I've Been Making Men's Jewelry for 20 Years… Maybe It's Time to Pay Attention
I've been thinking.
That's usually when something interesting starts happening around here.
For more than 20 years, I've been carving jewelry inspired by the natural world. Leaves, branches, roots, vines, driftwood, coral—I've always been drawn to forms that look as though they grew instead of being designed.
And for just as long, I've been making pieces that men wear.
I've never really called it a men's collection.
I simply made what I wanted to make.
But lately, I'm beginning to wonder if I've been overlooking something that's been right in front of me all along.
The Driftwood Band
One of my long-time selling rings began with a real piece of driftwood.
Not a photograph.
Not a computer-generated texture.
Actual wood.
I studied the way it moved, the openings, the grain, the irregular shapes and the strength in something that had been weathered by nature.
Then I took that feeling into my wax.
The result became a ring that has continued to sell for years.
And it just sold again—in gold.
Interestingly, the most recent gold ring was purchased by a woman for her fiancé.
That made me smile.
Because maybe the customer isn't always looking for "men's jewelry."
Sometimes she's simply looking for something that feels like him.
And sometimes a man sees the organic ring his partner is wearing and says, "I like that. Do you have something that goes with hers?"
I love that idea.
Not matching rings.
Rings that belong together.
So I'm Paying Attention
I'm not interested in suddenly creating a huge men's jewelry department.
That's not how I work.
I'm thinking about a small group of pieces.
A few rings.
A pendant.
And perhaps a cuff.
(And if you've followed my work for any length of time, you know I'm no stranger to cuffs.)
My Ocean World cuffs were carried in Wyland Galleries for years, so creating a substantial organic cuff isn't new territory for me.
What's different is where my eye is today.
After more than two decades of carving, casting, experimenting and watching people live with my jewelry, I have a much better understanding of what happens when you let nature lead the design.
I Don't Want to Make "Men's Jewelry."
I want to make Dawn Vertrees jewelry that happens to be worn by men.
That's an important distinction to me.
I don't want to take my work and make it harder, heavier or more masculine just because someone says it is for a man.
I want to keep the things that have always made my work mine:
And then see where those ideas take me.
Maybe that becomes a small men's collection.
Maybe it becomes something couples can discover together.
Maybe a woman finds a ring for her fiancé.
Maybe a man finds something that reminds him of the outdoors, the water, the woods or a place that means something to him.
I don't know yet.
And that's actually the fun part.
I'm going to start carving.
One piece at a time.
And we'll see what grows.
After all, that's how most of my jewelry begins.
