vest that says “Don’t call it a trolley.”
I contacted Catbird about this error when the charm came out, but I received a generic response. And to this day, the listing still calls the cable car a trolley.
I don’t want to be a stickler about this. But if you’re going to make a San Francisco charm, I think it’s worth getting this right. How do you make a charm about San Francisco and get such a fundamental detail wrong?
This also makes me wonder if they had any input from an actual San Franciscan when designing the collection. Or is this collection what a team of New York designers thinks represents San Francisco?
And I don’t mean to be nitpicky, but the design of the cable car is so basic. It’s not terrible, but it doesn’t really capture what makes a San Francisco cable car a San Francisco cable car.
Look at pictures of the cable cars in service or cable car charms made by other companies and you’ll see details like the bench seat divided by poles, the grip the conductor grabs, or lettering such as “San Francisco” and “Powell & Hyde Sts.”
The concept, naming, and design do not truly reflect San Francisco, so the cable car (or trolley, as Catbird calls it) was off the table for me.
The sourdough
The sourdough is a reasonable choice. Although sourdough bread didn’t originate in San Francisco, the city made it famous.
But the charm doesn’t appeal to me because of its execution. It’s a slice of bread with butter on it. It looks like it belongs in the breakfast collection next to the bacon charm and the fried egg charm.
And then there are the holes in the bread. They make it look strange rather than beautiful. They remind me of trypophobia - the discomfort or disgust some people experience when looking at clusters of holes or similar patterns.
Look up a dried lotus seed head. Even though the slice of sourdough isn’t nearly as extreme, it has the same sort of look to me. Dare I say it’s ugly?
The idea of a sourdough bread charm isn’t bad, but the design could have been so much better. It could have been so much more beautiful.
Make me want to wear the bread, Catbird!
If I had designed it, I would have created an actual sourdough loaf. It could be round or oblong, with a beautifully scored crust - a cross or some other design that conveyed the unique and slightly whimsical quality of artisan bread.
It could have that cracked look with an irregular crusty ridge. It would still be immediately recognizable as a loaf of bread but also be beautiful enough to wear.
For something more intricate, I would have loved a tiny Boudin-style hollowed-out sourdough bread bowl with clam chowder inside. They could have even included the piece of bread that had been cut out to make room for the soup alongside the bowl.
I know that would have been much harder to make. But Catbird has amazing designers and artists. Surely they could have figured it out. And it would have been amazing!
Who wouldn’t love a beautiful bread loaf charm that brought them back to picking up freshly baked artisanal sourdough bread from Tartine Manufactory or Acme Bread Company? Or a clam chowder bowl charm that brought them back to memories of eating that warm savory soup while sitting at Pier 39?
That’s what I want from a San Francisco charm.
The fog charm
This one just killed me. Fog is so inherent to San Francisco living. When I heard Catbird was making a fog charm, I thought, That would be perfect. Because what’s more atmospheric to San Francisco than fog?
I wanted a charm that would bring me back to waking up, looking out the window, and seeing an impenetrable wall of fog. Or that feeling of stepping outside into the cool summer morning and being unable to see 100 feet in front of me because the fog is so thick. Then, as the morning goes on, watching the fog slowly roll away and feeling the sun begin to poke through.
Then I saw the charm. It said KARL. Karl?
I know of Karl the Fog. It’s a contemporary nickname given to the fog by someone on Twitter in 2010.
But I grew up in San Francisco in the 1990s, and it wasn’t Karl. The fog was just the fog. The fog is timeless. It didn’t need a contemporary name or a newer interpretation. It didn’t need to be turned into an anthropomorphic character.
You might as well have just made a charm that said FOG. That would have been better than KARL. Because the fog is a memory and a feeling, and it somehow got reduced to a name. It’s just not the San Francisco I know.
And I recognize how hard it is to turn something as fleeting as fog into a tiny piece of jewelry. How do you make fog into a charm? It’s not a cloud. You can’t make a charm that literally conveys the ephemeral quality of fog. How could a charm appear in the morning and disappear by the afternoon?
The idea of fog is beautiful, but simply writing KARL on a piece of jewelry just lost me.
