At the age of 5, Midori and her family moved back to California from the textile capital of Pondicherry, India. At the time, she aspired to be a flight attendant and “marry the pilot” - much to the chagrin of her progressive parents. She also dreamed of becoming a writer and illustrator, a goal which she still hasn’t given up completely. In addition to her earliest ambitions, jewelry has been a life-long love for Midori, ever since her first macaroni necklace in preschool.

“I got into this business because of my passion for antique jewelry,” she says. Her fascination with the history of jewelry was fostered as an employee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in the Ancient Egyptian and Near Eastern Art department. Midori’s mentor there inspired her to create custom designed jewelry using elements from broken or unwearable vintage pieces. Ever since, she has made it her mission to create new and artful jewelry from reclaimed materials and ideas, which is part of what we really love about her work.

Midori creates her earthy, organic designs in her studio in Sonoma County, California, overlooking the rolling hills of vineyards and heirloom Gravenstein apple orchards. She says it is idyllic: “Everything about this place is paradise.” Only a few miles inland from the rocky coast of Northern California, she makes frequent trips to the ocean with her husband and four kids. “In my family, nobody ever has a bad day at the beach!”

Midori calls this part of California a “gastronomic utopia.” Some of her favorite edibles near her home include “perfectly-creamy lavender creme brulee, or perhaps beignets from Boulette’s Larder in the SF Ferry Building. And then there’s Vietnamese lettuce-wraps or my friend Lorena’s chilaquiles… I could go on and on.” When we asked about her sweetest indulgence, though, we did not get a lavish description of her favorite dessert. Rather, it’s date night with her husband: “An actual movie in an actual theater, a great meal and an uninterrupted conversation with my husband would be bliss.” With three boys and a baby girl (the “true jewels” in Midori’s life) date night is a rare treat!

We hope you love her artful, botanical-inspired designs as much as we do.

Heather Perry is one our newest artisans, and she’s awesome. Her extraordinary designs are exactly that: outside the realm of ordinary. With the first glimpse I got of her Champagne Diamond Circle Pendant, all I could say was, “Holy mackerel! That is SO cool.”

Heather takes her inspiration from the abundant natural world around her. Her home and studio near Calais, Maine, are tucked into one of our state’s most remote corners, where Maine’s rugged portion of the Eastern Seaboard bumps up against Canada. It’s easy to see how the raw beauty of Maine’s granite-cragged inlets and forested peninsulas has influenced her work. “Straight lines are not very interesting,” she says. “When you find something that has a slight imbalance there’s a tension that compels you to stop and wonder why.”

Before Heather’s transplant to Maine, she earned a BFA in sculpture from the College of Art at Maryland Insitutute in Baltimore. Her fine art roots have definitely had an impact on her jewelry-making sensibilities. Heather uses lost wax casting to create each piece, an ancient technique used to create detailed designs in precious metals. Heather carves her designs into wax using the sculpting process to sketch out her ideas.

Heather’s handcrafted jewelry certainly gives cause to stop and marvel. Check it out!