Aide-mémoire Jewelry

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Category: Jewelry
Location: New York
Price Range: $$$

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ARAN GALLIGAN

Aran Galligan is a Seattle transplant from the East Coast. She received a BFA in Craft/Material Studies with a focus in jewelry from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2000, and her MFA in Metal from SUNY New Paltz in 2012. Previous to her MFA she completed a two-year fellowship at Penland School of Crafts, Penland, N.C. Aran is inspired both by principles of modern design – functionality, truth to materials, and beauty through simplicity – as well as an aesthetic value the Japanese call Wabi-sabi, where beauty often lies in the imperfect mark of the hand.

What is the mission of Aide-mémoire Jewelry? 

Aide-mémoire Jewelry creates bespoke wedding bands, engagement rings and fine jewelry, made in the US. Aide-mémoire is dedicated to marriage equality and an eco-conscious studio practice. Using recycled precious metals, ethical fair-trade, recycled and lab-grown diamonds and gemstones in a low-impact studio environment.

What is Aide-mémoire Jewelry's origin story? 

Aran started studying metalsmithing and jewelry making as an undergrad at VCU in 1996. She fell in love with metal as a material and have had several jewelry business iterations over the years. In 2012, after receiving her MFA in Metal, she moved back to Seattle and started Aide-memoire Jewelry. Her focus from day one has always been about making meaningful, future heirlooms, in a responsible way.

What is one of your favorite projects you've ever worked on?

Recently one of our customers, whose mother passed away, reached out to us about doing a series of necklaces and rings for her, her sisters and her nieces using the diamonds from her mother’s wedding band and eternity ring. It was a very meaningful project to work on, and we we felt very honored that she asked us to create these pieces for them.

How are you a wedding space disrupter?

One of the big ways that we are a wedding industry disruptor (beyond our highly ethical sourcing of materials) is that we typically only work with stones that are under 1ct. (unless they are an heirloom stone). Aran does this partially to remain true to her design aesthetic, and partially because she is not interested in perpetuating the desire for large diamonds. It is very rare for a jeweler to turn down large diamond jobs, but it is important to Aran that there is integrity in everything we do.

What three ingredients are necessary for a great day at Aide-mémoire Jewelry? 

Lots of tea, chocolate and KEXP.

What are some traits of your ideal clients and customers?

Someone who is looking for something unique and minimal. Someone who doesn’t want a traditional jewelry store experience, but instead wants a more intimate jewelry buying experience. Someone who is concerned about material sourcing.

Forge & Fountain Jewelry

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Category: Jewelry
Location: New York
Price Range: $$$

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HOLLY DeFOUNT & JOSH HAIMAN

We are husband and wife artists crafting beautiful wedding jewelry with our unique alchemy of style and old world techniques. Our handcrafted, uncommonly beautiful rings are specially made to celebrate your unique love! From Gothic Revival to Art Nouveau to Celestial Modern, we’ve forged an eclectic collection of styles for every budget. Above all, we are passionate about kindness, equity, and justice. Our jewelry is an expression of empathy and inclusion, honoring people’s differences and celebrating their bonds.

What is the mission of Forge & Fountain Jewelry? 

It is our mission to provide the most sustainably designed heirloom jewelry for our conscientious customers, from concept to materials to the finest customer service possible. Together with our commitment to sustainability, we believe kindness, equity, and justice are principles to live—and work—by. Our work as Forge & Fountain is an expression of empathy and inclusion, honoring people’s differences and celebrating their bonds. We welcome the opportunity to serve people of all backgrounds, relationships, and beliefs.

What is Forge & Fountain Jewelry's origin story? 

Our creative partnership is something of an alchemical romance...it began when we met 10 years ago performing at a Renaissance Faire. Josh was a dancer and metalsmith; Holly was a singer and artist. We bonded instantly over a passion for single malt whisky, and our story quickly blossomed into Love, and artistic collaboration! Joshua's background is in blacksmithing, bringing a fiery, primal quality to his work in Argentium and gold. Holly's influence is more nuanced, her fine art esthetic giving the work an intricacy of line, form and color. While Joshua has an elemental connection to the metal itself, Holly is drawn to gemstones and how their color, luster and placement is composed in the finished jewelry. For us, making jewelry is a sacred art, sculpting the elements found in nature with our intention, design and sense of meaning. When our client falls in love with and dons a piece of our jewelry, this alchemical transformation is complete.

