How an Idea Becomes a Finished Design

For me, one of the most important aspects of design is iteration, iteration, iteration. Ideas for new pieces often come to me when I least expect it: while walking on the beach, taking a shower, during a meditation session or while driving. Ideas tend to arrive at rather inconvenient times, in fact -- when I’m not in my studio with my sketchbook and pencil in hand.

As a designer, I’ve learned how to do my best to capture ideas and keep them in my brain until I can get them on paper. Let’s just say that lots of original design ideas end up on sticky notes or even paper napkins!

Each week, I meet with Sam, my Product Development gal. Together, we look at my sketches, I explain my ideas and we get straight to the metal. Even though we live about 200 miles apart, we’ve found a beautiful groove together. Sam masterfully takes my ideas to her bench and starts bringing them into material reality just from my sketches and the conversations we’ve had. We often go back and forth multiple times before a sketch becomes a finished product. It’s a process that is both challenging and invigorating all at once. It’s like we’re on a mission to find the perfect result. When we collaboratively end up with a finished design that feels “just right”, we truly feel it in our bones. I get so giddy to share the new pieces with all the incredible fans of CMD.

The different iterations of designs become part of a collection that inevitably ends up in the Metal Madness Sale bin. They’re unique in the way that they are part of my design process, handcrafted in metal. While there’s only a handful of the one-of-a-kind pieces, think of them as little nuggets of ideas that helped us get to the finished design. It’s a humbling honor to share this process and this special jewelry with you.

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