I’ve fallen in love. Not with another human—but with a luxury brand. If I gathered all my extra loot, scrilla, ducats and cheddar, I still cannot afford anything in the Hermès of Paris lineup. Alas, I am not in their high-end customer demographic. But, it costs me nothing to crush hard on them. Why the zeal? Well, because they make most of their wares … by hand. Swoonsie! Despite their luxury pedigree, the 186-year-old company’s origin story is rooted in the utilitarian and the bespoke. They started in 1837 making paraphernalia, saddles and such, for equestrians.
In a world where so much is mass-produced crap, and one where I romanticize the return of Main Street aesthetics and values, a company with thousands of artisans dedicated to making high-quality products largely by hand—through time-tested craftsmanship and meant to last several lifetimes—is like a makers’ Shangri-La.
Before I go too far down the road on this backdrop, I should drop it here why I’m suddenly wanting to boo up Hermès. They are relaunching their Chicago location on Oak Street in downtown on Mon., Oct. 30. They also launched “Hermès in the Making in Chicago, Illinois,” a pop-up exhibition showcasing their hand-making processes in leatherwork, silk engraving, hand painting, gemstone setting, and more, happening through Wednesday, Nov. 1, at Union Station—in the newly re-opened Clinton Street Great Hall entrance that had been shuttered for some 40 years. An aside: that train station is just sublime—an architectural gem. It’s a perfect spot for Hermès to showcase some of its many metiers, or craft areas, and some of the artisans who people their 54 production sites in France.
I was there Oct. 27 with a contingent of other makers who are involved in *Makers United Chicago, which launched here last year with a cohort of 12 of us. You can read about that on my previous blog. I was giddy to be invited to a panel discussion “A Conversation on Creativity and the Craft of Culture,” moderated by Rebecca van Bergen, Nest founder and executive director (whom I got to meet); Guillame De Seynes, VP of Hermès’ manufacturing division and equity investments; Hermès leather artisan Sèbastien Fraisse; and rock star artist/artisan Nick Cave. (A later panel discussion, which I did not attend, was “A Conversation on Contemporary Relevance of Craftsmanship Practice.”)
CAPTION: Panelists discuss creativity (from left) Rebecca van Bergen (Nest founder and executive director), Guillame De Seynes (an Hermès VP), Hermès artisan Sèbastien Fraisse and artist Nick Cave.
I also met Master Chef, artisan and artist educator Tommy Walton, with whom I hope to do a bit of collaborating later (more on that as it materializes).
So, now you can appreciate why Hermès has me making eyes at its artisan cheek. Their approach to business intrigues me to the hilt, not because of the luxury and exclusivity but because of the level and history of craftsmanship and insistence on standing apart by doing it all THEIR handmade way, despite the robotic times.
[*NOTE: By the way, if you’re a maker/artisan/artist be sure to check out Nest and consider joining their makers guild to take advantage of their many resources. It’s free!]
CAPTION: (TOP) Makers United Chicago members (left) Hirmie Ahmad of HIRMIE and Jean Williams with Je Tuan Barron (center), who shared a presentation with us on how Hermès creatively uses colors in its lineup of handmade products. (BOTTOM) Makers United Chicago member Alexz Sandoval of Bird Trouble (seated) participates in a stitching demonstration and workshop.
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Head’s up to all. Jean Williams Studio is participating as a jewelry designer/artist in an online silent auction to raise scholarship funds for college students. The Freshman Beginnings Online Auction Fundraiser is live right now, as of 9 am CST on 3/15, and will continue until 3/19!
Find the deets here: https://bit.ly/3FsI5wy
Also check out: www.freshmanbeginnings.org
If you go to the website, the auction will pop up on the opening page. Your support can be pivotal for a deserving collegian. The organizers have curated a great selection of other fabulous products and services. So please support, whether it’s bidding on Jean Williams Studio merchandise (a customizable version of our pictured Empire necklace) or another contributor’s. 👊🏾 Also: you can donate whether you participate in the online silent auction or not. 🤗👊🏾🙏🏾
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And just like that, I organized my first market with associates who also hand make products and with other small business owners, particularly my buddies and collaborators Bookish Chicago, whose business model is based on curating an assortment of books, toys, games and novelty items for kids and adults.
