I began making jewelry out of economic necessity; from 1991 to 2002, I worked as a professional actress and made barely enough money to survive.  In order to facilitate my love of girlie accessories on a cash-poor budget, I started to buy some raw materials at my neighborhood bead store in Philadelphia during the mid 1990s to make my own pieces.  If I got cast in a show, I bought myself some jewelry as a reward.  By the time I left Philly in 1998, I had a decent acting resume, and likewise some jewelry in my possession by designers who I fancied.

In 1998, I arrived in Seattle, WA where I found myself faced with the difficult readjustment of east coast living vs. life on the easygoing west coast, and I suddenly slowed down my pace of life.  Not being able to find any acting work, I became frustrated and found myself without a creative outlet.  Hence, my jewelry-making picked up and I started focusing more and more on studying the pieces I had acquired in Philly.  I soon learned that even though the acting scene felt slow to me in Seattle, the environment for craftspeople was perfect;  dark, rainy days in the Pacific Northwest kept me indoors and housebound with nothing to do but obsess about the best way to attach a clasp to a chain or how to make a loop with the pliers I bought for no other reason than “the handle was a cool color”.  The availability of raw materials was even easier to find in Seattle than in Philly, and I started staying up very late into the night working away, teaching myself what I could from looking at the work I purchased, as well as scouring books for any and all techniques.  I melted metal with a kitchen torch over the stove burner and arranged a workspace in the closet behind the Murphy bed in my small one bedroom apartment.  Pretty soon, I found myself at the local fine arts center exchanging my phone answering skills for classes and jewelry studio time, (and not in rehearsal and performance as much anymore).  From there, I found a local market where I could sell my finished pieces, and some stores picked up my line, and I began working for another designer who taught me about gemstone quality and the art of the business.  I stayed in Washington until 2002.

Now busy “un”settling in Brooklyn, I swim and laugh, and spend the rest of my time split between attempting to perfect the art of napping, pursuing my acting career, and focusing on Ike Designs.
 
Ike Designs are created from gems to remind us all that the world we live in provides us with abundance and rich experience, as well as beautiful gifts.  The gems are a product of the right combination of pressure, environment, and most importantly, time.  A gemstone reflects the mysterious processes and ingredients of the entire universe and likewise of individual human life and our interaction with each other in the cosmos.  Like a person, each gem holds a story of its own growth come to fruition and is completely unique, even among similar classes of stones.  A gem reminds me of how precious and intricately constructed and intertwined that we all are, and is a tiny but lovely reminder of the beauty that each person holds.  I set them in a sweet, simple, and whimsical way, so that I will remember not to take myself or the gift of life too seriously, but to gratefully take the gift of life with a grin, chuckle, sense of wonder and reminder that the universe works for everyone’s benefit over time. 

I like small jewelry because I am small, but also in an underhanded way, I like to know that if someone wishes to see my jewelry on me or anyone else, they must move in very near to the wearer to see the detail.  In this way, I hope propinquity to another inspires a deeper closeness and an appreciation of beauty among all of us.  I also like the smile that comes across the face of the wearer and friends upon observation.  Smiles are a really great thing.

I learned to love anything petite as precious, intimate and valuable, and Ike Designs embodies tiny.  As my parents said when I relentlessly complained about my little 7-year-old extra diminutive stature…“Good things come in small packages.”  When I challenged them with the youthful impatient response of “like what?!”, my mother wisely responded “Diamonds”.  This sounded like a good answer to me and even my very special youthful impertinence was silenced.  I was hooked.

Someone close to me passed along a message that someone gave him…leave the world a little bit better for having been here.  I ask that you wear your jewelry with the grace and dignity of knowing it is almost as lovely as the person who wears it and remind you that your very presence is a present.  Thanks for wearing it and allowing me to make it, for it gives me great pleasure to create.  Giggle.  Wonder.  Enjoy.   –Dori