Q & A with Jewelry Designer Jessica Winzelberg

The jewelry business needs new, young, inspiring talent—Jessica Winzelberg fills that void with her unique designs. With her background in business and finance, Jessica branched out and focused on a passion of hers–jewelry design. Classes in metalsmithing became her catalyst to creativity. She launched her first collection in the Spring of 2011 and has been catching the eye of jewelry enthusiasts ever since.

I am really looking forward to see what Jessica will do in the future and what gorgeous jewelry she will create–for now, let’s catch up with her:

I am currently working on my Fall 2012 collection as well as filling and refilling orders. Almost everything is done in my studio, so when I say I’m a “hands-on” designer I mean that! Almost all of my stone pieces are one-of-a-kind so I’m constantly creating new pieces year round.

My stone earrings are really popular. I hand pick and match the stones to make sure they have great coloring and wonderful patterns and they’re very unique and quite beautiful. My Quillpen series is also very popular, I do 3 different sizes in the earrings and necklaces in sterling silver and yellow and rose gold, so they work for everyone!

Press is really important for young designers, as it helps clients and stores find you, so to see Heidi Klum wearing my Quillpen necklace on one of the covers of Lucky was really incredible for me, and then to see Miley Cyrus wearing my signature teardrop rings on a Marie Claire cover the same month was just unreal. But I am most proud to see women wearing my jewelry, or when someone tells me how much my pieces make them happy, that is hands down the best for me.

In the near future, I am moving into a larger space where I will be able to bring my beloved labradoodle with me to the studio. I’m also launching my webstore in the beginning of 2012. Eventually the webstore will have customization features built in which I’m really excited about. I’m also planning slow expansion to some really great stores across the U.S., and would like to open my own flagship in the next few years. Since I make so many one-of-a-kinds, I would love for people to come in and see a lot of them in one place.

Aside from my own jewelry, my favorite pieces are sentimental. I treasure my Cartier love bracelet that was given to me by my mother after graduating summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis. I also love my modern take on the diamond tennis bracelet from Tiffany’s that I received for my 21st birthday. Two of my absolute favorite pieces are gold bracelets my father gave me when I was very young before he passed away. One is an etched and engraved hollow cuff and the other is a charm bracelet with hearts. I love to stack all of these pieces with my gold bangles from my own collection, it feels very special this way. I also treasure the pieces that were passed down to me from my grandmothers, including some really special rings. One of these rings is one that my grandmother found when she was a little girl and used a hammer to shape the band so it would fit her tiny fingers.

From my own collections, I love so many of them it’s hard to say, they are like children to me after the hours of work I spend on each one! Each of the stones I use is incredible in its own way. I’m also really in love with my the new pieces that will be available on my webstore that are customizable with diamonds and sapphires.