Nature Inspired Jewelry
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Life has been unpredictable with Covid, but we’ve all learned what matters in time like this - living simply, loving our families, and loving our environment.  In some ways, the pause was a welcomed change.  It slowed down our chaotic schedules and took away some of the responsibilities that made juggling family life with business difficult.

Throughout my life, I’ve learned that change is something to embrace.  My husband and I had to move our family every three years because of his Air Force job. Raising a family through this amount of change taught me that change is an opportunity to grow strength and resilience. As a mother, I’ve always tried to teach these qualities to my children but didn’t often apply them to my own life.

When I’m in a comfort zone, where nothing changes, I don’t need to push myself.  I don’t need to grow. But I knew I didn’t want to spend my life like that, avoiding new experiences and listening to my fears.  My husband and I decided to open Perch in 2009. It was a big decision for us, and it was a big decision for me personally, to step off the safe shore into the uncharted waters.

After an incredible 11 years of discovery, friendships, and hard work at Perch – more change is on the horizon. After the closing of the brick and mortar storefront, I find myself needing a little push again. I knew closing the store and transitioning to an online presence would be challenging because it’s a new way of doing business for me. I still prefer face-to-face relationships, but I also want to embrace the potential of online business. I’m excited to foster a creative community that extends well beyond my physical zip code.

Community is the part of Perch I knew I would miss the most. Our space welcomed so many conversations and fostered so many relationships. We exchanged design ideas, health tips, travel ideas, and recipes. But usually, it was the fact that we all felt heard and loved and connected to something other than ourselves and our problems. At the end of the day, it was just simply loving each other for who we are.

My step forward in my evolution is continuing my creative path by stepping out with my jewelry collection that carries my name. These are the pieces that tell my story and my relationships with the environment. The narrative is a slow design, that is easy on me and the environment. Slow design is about seeking to do everything at the right speed, savoring the hours and minutes rather than counting them, and taking the time to notice the world around you. Through this shift
in thinking, I began to explore our relationships with the natural world and create new techniques to capture a time and place in nature. I’m excited to share these processes, continue to push myself in my craft, and continue designing jewelry for the pure love of making it! The world is a better place when we all do more of what we love.

I’m excited to start our conversations again through this blog by sharing techniques, stories, travel, books, and food. I would love to hear from you.

Let’s get connected again!

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3 comments

  • I’m swooning over the new site and seeing you in your creations. And I’m coveting some beautiful artisan jewelry. I couldn’t love your evolution more.

    Cindy Hopper on

  • Hello Barbara, Long time. I am wanting to reconnect with creative people of my past. I hav not found that balance of slow design yet. I just retired 11 months ago. …so many things I want to do and I am still in the ‘so little time’ mode…haha.
    I am excited to see your on line work. I am working on some new paper assemblages and collaborating with my daughter, who is creating ceramic work, for a mother daughter show in the spring with Susan Bostwick and Nancy Davis.
    I would love to hear from you.

    Kathryn Stullken Biarkis on

  • I love this so much. Love you!!! xoxo Rebecca

    Rebecca B. on

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