Nobody can deny Austin is a place where creativity and entrepreneurism thrive–often hand in hand. So it’s no surprise that there are a number of local jewelry designers who are rocking it, creating collections that will take your breath away.
From Nina Berenato to Vinca to Kendra Scott, there’s something to fit every style. Next time you’re searching for just the right piece for yourself or a loved one, shop local by checking out these Austin jewelry designers and their work.
1/ Amanda Deer
Amanda Deer Jewelry was created from a need to access dainty jewelry at an affordable price. After searching and finding nothing that met her budget, Amanda Eddy decided to teach herself how to make jewelry in 2009. She took apart pieces she had purchased and discovered that assembly was easier than she thought.
After a bit more practice, she listed her pieces for sale online. To her delight, people began to notice and her business took off. By 2015, she had hired her first employee and quit her full-time marketing job to focus on Amanda Deer Jewelry.
This Austin-based business offers simple jewelry that can be worn on a day-to-day basis. Everything is designed locally at the flagship store on East 5th Street. The location holds a maker studio in the back, with a showroom out front where guests can peruse all of the created items. They are now offering jewelry pickup through their website, for those in the Austin area.
501 N. IH 35, Suite 115 – Website
2/ Haley Lebeuf
Haley Lebeuf’s journey as designer and jeweler began in 2007. As she began her jewelry education, Lebeuf gained experience in several professional jewelry settings that propelled her career forward. After only four years in the fine jewelry industry, she launched her own product line–and it took off.
Lebeuf’s aesthetic is feminine, modern, and clean. She keeps the emphasis on the stones and shapes of the pieces, while playing with textures that add unique flair to the design. While most of her jewelry is prominently crafted in sterling silver, you will find many pieces in yellow gold-fill. Everything is handcrafted in Austin with care.
While Haley Lebeuf does not have a retail location yet, you can find her work in several stores throughout the Austin area, such as Artworks Art Gallery, Limbo Jewelry, and Eliza Page.
3/ Hannah Parks Design
Jewelry designer Hannah Parks is a metalsmith, traveler, and storyteller who weaves her stories into the pieces she designs. Each jewelry item was inspired by a person she met during her travels or an experience that left a mark on her life: a dance party on Frenchman Street in New Orleans or a night camping under the stars in Big Thicket. Parks’ hope is to share the joy she felt in those moments with the people who purchase her jewelry.
She makes each prototype with her own hands in her Austin studio, before sending them to a casting company in New York City. That company creates a strong rubber mold that Parks and her team can use again and again, to recreate this inspiring jewelry.
There are some pieces that aren’t suitable for casting. They are reproduced by hand in the studio.
4/ Kendra Scott
The Kendra Scott empire began in 2002 from the spare bedroom of Scott’s home, with just $500. The budding jewelry designer went from store to store to take orders. She actually had to sell her original samples at the last store she visited, in order to have money to buy the materials she needed to fill the orders.
With time, Scott’s brand grew to global recognition. Her designs were chosen to accessorize Oscar de la Renta’s Spring 2006 runway show and Randolph Duke’s 2007 runway show.
In 2008, Scott designed the brand-defining stone many of us have come to love: the Danielle Earrings. By 2010, she opened her first retail location (on Austin’s South Congress Avenue). Sales boomed from $1.7 million that year to $24 million just three years later.
Scott has followed three core values as her brand has grown: family, fashion, and philanthropy. She highly values giving back and making a positive difference in the community–which we have seen time and time again through her kind donations and philanthropic programs.
Each piece in the Kendra Scott collection is still designed at the company’s state of the art studio here in Austin.
5/ Limbo Jewelry
Limbo Jewelry is run by the lovely husband and wife team of Edson Enriquez and Anne Rutt-Enriquez. This tag-teaming duo runs the business with complementary skill sets.
Enriquez, who developed his silversmithing and design skills at ITESO Universidad, creates the jewelry pieces. Rutt-Enriquez uses her artist’s eye to provide innovative ideas that grow the business. She also carefully curates the Limbo Jewelry store.
The creative process involves traveling to find inspiration from different cultures and places. Not only does Enriquez create pieces with clean lines and organic shapes, but he uses sustainable practices to craft the jewelry and run the business.
The first location for Limbo Jewelry was a pop-up. As the business grew, the couple eventually opened their own storefront on South Congress in March 2013. They’ve even provided space in their store to promote other local makers. You can also find them at their retail store in Domain Northside.
1604 South Congress Ave. and 3211 Palm Way, #152 – Website
6/ Melissa Borrell
Melissa Borrell attended Rhode Island School of Design for her graduate studies in jewelry. The manufacturing process fascinated her, and she quickly came to recognize the potential of moving from handcrafting all of her pieces, to using a laser cutter and 3D printers instead. Since 3D printing materials weren’t durable enough for everyday wear and tear, Borrell turned her attention to laser cutting.
With an artist’s eye, Borrell creates fun and beautiful pieces that seem to belong in a museum. Her creativity encompasses everything from pop-up jewelry that features organic shapes and clean lines, to interactive 3D printed jewelry with moving elements.
All in all, each part of her collection is a showstopper and conversation starter.
916 Springdale Road, Building 1, Studio #104 – Website
➡️ Keep reading: Austinite Melissa Borrell Constructs 3D Jewelry and Laser Cut Art
7/ Nina Berenato
(Credit: Julia Soniat)
Nina Berenato began as a humble metalsmith’s apprentice in Brooklyn in 2010. She refined her skills and developed her own jewelry line, eventually making it across the pages of magazines like Vogue and Cosmopolitan. Her designs have even been seen on celebrities like Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.
Having relocated to Austin, Berenato works to bring a one-of-a-kind vision to each of her designs. She succeeds at creating unique, fun pieces that make a statement. In the creation process, she doesn’t sketch out anything beforehand, letting her mind run free at the soldering table. This means 75 percent of her designs end up in the garbage, but the pieces that make the cut are truly beautiful additions to her collection.
Nina Berenato Jewelry is the first fashion retail business in Austin to earn the honor of being a Platinum Green Business Leader. Her jewelry is all made from recycled and refined metal, her headquarters and storefront is powered by 100% wind-powered energy, and her shipping products and mailers are zero-waste and fully compostable. Berenato also encourages others through her #SeasonOfSustainability movement. Running her entire business this way is extremely impressive!
Berenato has her flagship storefront in Domain Northside, where she provides space for other local female makers to display and sell their products. The jewelry designer also offers jewelry making classes, as well as a variety of other workshops to fuel local creators.
3200 Palm Way #152 – Website
8/ Vinca
Amanda Dimova began toying with the idea of starting her own company in 2006. Her parents owned a shoe factory, so Dimova began making jewelry out of the scraps. Her first collection was characterized by a flower called Vinca, one of the shapes her parents sewed onto their children’s shoes. As she grew her business and designed new collections, the flower faded from the designs, but the name stuck.
Three years into Vinca, Dimova was awe-struck when she saw a laser cutter in action at Maker Faire. She invested in her own machine. Not long after, her collections shifted from leather goods, to wood and acrylic.
Dimova gets her inspiration from a range of things: dreams, misheard conversations from eavesdropping, or favorite things at the time. All of her designs begin with a sketch, which is translated into software that communicates with the laser cutting machine. This process has resulted in colorful, quirky designs and pieces that stand out for their unique nature. Vinca is now offering jewelry pickup through their website, for those in the Austin area.
1800 E. 4th St. – Website
@theAustinot wants to know:
Who are your favorite Austin jewelry designers?
The original version of this article was published October 29, 2018.
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