So I started thinking about what I would do if I were designing San Francisco charms for myself.
My dream Catbird San Francisco collection
A gold nugget
Please just make a beautiful gold nugget. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or perfectly polished. It could be irregularly shaped, like the Summer in Italy pearl charm. Just a simple yellow gold nugget like a tiny piece of raw metal. That’s it.
It would be beautiful to anyone who wears it. But for a San Franciscan, it immediately brings to mind the Gold Rush and very beginning of this city. What other simple object can carry that much history and still be beautiful jewelry?
And the charm would be made of actual gold! Can you imagine a gold nugget made of gold metal representing the Gold Rush? It doesn’t get more whimsical, ironic, historical, and simple than that.
And if you wanted to branch out and add a gold pan and pickaxe to make a little trio and complete the Gold Rush story, that would be cute. But just a gold nugget is enough.
This is my number one San Francisco charm request.
Catbird × Arsicault croissant
My dream collaboration would be Catbird x Arsicault to make an Arsicault croissant.
The bakery culture in San Francisco is how we live, and it’s kind of insane. People here love discovering new bakeries, and some will wait hours in line for croissants, kouign-amann, and other creations. With bakeries like Arsicault, Tartine, b. Patisserie, Juniper, and Neighbor Bakehouse, there’s no shortage of delicious treats, which also make for great jewelry inspiration.
I know Catbird already has a croissant charm, but an Arsicault croissant would be something different. It could be a reinterpretation the existing croissant but made specifically for San Francisco.
Add a cute little gold tag that says Arsicault dangling with it, and every woman in San Francisco who loves jewelry and Arsicault croissants - and there are many of us - would want one.
Please make this charm!
Golden Gate Bridge
The Golden Gate Bridge is even more iconic than the cable car. I’ve met people from other countries who immediately recognized the Golden Gate Bridge when I’ve mentioned that I’m from San Francisco. People around the world know it. And it has such a beautiful shape with its two towers, which make it perfect as a charm.
As an SF native, I would love it. Can you imagine a beautiful bridge charm that brings back memories of the sun shining down as you drive across the bridge on a weekend morning headed up to Napa or Sonoma?
Or one that sparks the feeling of coming back toward the city, crossing the bridge, and seeing the skyline spread out beyond the glistening bay welcoming you home?
Just make the bridge charm already!
A sea lion
The sea lions at Pier 39 make the perfect animal charm. It’s cute enough that an animal lover who doesn’t even know San Francisco might want one. And you could design the sea lion in many ways - hoisting itself up on its flippers, lying down on its back basking in the sun, or lifting its tail toward the sky.
The charm could bring up memories of their barking sounds and even the smell of the sea lions gathered together on the dock. But it would still be uniquely San Francisco.
Ferry Building
The Ferry Building is another beautiful building that’s recognizable to San Franciscans and has significance as the historical gateway to the city back when people arrived by ferry boat before the Golden Gate Bridge and Bay Bridge were built. Its iconic clock tower would translate beautifully into a charm.
Coit Tower
Coit Tower would be perfect as a tower turned into a charm. It has a distinctive silhouette like a fire hose. And if you’ve ever been to Coit Tower, it’s an experience you remember.
You have to walk up steep hills to get there, and you’re rewarded with views of the Pacific. The tower’s interior murals depict aspects of life in California. It’s historic, distinctive, and beautiful.
Alcatraz
Alcatraz is another obvious choice for San Francisco. It does seem strange to wear a charm representing a former prison, but if anyone could figure out how to turn it into an attractive piece of jewelry, it would be Catbird.
Imagine a tiny rocky island with the outline of a building on top. It would be more of an architectural or landscape piece than a literal prison.
Dim sum
I’d make a shrimp dumpling or pork dumpling charm. You don’t even have to know about San Francisco or the history of Chinatown and dim sum to like the charm because a little dumpling would be cute on its own. Then, once you learn that it represented San Francisco, that would be an added layer of connection that made it more meaningful.
Even better, I’d make a little bamboo steamer charm. The lid could open, revealing tiny dumplings or barbecue pork buns inside. And I think Catbird could actually make this charm without it looking novel or kitschy - just too charming to pass up.