What is one of your favorite projects you've ever worked on?

Our newest favorite project was a set of wedding rings for a theatrical couple with a limited budget. Using the bride’s heirloom gemstones and touching on both bride and groom’s love of history, we created a unique set for them bursting with color and richness. An emerald cut blue topaz, two green tourmalines, and an 18k gold acorn are the centerpieces of the rings we named “Mermaid’s Kiss” and “Oak’s Embrace.”

How are you a wedding space disrupter?

We don't follow the "rules" of traditional engagement and wedding rings; we follow our conscience. We use sustainably sourced materials at every turn, and encourage our clients to prioritize traceability and ethical production in choosing the precious metals and gems for their "forever" jewelry. Diamonds are lovely, but there are so many other opportunities to forge lasting beauty and meaningful form for wedding rings. We believe the only rule is that our jewelry is a beautiful and enduring representation of your love.

What three ingredients are necessary for a great day at Forge & Fountain Jewelry? 

A perfect day for us includes getting into a creative groove in the studio with some great tunes, taking a break to watch our husky frolic with her friends at the dog park, and seeing the sparkle in a client's eye when they try on that piece of jewelry they've fallen in love with!

What are some traits of your ideal clients and customers?

Our ideal clients have a great sense of imagination, a hint of playfulness, and a love of collaboration. We love working with clients to incorporate the things that are most meaningful to them, whether that is a favorite style, a special heirloom gemstone, or a heraldic symbol from their family tree.

Naturaleza Organic Jewelry

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Category: Jewelry
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Price Range: US$90-$1200

Bio here

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Naturaleza Organic Jewelry grew out of our own relationship, developing our business together since 2002 has strengthened our partnership and allowed us to follow a dream of straddling our two cultures, spending time in Kentucky and Nicaragua. We love to look back and see how our designs have evolved, while always staying committed to handcrafted, sustainable, and unique jewelry. We love getting to be a small part of other people's love stories and helping to symbolize love and commitment through a really meaningful piece of jewelry.

How do you approach weddings? 

After the wedding day is over, your rings are what you keep as a reminder. We work to capture the meaning and beauty in a way that you will always appreciate when you look at your wedding bands. We bring creativity, exquisite craftsmanship, and sustainable materials to creating your vision of a wedding band that represents you. Creating wedding rings that honor the earth through our unique sustainable materials and recycled metals is another layer of meaningfulness for many couples as they enter into a commitment that "does no harm" and makes the world around them a better place.

What are some traits of your ideal clients?

It brings us so much joy to celebrate love and unity and represent a relationship through our rings. We love to work on custom wood rings that symbolize a union through meaningful materials, custom designs and customized symbols. Our ideal customers are people who value sustainability, artistry, and the exquisite craftsmanship that goes into each of our rings.

What are three of your favorite things? 

We love spending time in Nicaragua with our family and working to reforest family farmland with native hardwood trees. It's always been a part of our vision to reinvest in the planet and working to plant trees — some of which are the same species we use in our rings — makes it come full circle. We love to garden and cook. Marlon is also a musician and songwriter with his band, Appalatin, that plays a unique fusion of Latin-American and Americana original music. Amy is also a consultant & Spanish interpreter, and works with a butterfly farm and leads groups to visit the Monarch overwintering sites in Mexico.

Reviews

"The ring was absolutely perfect. It fit wonderfully and was more beautiful than I could have imagined. My future husband loves it and can't wait to wear it! It also got here very quickly and within the time frame quoted to me. Thank you Amy + Marlon!"

"They took my breath away. These are absolutely the most beautiful wooden rings I have ever seen...little works of art. We both will be so proud to wear such a work of art and look at it every day! Thank you for creating such a meaningful symbol of our union."