Other guest vendors have included Twenty Thou jewelry, Chat Noir jewelry, Sister Threadz candles and jewelry, and Vintage Wit cards/prints. I am excited that the high school arts program After School Matters will join us on Tuesday, December 13! It all came about because I dropped in at their retail store, located at 66 East Randolph St., and asked if they would join us one day. Check them out here: https://afterschoolmatters.org/.
We gave our market a test run on Nov. 17-18 and then started in earnest the week of the Thanksgiving holiday. We’re in gear to keep it going until Friday, December 16.
So if you’re in Chicago and the countdown has begun on your seasonal shopping, Christmas or otherwise, drop in to check us out. Here are the deets:
Urbanspace Holiday Market featuring Jean Williams Studio, Bookish Chicago and an assortment of rotating maker and small business friends. Location: 15 W. Washington Street. Time: 11 am-6 pm, Tuesday-Friday.
Urbanspace Chicago offers an eclectic array of eats to satisfy the foodie soul, from Thai to Greek to Indian to vegetarian to Asian — and more! There’s also a full-service bar up front. So, you can make a whole afternoon of it, and when you’re done, you can even partake of other holiday delights in the area at the Christkindlemarket, just feet away over at Daley Plaza, the Macy’s holiday window display, and the city’s official Christmas tree in nearby Millennium Park.
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I had encountered their director of audience development when I was showcasing at the Printers Row Art Fest for the first time back in summer 2019. It was my biggest fest yet at that time. I had bought myself a new pop-up tent and everything. Definitely a sign of commitment for me!
Heike Rass (such a lovely lady!) dropped by my tent and lingered a bit, bought some earrings and chatted with me some. Then she asked if I’d consider coming to speak on creativity and my own creative process before Robie House’s subscription members.
“Me?” I said. (Quite annoyingly so to my memory now. Why NOT me?)
“Yes, you!” she said smiling.
I’m sure I then said the equivalent of “Heck yeah!”
I was super excited! She said to also bring my work to be set up for the discussion and possible sales to members. She didn’t have to tell me twice! I went out on that chilly, misty night (not unlike this very night), set up and then spoke extemporaneously on the topics. It was a genuine, effusive rememberance. Like a seance! Seriously. It felt like I was recalling and remembering … me. Connecting the dots back to childhood in New Orleans and all the the things I did and didn’t get to do creatively in that uniquely creative city.
No wonder I’ve since started telling folks that I’m looking for the portal back to that unrestricted time for creativity, when you could play in mud, crush flowers in water trying to make perfume, cut out cardboard soles and cover them in old towels trying to make your own house slippers, and string together hard, brown seeds from the neighbor’s honey locust tree to make your first pieces of jewelry.
Man, those WERE the days. I’m going back whenever and however I can! I’ll leave the door open for you.
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Somebody called me a name on this past Saturday … and I liked it. I was in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood at an adorable storefront makers’ spot called The Honeycomb Network.
That’s where global nonprofit Nest and its Makers United Chicago assembled a team from the luxury brand Hermès of Paris, who flew in from New York just for this occasion, to teach an eclectic gathering of 12 local makers some of the historic company’s branding secrets and strategies. Jean Williams Studio was one of the 12.
Jean Williams at The Honeycomb Network September 10 in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood for a Makers United Chicago session, “Grow Your Craft Business.”
In the intimate interactions we got to have with their marketing, PR and e-commerce executives, I explained to one how some well-meaning people keep advising me to stay in one lane (jewelry) and how I shrug and essentially say, “That’s not how I roll. I like designing and making it all — jewelry, homewares, accessories, wall art and more.” And that’s when the lady said to me, “Yes, that’s right. You are a lifestyle brand.”
Ding-ding-ding!
Bells tolled. I felt seen! I wanted to hug her. “Yes, yes!” I said. “You get it. Thank you for that nugget! I now have a neater way to say what I am and do.” I’m so going to lead with that moving forward: “Jean Williams Studio is a handcrafted lifestyle brand.”
Leather bags designer/maker Alexz Sandoval of Bird Trouble (left) and leather goods designer/maker Yohance Lacour (center) with Jean Williams.
