About Me

Hi there! I'm Grace. I design bold, global-inspired jewelry for cosmopolitan women with a wanderlust spirit.

I design jewelry for women like you, who have an artistic style and love jewelry with an eclectic influence. My jewelry pieces are one-of-a-kind, so you'll be the only one who has your particular piece. Maybe you’ll see a piece of jewelry that reminds you of your study abroad trip in college, or that backpacking adventure in the Balkans, or of your bucket list trip to Egypt. Why not wear a reminder of those special places?

Everyone has different color preferences, so I make pieces in a wide array of colors. For folks who prefer more neutral tones, I make many black, brown and beige toned pieces. I make pieces in warm and cool color palettes, as well as those in a mix of warm and cool color palettes. I use metal very sparingly. In fact, all of my bracelets are metal-free. I can also adjust the length of almost all of my necklaces to accommodate a range of sizes, at no charge.

As a wildlife biologist, I understand the importance of sustainability, and I cringe knowing that textiles have a huge environmental footprint. I ship your jewelry to you in reusable drawstring bags made from repurposed clothing, to reduce the amount of clothing likely to end up in landfills.

So how did all this start?

My mom and I had dabbled in some bead stringing when I was little, and I’d always loved DIY. Fast forward to my freshman year of high school, when I was debating Christmas present ideas, and my mind went, “What about the bead stash in the basement?” Instead of simple stringing, I found myself tinkering with different thread types and bead shapes and colors, and that tinkering has not stopped over the last 20 years.

 I've long held an interest in global culture and art. I'm of mixed ancestry, and I grew up in a very diverse community. I'd walk the halls of my school as a kid and hear at least a dozen languages being spoken in the hallway, and I found it fascinating. This cemented my appreciation for the vast cultural diversity of the world. I started designing jewelry that reminded me of places I've been or would like to see.

My Background and Process

A little fun fact about me: I'm a wildlife scientist by day! This might mean being out in the field watching animals in their natural habitat, or collecting what they leave in the woods. But in many cases, it means combing through scads of data that tell us what those animals are really doing, and why. Throughout my life, from college to grad school to being an early-career scientist, the bead box has been a good creative outlet.

 I approach jewelry-making with the curiosity of a scientist. I think of developing a jewelry design as similar to developing a hypothesis in science. Sometimes my hypothesis is supported by the data, and sometimes it's completely off base. Designing jewelry has some parallels- sometimes a design is a complete flop, in which case, it's back to the drawing board to figure out how to make a design work.

I source my materials from a variety of small online shops, as well as larger companies that purchase their stones directly from stone cutters around the world. I am a bit of a bead store connoisseur, and when I travel, I like to check out the local bead stores for some interesting new finds.

My jewelry and science work have a strong synergy, which allows me to embrace both art and science. In both cases, I get to nurture my curiosity, and my creativity as a jewelry designer can serve me well as a scientist, where eye-catching figures and graphs can better tell a story than a block of text.

Ready to stand out and wear a reminder of your adventures? Join our email list to be the first to know about new products and offers!