Re-Introducing Aryana, CMD’s Production Manager

There are a handful of people who have shaped CMD so fundamentally that it's hard to imagine this business without them. Aryana is one of those people.

Ary, as we call her, first joined me in San Francisco in 2012. Since then, we've worked together on two coasts, built a production studio in Upstate New York, taken a few unexpected detours and somehow found our way back to working side by side again.

Today, Ary is CMD's Production Manager and one of the incredibly talented women responsible for turning my designs into the jewelry you eventually wear.

From Art School to CMD

Ary joined CMD shortly after graduating from California College of the Arts with a BFA in Jewelry and Metal Arts. CMD was her first job out of school, and she started as my production assistant in San Francisco.

It didn't take long for me to realize what I'd found. Ary is extraordinarily skilled behind a hammer and flame, with the kind of precision and attention to detail that this work requires. My background is in industrial design and hers is in metal arts, and our different strengths clicked almost immediately.

Over time, Ary went from my production assistant to my right-hand woman and Production Manager. We worked together as CMD grew from our little space at Secession Art & Design into our Valencia Street storefront and adjoining production studio.

I don't think CMD would be where it is today without Ary's hands, brain and heart.

From San Francisco to Upstate New York

In 2015, Ary moved back to her hometown of Ithaca, New York with her husband, Mike. I was sad to lose her, but it turned out not to be the end of our working relationship.

A few months later, I checked in to see how she was doing. CMD was growing and I was definitely feeling her absence, while Ary wasn't particularly excited about her new job. Before long, she started working for me remotely.

That arrangement eventually became something much bigger. Ary helped find our production space in nearby Trumansburg, we began building a team there and ultimately moved CMD production out of San Francisco altogether. That chapter deserves its own story, which you can read in this early post about our move to New York.

Life Changed Again

In 2017, Ary became a mom to her daughter, Sonya, who was born with a chromosomal disorder called Cri du Chat, also known clinically as 5p- or 5p minus.

Watching Ary become a mother was incredible. She is a natural caregiver, and when her family needed more of her time and attention, she stepped away from CMD in 2019 to focus on Sonya and her family.

At the time, none of us knew what the next chapter would look like.

Finding Our Way Back to Each Other

Then, in 2022, I found myself needing someone to run the production studio again. I checked in with Ary, the timing happened to be right, and I eagerly asked if she'd consider coming back to CMD.

She said yes.

When I originally wrote this post in October 2022, I described Ary's return as another example of my life coming Full Circle. Four years later, that feels even more true.

Ary is still here, running our Trumansburg production studio alongside Sam and helping make every CMD design a reality. More than a decade after she first walked into my little San Francisco operation fresh out of art school, we're still building this thing together.

There aren't many relationships in a small business that span this many versions of the business, or this many versions of ourselves. I'm incredibly grateful this is one of them.

Here's to the people who leave their fingerprints all over what you build.
Colleen

 

© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: October 19, 2022
Updated: August 22, 2026