The 12 lucky makers blessedly got to have our voices heard by sharing our concerns with local organizers of Makers United Chicago; participate in a free photo shoot with professional photographers and finishers featuring some of our key products; and, HUGELY, engage with the marketing, public relations and e-commerce team at Hermès of Paris on ways we can each improve in those arenas in our businesses.
I couldn’t help but wonder how Jean Williams Studio had been included in that number. So, I asked the person responsible for recruiting us. I found out that no one had referred me, which I’d suspected, but that I was found organically through basic research by the organizers. That’s huge to me! It means that, although it may not always feel like it, JWS’ marketing efforts are indeed getting traction in a lot of important ways. So, now it’s time to use what I’ve learned to double down. Woo hoo!
Nicole Franklin, New York-based director of Makers United, and designer/maker Jean Williams.
If you’re a maker, or wish to support makers, do yourself a favor and learn more about Nest and Makers United (they are in several other cities in addition to now Chicago).
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It’s nearly Father’s Day weekend. The first day of summer is June 21st. That’ll be the summer solstice and longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.
And yet, I’ll be just getting to my first outdoor show of the year, now halfway over. In ordinary times, I would have tried to do spring shows, too, but these, as we know, haven’t been ordinary times.
Nevertheless, I’m ready and eager to get back in the saddle! First up will be the upcoming Gold Coast Art Fair, June 18 & 19, 10 am-5 pm, in Chicago’s Grant Park. Come check me out in booth 452.
I’m doing at least two other shows this summer, including the Millennium Art Festival (July 15, 16 & 17) and the Printers Row Art Fest (August 13 & 14).
Come check out my latest, including fun, bright, colorful summer pieces, a few picks for the fellas and some select pieces in Pride rainbow 🌈 colors.
Use code WELOVEART22 at this link to obtain FREE tickets (otherwise, there’s a $10 admission fee on-site at the festival grounds).
Hope to see you there! 💕
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In fact, the name of the collection, Earth, Wind & Fire, an ode to my favorite big band, came out of ruminating and playing. These first six jewelry items are part of what will be an ongoing collection – the first few evoking water, which amasses about 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. In this first sub-collection, I have three necklaces, a couple of brooches (or lapel pins), and a pair of stud earrings.
I am already hard at work on the next incarnation of the Earth sub-collection, which will be more aligned with terra firma and presented in rich earthtones, golds and other natural aesthetics. I’ve also carried the theme over to Jean Williams Studio Home, with a decorative set of display spoons being the first entry.
Please stay tuned for the continuation but enjoy the kick-off with me!
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I never closed the door on my desire to make movies. I stepped into another creative arena and got to work there. The two finally have intersected.
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I chose to stay in Chicago and moved into a new creative direction. I started creating things with my hands. First paper art, then jewelry, then household items and some art. It reanimated me.
I still love the movies, though. And, I never officially closed the door on being involved in some way in movies. Thankfully, Hollywood producer and director Christine Swanson has given me some interesting opportunities to be involved on the periphery of filmmaking. I first met Christine when I lived in LA and she was a budding filmmaker. I saw her first feature, “All About You,” (starring a young Renee Goldsberry of “Hamilton” fame) produced with her husband Michael Swanson, at the Hollywood Black Film Festival. Though I long ago left LA, we managed to stay in touch, even if tangentially, through the magic of social media.
Christine Swanson (center), me (kneeling center) and some of Christine’s students after a successful screenwriting workshop in summer 2018 at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios.
While Christine was in town a few years ago to direct an episode of the NBC police procedural TV show “Chicago PD,” I helped her put together a daylong screenwriting workshop that she taught to dozens of eager, aspiring filmmakers at Cinespace Chicago Film Studios. According to the student accounts I heard, it was an excellent affair!
Fast forward to a few months ago last fall. Christine gave me an opportunity to cross-pollinate my interests with a surprising and much-welcomed challenge: replicate the jewelry worn by Civil Rights Movement icon Fannie Lou Hamer as she testified at the 1964 Democratic National Convention about her brutal experiences fighting for voting rights in Jim Crow era Mississippi.
