What I Hope Collectors Feel When They Wear My Jewelry
When someone acquires a piece of jewelry I’ve made, my immediate feeling is joy. Not just because something has sold - but because it means someone has connected with a story I told without words.
When I show my work at art festivals, I’m often humbled by the way my jewelry resonates with people. Sometimes the reactions are immediate - a smile, curiosity, a story spilling out before they even realized they’re telling it.
Other times, the resonance is quiet.
a long pause.
a careful examination.
a subtle shift in expression.
While showing my work during a craft marketplace at Craft Contemporary, I once watched a woman return several times to visit a particular ring adorned with a large hand-sawn fissure. She didn’t say much at first. She would pick it up, study it, put it down. Walk away. Come back again.
When she finally chose to take it home, she shared that I reminded her of a chapter in her life she had lived through - something hard-won, something transformative. The fissure felt like resilience made visible to her.
In that moment, I was reminded that jewelry is never just adornment. It has the quiet ability to become a mirror.
What I want collectors to feel when they wear my jewelry is not just beauty.
I want them to feel grounded.
Imperfectly real - connect to something deeper within themselves.
If someone wears one of my pieces and feels a little more understood then I know the work has done what it was meant to do.
Because what passes between us is never just metal for money.
It is story for story.
Human to human.
