After 20 years of crafting boutique artisan jewelry, Anne Vaughan Designs explores the creative process behind balancing wearability, gemstone selection, and everyday styling. This studio reflection details the co-creation of the Earthy Girl Collection, featuring hand-selected turquoise, amazonite, and labradorite crafted into versatile, layered gemstone jewelry designed for effortless daily wear.
After 20 years of making jewelry, I have learned that inspiration rarely arrives in exactly the same way twice.
Sometimes a new collection begins with a batch of beautiful gemstones spread across my worktable. Other times it starts with a colorful textile, a landscape I can't stop thinking about, or simply an idea that appears unexpectedly and asks to be explored.
But beneath all of that inspiration, I've realized there are certain things I return to again and again.
Finding the Balance Between Art and Wearability
Designing handmade jewelry is always a balancing act for me.
There is the creative side—the color, texture, movement and unexpected combinations that make me want to sit down and create. But after two decades of designing jewelry professionally, I've also learned to consider how a piece will actually live in someone's life.
Can she wear it often? Can she layer it with pieces she already owns? Does it feel special without feeling difficult? Will the colors move naturally from one season to another?
And, of course, there are practical considerations: the rarity and cost of the gemstones, the complexity of the design, and whether I can recreate a piece or whether the materials make it truly one-of-a-kind.
Twenty years of doing this has taught me to pay attention to those patterns.
And one pattern has become very clear: the jewelry we return to most often tends to be the jewelry that feels effortless.
That idea became one of the foundations for our Earthy Girl Collection.
Kat and I have been co-creating this collection, combining my years of jewelry-making experience with her fresh creative perspective.
We began working with a palette built around turquoise, amazonite and labradorite—three gemstones I love individually, but especially when they are brought together.
The soothing blues and greens of turquoise and amazonite are softened by cream and natural earth tones, while labradorite adds its beautiful, unexpected flash.
The result is artisan gemstone jewelry that feels grounded, natural and incredibly wearable.
These are also colors I personally return to again and again. Lighter turquoise paired with cream, denim and earthy neutrals has become almost a permanent part of my own wardrobe.
Perhaps that is why designing this collection has felt so intuitive.
Jewelry That Becomes Part of Your Life
The longer I design, the less interested I am in creating something simply because it is "new."
I want to create handcrafted jewelry that becomes part of your life.
A necklace you reach for without thinking.
A bracelet that layers beautifully with pieces you've owned for years.
A pair of gemstone earrings that somehow works with almost everything in your closet.
And occasionally, that completely unexpected piece that you see and immediately know: that's mine.
After 20 years, I still can't completely explain that connection between a woman and a piece of jewelry.
Maybe I'm not supposed to.
Perhaps my job is simply to keep paying attention—to the materials, to inspiration, to the women who wear our work, and to that quiet instinct that tells me when a design finally feels right.
And then, when it does, to let it go out into the world.
