The Story Behind J&E Designs: Inspiration & Development

I am often asked at events and online one main question -- where do I get my ideas?! How do I design jewelry?

The answer, while simple, is not always the sexiest response.

What is the Basic Process?

I sit down, look at the materials I have one hand, and then see what happens. It is a meditative act, one that I primarily allow to be driven by my intuition as opposed to my conscious brain.

Sometimes I do have an idea in mind - like for the Halloween collection, I knew the designs I wanted (like my ghosts holding pumpkins and PSLs!).

But sometimes I just need to sit down in my office and let my creative brain take over and see what happens.

For example, the photo above of the pink dyed jade and freshwater pearl beads? That was such a happy accident. I was going through my beads trying to pair two colors and suddenly I saw them both - and knew they were going to be spectacular.

How Long Does it Take to Design an Item?

In contrast, these pearls on the right sat on my desk for a week before I figured out what I wanted to do with them!

I knew they needed to be part of a necklace, but I couldn't "see" the finished necklace. Instead, I went live on TikTok and talked through my process with the viewers - including taking the necklace I was working on apart and starting over a few times!

I love being able to have the freedom to this, though. By allowing myself to harness full creative power, I am able to more deeply channel that part of myself.

More often than not I find myself buying supplies without the full end product fully in my mind, but I think that gives me room to play around more! I figure things out and then release new designs into the wild when they tell me they are ready.

How Does it All Come Together?

I work typically 3-4 weeks ahead of a drop, so generally speaking when I make something I will then spend a few weeks doing advertisement for it.

For example, I made my August 25th fall collection in early July, then spent the remainder of July and all of August advertising it.

This doesn't always happen, however! Sometimes I make a couple of items (like one-of-a-kind necklaces) and I take photos and list them online as soon as I can. I do this because sometimes I am not sure if an item "fits" into a collection, but I want people who follow on social media to have the opportunity to purchase something they see in a story or post.