Me last fall with Christine Swanson in front of Cinespace Chicago Film Studios.
The earrings Fannie Lou Hamer wore during her 1964 DNC testimony (left) and the replica by Jean Williams Studio for the film (right).
The film, to my great delight, stars accomplished actress Aunjanue Ellis, who most recently starred opposite Will Smith in “King Richard,” the story of tennis superstars Serena and Venus Williams’ father. She also starred in the acclaimed “The Clark Sisters: First Ladies of Gospel,” directed by Christine and written by another friend, Sylvia Jones. Aunjanue’s performance in “Fannie” is breathtaking! I’m uber proud to have participated in my small way in the costuming realization.
I hope to discuss in a later blog entry my creative approach to reproducing and, in one instance, re-imagining the jewelry — including two necklaces and a simple ring. For now, I’m just ruminating with glee on the opportunity and sharing the film link, some production stills and other memorable photos.
Christine Swanson works with Aunjanue Ellis on set in Chicago while filming “Fannie.”
I hope you’ll take a look at “Fannie” and consider the legacy of Fannie Lou Hamer anew. Voting rights are imperiled once again in America despite the blood, sweat, tears and tremendous sacrifices of leaders like Mrs. Hamer.
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Jean Williams Studio Home demonstrates the execution of the notion that I could do housewares. I’m digging the outcome as my little starter kit of bigger (literally!) things to come! To start, I’m rolling out 10 offerings, ranging from coasters to planters. I incorporated resin, inks, pigments, paints, cement and metal. I’ll be adding more items in the days to come, and I am so excited at the prospect of what might appear in the collection, as much of it has taken me by surprise!
It's finally time to kick out the old and usher in the new. 2021! We've all been waiting for you.
]]>It’s New Year’s Eve. At last! The dawn of 2021. The swan song of 2020.
Make that the much-maligned, despised, and sorrowful 2020. I don’t know what you’ll be up to today. But, as for me? I’ll be locked away in my little abode cleaning and organizing — and getting ... ready. For whatever. I’ll particularly focus on my desk. It’s become a personal tradition, like year three of it, to completely clear off my desk, except for the lamp and a maybe a candle, and to pray over it as the New Year rings in.
I imagine that there will be some years when I won’t be home for such ceremony. But, I hope that, wherever I am in the world, I’ve first cleaned off my desk so that the New Year will catch it as a blank slate, ready to be filled with hopeful, joyful, meaningful, plentiful, exciting, encouraging and illuminating work. And so that there is room for me to properly address any problems and challenges I might have. One thing I have learned is that physical space often correlates with brain space — the physical environment affects the cerebral one.
To be honest, I don’t calibrate the two of them enough. But I get an immediate dopamine reward as well as a brain reboot the minute I clean off that desk. Unfortunately I have a tendency to immediately busy up such spaces again. My computer desktop is actually no different. For folks who are the opposite in comportment, my computer desktop would probably break them out in hives just looking at it.
If the departing hard year — the year of COVID-19, a very nasty presidential election and economic chaos – has reinforced nothing else, it’s that the only constant is change. That there is always the need to be fleet of foot and to pivot because life, circumstances, authorities, nature – SOME force – will pull the rug out from under you basically when you least expect it. We often live our lives in flinch mode waiting for such times. Cruelly, they tend to happen not when we might be ready but rather when we’re relaxed.
Nevertheless, I’m ready to relax again. Hopefully, I will be ready to relax but pivot at any given moment.
So, I’m getting ready as best I can. 2021 is a blank slate. None of us is promised anything, certainly not life itself. But whatever time resources we have, there’s so much we can do with them.
Here are my Top 5 strategies for kicking off the New Year with creative energy:
Clear some space physically and mentally. You can do it ceremoniously before the New Year dawns, as I am. But if you don’t do it then, the year will be brand new for all of January — and even some of February. So you have time. Cleaning up some of the clutter is better than cleaning none of it!
Take stock of the departing year. Look for the silver linings. The tragedies and disappointments are usually the squeakiest wheels. They’re obnoxious, truth be told. So do some work and look for the glimmers of hope and the outright beacons. They’re there! I’ve been tracking mine all year as a lifeline. Look for the strides you may have made in spite of the challenges.
