The fashion of the late ’80s and early ’90s isn’t what you would describe as understated. Neon was the new black, shoulder pads looked like football gear, hair was teased halfway to Heaven and breezes never stood a chance against everyone’s windbreakers. Bigger was always better — especially when it came to jewelry. Ultra Lites were a totem of that era. These oversized sculptural earrings had dramatic flair but felt light as air. Handcrafted from aluminum by Fairhope-based artist Joe Miller, they were funky, flashy and totally unforgettable. But his Ultra Lites weren’t just about style. They were about fearless self-expression, something he embodied in every piece he made.
Their lightweight designs and bold aesthetic made Ultra Lites iconic, but the origin of the jewelry was personal and simple. “Ultra Lites started out as a gift,” says Joe Miller’s stepson Kevin Uteg. “Joe was a sculptor, jeweler, architect and a builder. His design was basically a mini sculpture, and it got a lot of traction with friends really fast. When he realized that, he expanded on the designs very quickly based on what he was capable of producing. But that was the genesis of it — a gift to my mom.”
During a time when fashion was all about excess, Ultra Lites offered a way for women to go big without the heavy burden of many other large earrings. “They came out of the hair metal band and Aqua Net phase, and it was part of the fashion that bigger was better,” says Uteg. “Really chunky jewelry would pull on your ear, and part of the marketing was that you could wear this larger mini sculpture because it was made out of aluminum. They were really popular with teenagers and women who wanted the chunky earring look but didn’t like a heavy earring. Aluminum made that possible.”
Despite their widespread popularity, Ultra Lites weren’t mass produced using molds or stamps. They were meticulously crafted by hand, one piece at a time. “Making each one was definitely a process,” says Joe Miller’s stepdaughter Valerie Iliff. “They were all made from patterns that would be cut out of the metal flat, and then they would be shaped with reverse dyes and little ball-peen hammers. Of course, there were specialty tools that made all the fine details. They were all made by hand, and each one was absolutely unique from another.”
Uteg laughs as he recalls some of the more creative tools that brought the earring designs to life. “Some of the tools were punches that made the finer details like cat whiskers. There was one with scales for the fish. And if you lost the fish scale punch — it caused problems, apparently. I remember learning about that.”
Making Ultra Lites was a family affair. “Polishing, filing, cutting — we helped do it all. I didn’t do too many of the pieces. Maybe I’d add some of the finer details, but I was definitely a polisher,” says Iliff. “I remember that one time I was asked to help do some filing, and I thought I’d hit it big,” adds Uteg. “I was thinking I’d be getting into the office and helping with the paperwork side of things. Then I was sat down with a metal file in my hand. Then I realized what ‘filing’ meant.”
Every now and then, art from young minds made it into the collection. “Sometimes, they would use designs we had drawn as children,” says Joe Miller’s daughter Sophie Miller. “Those were the pieces that were a bit cartoony — funky-looking characters of things like cats. It would be little creations of ours that they would bring to life in earring form. That was always fun.”
What began as a small operation eventually took on a life of its own, leading Joe Miller and his family far beyond where Ultra Lites started. “Joe and our mom were doing it all — really, really pushing it. It eventually turned into something bigger than them,” says Iliff. “They had a crew in Fairhope, and they had a group of friends in Mexico. They went down to San Miguel on vacation and ran into one of Joe’s good buddies, and he told them ‘Y’all, you’d love it down here.’ So, they ended up falling in love with the place and bought a house with a studio, and that’s how they got down there.”
Business may have taken Joe Miller and his family to Mexico, but it was the people there that made it feel like home. “For as long as I can remember, all those people have been a part of the extended family and worked with our parents doing different art projects,” says Sophie Miller. “I was 19 when I worked with the Mexican crew helping them make jewelry, and it’s just been such a beautiful, symbiotic relationship between our parents and those guys. Some of the crew became professional jewelers and built houses next to our parents’ house, and they called Joe ‘maestro’ because he taught them how to make jewelry. It was very endearing.”
As fashion trends changed, so did Joe Miller’s art, but the friendships shaped by Ultra Lites remained the same. “Eventually, Joe transitioned from one craft to another, and it was basically a transition that kept the same guys down in Mexico,” says Uteg. “They got into a relationship with Charleston lighting selling big copper gas lamps and garden gates. Joe could tell when the Ultra Lites started to slow down, and he was already moving on to other things. Joe was really great at spearheading projects. Moving from one thing to another was just a natural evolution.”
Joe Miller’s creative evolution didn’t end with lamps and gates. His mind was always racing toward the next big idea. “Joe’s mind…bless his heart, having a conversation with him would leave you with your eyes crossed. He had a lot going on and a lot of fantastic ideas,” says Iliff. “He made the big triangle sculpture in the Daphne Sculpture Park out of aluminum, and he was really into chess and would make these large chess pieces and cover them in Ultra Lites. He was functioning at a very high rate for all of his life. He was very proud of that fact. The day he had a stroke, he was literally up on a scaffold with these big chunks of slag glass. Up until that day, he was capable of doing anything.”
Joe’s earrings may have been light, but his legacy holds incredible weight. “You know, Ultra Lites were 100% our parents’ passion for that time period. They would embody the whole essence of the product,” says Iliff. “I guess there’s been a resurgence of ‘80s fashion, and people who wore Ultra Lites have come to us and told us about how much they adored them. It means a lot that this legacy Joe created is still gaining and maintaining public interest. The person he was and the ideas he had meant a lot to so many people.”