Mission burrito
How cute would this be? A tiny gold burrito charm representing a huge Mission-style burrito filled with meat, cheese, rice, beans, and other delicious things that make a burrito enormous. My mouth is already watering just thinking about eating one.
Lombard Street
This might be challenging to design and make, but imagine a charm showing a few curved sections of Lombard Street with a tiny car navigating them. It would be unique, and any San Franciscan would immediately know what it was depicting.
And a few more
There are other options that may be lesser known but still viable:
A Painted Lady Victorian house
The Cliff House
The drum bridge in the Japanese Tea Garden
The Palace of Fine Arts
A Dungeness crab
A California poppy
A 7x7 charm - San Francisco is often described as roughly seven miles by seven miles, and 7×7 equals 49, referencing the 1849 Gold Rush and the gold prospecting Forty-Niners.
The Boston Swan boat charm
I know Catbird is capable of making these types of charms because I’ve seen them do it. When I saw the Boston swan boat, I immediately wanted it. I don’t even have an attachment to Boston. I just saw this beautiful piece of jewelry, admired it, and knew that I wanted to add it to my collection.
That’s what I want from the San Francisco charms. I want something beautiful that I can love first. Then, if it has an additional meaning connected to San Francisco, that’s a bonus that makes me love the charm even more.
A gold nugget is beautiful, timeless, and has a story behind it. It doesn’t have a nickname, and it’s not a trend. You don’t need to be a San Franciscan to like it or understand it. It’s delicate, slightly whimsical, recognizable without being literal, and genuinely pretty as jewelry.
That’s my standard for charms.
The Italian Holiday collection
Just look at Catbird’s Italian Holiday collection, which the company describes with imagery of “long, languid days by the sea, evenings wandering the town laid with marble and pink walls, jewels shining like the stars.” Some of the pieces refer to a “never-ending summer.” The Summer in Italy Reef charm is described as “a souvenir of summer.”
I haven’t been to Italy in years, but when I look at those pieces and think about the concept behind them, I’m immediately transported back to Italy in 2005 - walking along the beaches in the Cinque Terre and wading the Mediterranean, feeling the warmth of the orange sun, and seeing cats sunbathing on the rocks. The jewelry evokes summer, the sea, sunlight, travel, nostalgia, and a bit of romance, all without saying a word.
And isn't that the point of a charm?
People have been collecting charms from places they've traveled for generations. You visit somewhere, find a little object that reminds you of it, bring it home, and years later you look at it and remember being there.
A good charm doesn’t just tell you where you went. It brings back a feeling or a memory.
That's what I wanted from a San Francisco charm. I wanted to look at it and feel like I was home without having to explain it.
Do you really know San Francisco?
All of this brings me back to the question: Catbird, do you really know San Francisco?
You made charms that are recognizable as symbols of San Francisco, but these are things people associate with San Francisco. Do you know what someone who really knows San Francisco would find beautiful, charming, and meaningful about the city?
As much as I dislike the current collection, I realize I may be in the minority here. All three San Francisco charms are currently sold out, and you have to join the waiting list to get them. So clearly, people like these charms and have been buying them. Catbird has made something people want.
I may be the only San Franciscan standing here saying, “Really? This is what you came up with?”
But I like jewelry - and charms in particular - that make me feel something, bring back a memory, take me back to a place, or tell a story while still catching my eye because they’re beautiful. Yeah, these just don’t do it for me.
What does this mean for us?
Catbird, I still love you. I still have a wishlist of your jewelry that grows every year. I still look forward to growing my collection with pieces that win over my heart. I’m not angry about the San Francisco charms. I’m just disappointed because I really wanted to love them, even just one of them.
My favorite jewelry company and my hometown should have been such an easy win. Instead, I get a cable car that you incorrectly call a trolley, a piece of sourdough bread that looks like it belongs in a breakfast collection, and a trendy name for something as timeless as fog.
Please make some new San Francisco charms - a gold nugget, a Catbird x Arsicault croissant, and the Golden Gate Bridge. If you can’t do all of them, please at least stop calling the cable car a trolley.