We’ve all no doubt heard this song before, but it bears replay: Try not to be so hard on yourself. If there were EVER time for grace, it’s now. We say it to each other often, but then we can turn around and still be really hard on ourselves. There’s a balance in there that must be struck. You don’t want to be punishing, but you do want to be realistic, reflective and revising toward better.
No matter how ugly and disjointed it may look on the page, jot down some sort of plan that you can come back to at the end of the year. People, of course, set resolutions at this time of year. I’m thinking of something more overarching, like a mini-business plan for your life. I find old to-do lists of things that seemed so dramatically pressing and sometimes or even impossible at the time, tasks that I thought would leave teeth marks in my ass. But most of them look so tame and docile in hindsight. I got through them. Set a plan and gauge it along the way, including at next year's end. It'll give you needed info!
So as you plan, you can do so using what’s in your rearview mirror as you specify projections for what you want. It’s reinforcement. It gives you someplace to aim. It’s like a prayer. It’s worth it to ask for things out loud as an exercise. To commit them to paper. Have the audacity to ask yourself first for permission to do these things. Ask yourself for the guts and courage. And then you can, in turn, have the guts and courage to ask others as needed. Sometimes you won’t need help, but sometimes you certainly will. Asking strategically is very empowering. Have an end game for each ask. Don’t waste them — even when it’s yourself. You count!
A Chicago radio station general manager I was interviewing once for a newspaper feature article, gave me $20 out of her own pocket and told me to go and buy a book she gifted regularly to her sales staff, “The Aladdin Factor,” by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. It’s all about having the courage to ask for what you want. I think I may revisit it again as an exercise. In some ways it’s a remedial tool and can take you back to basics when you lose parts of the art of asking. Yes, there is an art to it!
Just as you’re planning all of these goal-oriented things in your career and personal life, dare to plan out some good times. Sheer fun! A trip you want to take. A museum you want to visit. Something you want to do with your siblings. A fun surprise you want to plan for your Mama just so you can see the light in her eyes. A hobby you want to start. Or buying some new toy for yourself, like that guitar you’ve been long wanting to play.
I put this step here for balance. Sometimes we forget to balance all the hardcore work stuff with plain old fun for fun's sake. I think now more than ever, we’ll need this step because of the year we’ve all had, where we’ve been ground to a standstill essentially due to the pandemic — most of us at least.
This is the perfect place to stop, then, and bid you the most exciting, accomplished and fun-filled 2021 allowed by law! Try not to get arrested! Unless, of course, doing so might change the world for the better. It’s about the long game and the end game!
]]>I don’t remember if I ever actually received anything from that fabled catalog at Christmas. But what it did for my prepubescent imagination was alone a gift. Largely, as you might imagine, it was the toys and games that so thoroughly arrested my young attention.
Folks who know me might be surprised to see several musical instruments on my Wish List. But I’ve always wanted to play piano — or some instrument by which I could compose.
I had wanted to become a songwriter and musician. I used to write lyrics in this old, gray notebook on which I'd plastered a bunch of those free stickers that used to come in cereal boxes. I'd wanted piano lessons, but we couldn't afford lessons let alone a piano for practice. As a consolation prize, my mother did buy me a tiny keyboard. I used to call it Bonnie. It was a Bontempi B1200. I Googled and I was able to find one, to my great surprise, on eBay. Although I didn’t actually purchase it, I find it comforting that I remembered the name of it and that it’s STILL available out there somewhere. Who knows, maybe I will go back and purchase it.
•I finished and just launched this website for my jewelry, art and as a campfire for creativity. I did it all on my own after long lamenting I needed a webmaster, photographer, graphic designer and others to help.
•I’ve worked on a young adult novel languishing in my computer.
•I’ve worked on a children’s book also languishing in my computer.
•I set a goal of 25 books to be read (or listened to) for the year and I am on schedule to meet that goal.
•I designed a 2021 jewelry history calendar featuring my jewelry as art. (Consider it as “Coming Soon!”)
•I’ve started teaching myself digital art on my iPad.
•I’ve been planning a second website featuring my writing services.
