About

As a jewelry designer and maker with a background in musical instrument restoration, I love to connect my clients with the fascinating and sometimes convoluted stories of musical instruments that have lost their voice.  While it gives me joy to return an instrument to its former glory and reunite it with its owner to continue its musical journey, sometimes that is just not possible.  Whether it is accident, tragedy, or the ravages of a long life well-loved, some instruments simply cannot be repaired and must be relegated to the junk pile.  Rather than have the story end there, I give these lost voices a new story: yours!

​My passion for jewelry actually started AFTER I began studying metalsmithing.  I originally intended to learn these skills to make functional reproductions of musical instrument parts.  To be honest, I found the learning process frustrating, until one day I got fed up with working on the assigned class project and started making a chain out of scrap copper wire instead.  Encouraged by my teacher's and classmates' response, I started working on more of my own ideas.  By the time I managed to create a gift for my mom using her favorite stone, turquoise, I was hooked!

The real turning point in my design process was when a repair client came to me with her clarinet that had been pulled from the ruins of her recently burned down apartment building.  She was saddened by the news that it couldn't be saved, and left her beloved instrument with me to be used for parts.  I was moved by all she had been through, and decided to use one of the surviving keys to make a piece especially for her, so she could always have a part of that instrument.  When a local band mom heard the story, she insisted that when I bought what was left of her son's clarinet for parts that I should let it live on as jewelry so it could be part of someone else's story and bring them joy.

By wearing one of these pieces, you become part of the story, from player to maker to wearer, and add to it every time you put it on!