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They say inspiration can strike at any moment. For jewelry designer Brooke Seraphine, the moment came while she was looking at an Estée Lauder ad in an old issue of Vogue. The model was wearing a necklace that Seraphine's uncle, a jewelry designer who was working in New York at the time, had made. The necklace, a thin, metal wire with stones fastened at each end, was worn at choker length and gave the illusion of being weightless. A former model herself, Seraphine had worked in various roles in the fashion, arts, and entertainment worlds before deciding to stay at home with her firstborn daughter.
'Every time she went down for a nap, I started to get the bug to create something. So I started tinkering,” she says. 'The photo inspired me to take that concept and run with it.” She started making pieces for herself, then for friends, and in 2012, she started Seraphine Design.
Working with gemstones was a natural fit for Seraphine. 'My dad was a geologist when I was growing up. I collected rocks in egg cartons, especially pyrite or, as we knew it as children, fool's gold,” she says. Today, her biggest task is keeping enough stones in stock to supply her growing business. She sources both raw and tumbled gemstones by working with a buyer, who attends the nation's top gem shows, and researching distributors from mines around the world. 'There's a place in Peru that sources the most beautiful pyrite, but I almost don't want to say [who it is]. It's so hard to find a great distributor,” she says.
Working out of a studio behind her East Nashville home, Seraphine now has two employees, meaning she can focus on expanding her brand with new collectionsshe's got everything from earrings to belt buckles on the idea board. But, she admits, she's still finding the right balance between work and motherhood. It comes down to time management and patience: 'You make it work, and sometimes it just won't,” she says. 'You can't tell a three-year-old ‘Mommy is working' without her only wanting you more.”
The current collection features stones in malachite, chrysocolla, and tangerine, plus smoky and clear quartz, all of which contrast well with the multifaceted brilliance of raw pyrite. For now, she's committed to growing locally. 'Being in a major market by the end of [this] year is definitely a goal of mine,” she says. 'But for now, I enjoy keeping things local.”
Seraphine Design is available at: H. Audrey, The Trunk, Jamie (upon request), and online at taigan.com. More at seraphinedesigns.com.