Fash i on : Winter Style
Wearable Poetry One local jeweler’s passion has earned her national acclaim By Christa Martin Laamie Young has been making jewelry as far back as she can remember. “We were really poor,” she says of her childhood years growing up in Vermont. “If you wanted something, you had to invent it.” She wanted jewelry, so she found ways to piece together her mother’s broken necklaces and earrings and create her own baubles. Many years and a painting degree later, Young was still making jewelry, but only as a hobby. In 2009, that all changed. Mr. Larkin, an indie clothing line, used her work in its New York runway show at Fashion Week. Not long after that, Anthropologie came calling and she worked on a limited run project for them. Then Women’s Health took notice and has since featured her work in its magazine three times. At this point, she needed a name for her
Signature pieces include a blend of precious metals and fibers.
burgeoning line and coined it Blank Verse Jewelry. “It’s a poetry term,” she says, explaining that it means “without the traditional structure of rhyme.” It’s an appropriate moniker for her work. Drawing upon her experience as a painter and her desire to help women express themselves creatively, her line offers a rustic and artistic, boho yet modern quality. Signature pieces include a blend of precious metals and fibers that have caught the eye of customers like Helena Bonham Carter, Melissa Etheridge, and Katherine Budig (a well-known yoga teacher), among others. With Blank Verse Jewelry on the rise, locals have taken notice: Synergy Organic Clothing has used Young’s work in its catalogs and sells her work online and in its stores; Cameron Marks has an exclusive collection available on the Westside; and Young is collaborating on a small capsule collection with my fashion blog, The Penny Rose. Even with the buzz, she’s a one-woman show. “I’m trying to keep it small and handmade,” she says. Learn more at blankversejewelry.com.
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