•I’m developing courses from my own knowledge base on several topics. (Consider these as "Coming Soon," as well!")
Obviously, you can't go around saying you're a medical doctor or an attorney without proper education and credentials. In America, those occupations require official standing under the law. But, as far as artists are concerned? Just claim it. And, own it.
While you don't need anyone's permission or authority, you won't likely get very far with declaration without dedication. To be it, you'll need to be about it. As far as when will one achieve those more dramatic notions of having "arrived" in the public view or imagination? Well, that's where we must manage our own expectations.
The image I've posted with this entry is called "Lena." I drew her using digital software, an app called Procreate, that I've been slowly teaching myself. I'd never drawn previously. But, I do now. When I finished this particular one and posted it to Facebook, my niece said it looked like her great-grandmother – my own grandmother. That's how she got the name, Lena. It was my grandmother's name.
"Lena" is real to me, and I expect that she'll be the focus of future drawings. From my very own hands – and from the digital artist that I already am.
]]>It's taken me far longer than I care to admit to get around to launching this website. I'd get into fits of "analysis paralysis" and never make much progress towards my goal. "Should I do it this way?" or "Should I do it that way?" Round and round I'd go with such questions until, well, I didn't do it in ANY way. But, all that changed in the heart of an unprecedented pandemic.
Suddenly, months after the world has come to terms with some of the harsh realities of the novel coronavirus scourge that's swept the globe, and the need to hunker down for a lot longer as science tries to save us, I finally, FINALLY planted butt firmly in seat to bang out a website. Whew!
I'm also working intermittently on another website (for my writing and editing) and on two children's books that I've been tinkering with off and on for ... some 17 years. Yikes!
I think it's quite an irony that I've launched this website (and resumed those book projects) in a pandemic – a time characterized by uncertainty and stagnation! It's a time where most of us find ourselves most often at home – our own captive audience. If you're lucky enough to have employment, then that's one definitive place to put time, energy and effort. And, of course, children and family are another such repository.
Do you have a hobby? Or, is there one that you'd always wanted to start but never could seem to find the time? Or, do you have some passion projects that you abandoned for scheduling and commitment reasons that you can resume? Maybe give it a gentle go and see if you gain any momentum in the coming days and weeks?
Maybe unleashing your neglected creative urges is just the medicine you need right now. And, when times get back to "normal," perhaps you won't be willing to let your hobby fall by the wayside, especially if you see how much it feeds your soul.
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The foundation of my work lies in my own sense of technique. As such, it's pretty rudimentary. And that's okay. You can make incredibly gorgeous pieces of jewelry and other art with some fundamental tools.
I've learned as I've evolved in nearly three years now of designing and making jewelry that what I do is called cold connections – as opposed to use of heat from torches to fabricate and solder copper, brass, aluminum, sterling silver and other metals.
I've resisted the urge to pick up a torch because there's something primitive that I respect and am intrigued by in cold connections. A friend also nailed it for me when she said once that my work looks "less machined." Yes! Cold connections lend to more of a raw, handmade look. It's a different aesthetic quality.
In the future, I may pick up a torch. It'll have to be a natural flow, pun intended if you get it, from where I am at that future moment. Or, maybe I never will. It's all good as long as the creativity flows freely!
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When I was first thinking about putting up my website, I was going to focus only on my jewelry making and design. But, then I thought long and hard about it. My artful preoccupations span beyond jewelry to the process and execution of creativity in general. I am a dabbler in a few art forms: paper sculpture, wire sculpture, textile design, filmmaking, nonfiction and fiction writing, and journalism. With these things, I'm like the proverbial kid in a candy store. My sweet tooth is for the act of creativity itself.
So ... in this blog space, as well as across this website, I will endeavor to explore all things creative, including offering peeks at my process, probably largely jewelry making –– but I reserve the right to show off and proffer additional handmade products, though not necessarily my every whim. Just know that I see this space as an organic, transmuting digital house of passion and craft.
Join me on this journey? I want to introduce you, as well, to other people and their creative pursuits. I wish to build community through creativity.
For me, this is excitement. This is exploration. This is evolution. This is fun. This is goals.
This is Jean Williams Studio.
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