Today we’d like to introduce you to Alison Jefferies.
Hi Alison, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I discovered my passion for personalized accessories in late 2011 when I was planning my wedding and was dissatisfied with the jewelry offerings I found at bridal shops. I opted to make a set of matching jewelry for my bridesmaids instead, and just a few short months later I opened an online shop for my creations.
I was a self-taught jewelry designer and artisan when I founded J’Adorn Designs in early 2012, primarily making pieces with prefabricated components and reclaimed elements from vintage jewelry and hair accessories. I fell deeply in love with the craft and the opportunities it offered to connect with people and help them express what matters most through tangible objects. About 5 years into my business, I decided to invest further in my skills as a jeweler by taking metalsmithing classes at Baltimore Jewelry Center, where I learned to fabricate metal, sculpt wax for casting, set stones, and cast natural objects into metal. Through these classes, collaborations with other artists, and countless hours of studio practice, I have continued refining my craft with the goal of offering heirloom quality jewelry that will stand the test of time. The pieces I make evoke images of nature through botanical and fluid forms, brightly colored gemstones, and innovative construction that allows my work to have an aesthetic that is delicate but never fragile. I sell my work through my website, at local and regional fine craft shows, and through private commissions.
In 2024 I founded a second jewelry line called Impurity Culture that grew out of a personal passion project. The pieces I make under the banner of Impurity Culture focus on themes of feminism, pleasure, and self possession in direct response to the evangelical religious culture in which I was raised. I offer both pre-designed pieces and custom work, inviting folks who grew up within purity culture to send me their old purity rings to be melted down into something new and more aligned with their current values. I’m really excited to be doing this work and it has connected me to so many people from similar backgrounds as mine!
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
For better or worse, creative entrepreneurship is an ever-changing way of life. No matter the specific medium, being a working artist requires a keen intuition, adaptability, and a high level of determination to keep going and “make it work,” (as Tim Gunn from Project Runway would say!) when the unexpected inevitably happens.
I’ve faced more challenges than I can count in the 14 years since I founded my business and am currently navigating some big shifts around the rising cost of materials, customer demographic shifts, and changes to the venues where I sell my work. My business has survived multiple recessions, a global pandemic, theft, having my work copied and devalued, and my own personal chronic health challenges. When self-doubt and imposter syndrome crop up, I try to remember where I have been, how much I’ve grown as an artist and business owner, and how resilient I have consistently been in the face of every challenge that’s come my way. This helps me to ground down into my own strength and address whatever new challenge I’m facing from a place of confidence rather than anxiety.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an artist specializing in custom and handcrafted jewelry made via traditional metalsmithing practices and innovative techniques that are all my own. I work primarily in solid gold, sterling silver, 14k gold-fill, and bronze metals with precious and semi-precious gemstones.
My work is recognizable for its organic and botanically-inspired forms, fluid-like metalwork that I achieve through lost wax casting, and sentimental nods to vintage styles as I make pieces that are intended to become future heirlooms.
My best known styles include intricate wire wrapped-pieces with brightly colored gemstones in delicate vine-like formations, jewelry made from one-of-a-kind metal castings of real plant pieces, and organically-inspired work that dances along the line between floral and feminine anatomy. (It will likely come as no surprise that I have always loved Georgia O’Keefe and continue to consider her a big source of inspiration!)
The work that I’m most proud of is often the custom work I create in collaboration with my clients to express what they value the most in their lives. I have given a lot of thought to how our traditions as humans are reflected and reinforced in jewelry. We often commemorate our “big moments” with jewels as physical reminders of their importance and use them to pass those values on to future generations. I strive to expand the scope of what “moments” we value as a culture, not only giving honor to conventional choices like marriage and having children, but including other milestones like moments of self actualization, coming out, cancer survivorship, or personal achievements. As someone with multiple identities that fall outside the “norm,” I think my focus on honoring the uniqueness of every person I work with is something that sets me apart as a jeweler. I hope that it inspires trust in my clients when they bring me their own stories to commission an heirloom to reflect and embody what they value most.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Connecting with people who feel my work resonates with themselves makes me so happy as a designer and artist. Because my work is deeply personal, when someone connects with a piece I’ve made it feels like a personal connection as well.
Pricing:
- Prices on pre-designed jewelry from the J’Adorn Designs line range from $47.50 to $1100
- Prices on pre-designed jewelry from the Impurity Culture line range from $130-$1250
- Custom work has a minimum base price of $250
Contact Info:
- Website: jadorndesigns.com, impurityculture.com
- Instagram: @jadorndesigns, @impurityculturejewelry
- Facebook: facebook.com/jadorndesigns, facebook.com/impurityculture
