Designing jewelry that resonates a specific vibe begins with moments of inspiration. In this blog Jill chats about gathering inspiration, the starting line and content. 

Why Jewelry?

I found my passion for jewelry from the beginning of my career at Ben Moss. I fell in love with jewelry in general and I was fascinated with the manufacturing process. When I met Velia things just sort of clicked.

What is the starting point for a project?

I don’t really have a starting point. I don’t really have a specific “goal” in mind, I feel the creative journey is more about how I interpret the world rather than what I want to manufacture from it so usually I start from wherever my inspiration came from.  

Where does your inspiration come from?

I draw inspiration on things I’ve collected, things I’ve experienced or things I want to experience. My passion is fashion, jewelry and travel so I’m always looking at anything related to those three things – I’m like a sponge!

Do you ever get creative block?

I struggle with turning my brain off, so if I can’t figure something out it will just nag at me until I find a solution. I’m always collecting things so when I feel stuck I go back to the things that gave me the initial inspiration and it’ll draw the inspiration back into me.

What made you decide to make your own designs?

We want to have freedom in design from start to finish. Instead of having it manufactured we chose to make it ourselves. We don’t believe in mass reproduction, its not our brand. We truly believe in delivering a unique piece every single time even if it’s a bit more labor intensive. The fact that each piece will have a slight difference to the next piece is key to delivering a unique piece to our customers every single time..  

What skills are you currently working on?

Photography. I picked this skill up in April because we came across the need for more content and I was like “I’ll pick up the camera”, I didn’t know what I was doing or where to begin!

I honestly never thought that I could do it, I don’t know why I thought that, but it was something we needed to get done and that’s where I felt I could help out. Then I started shooting and I was like ”wow this is awesome!” I really enjoyed it, it was so much fun and I felt like I had a unique eye for it. 

 Favorite part of the business?

I love the markets! I love meeting customers, talking to them and getting feedback from them is fun. I love people watching as well, seeing what they gravitate towards and seeing their reactions you can tell what excites them. We’re so proud of our creations that its just such an amazing feeling I get when a customer puts on our jewelry… I can’t even describe the feeling, but it always feels surreal and beautiful!