The Art of... feature
Story by Melia Flowers • Laura McBryde Photography
kathy RIGGAN
WATCHING KATHY RIGGAN HANDLE THE PRECIOUS STONES AND
DELICATE SWAROVSKI CRYSTAL used to design her beautiful handcrafted
jewelry, you might be surprised to learn that she worked in the tobacco fields as a
teenager. Since her “farmer” days, she has worked as a secretary, a paramedic, and
a nurse. Watching Kathy in her shop, I wondered, how does one get from “there” to
“here”? It turns out, after retirement, she, as many women in Kathy’s place do, began
to search for what’s next. “I’m not one to sit around doing nothing. I don’t want to
grow old gracefully. I want to fight it every inch of the way,” Kathy explained. Soon,
she discovered she could create unique jewelry at a reasonable cost and offer women
“something no one else had.”
In August of 2015, her jewelry design took an entirely different direction. On a trip
to the mountains of Tennessee, Kathy came across a shop that had stunning jewelry
created from simple wire. “I picked that woman’s brain enough to come up with the
basic info that I needed to know who/where to go to in order to start my journey into
wire wrapping at a professional quality level.” After that, there was no turning back.
The patterns and ideas continually flowed, even in her dreams.
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Her first year has been crazy, Kathy shares. “When you are just starting out, you are
Kathy didn’t want the name for her new business to sound like something on a
your own purchaser, designer, creator, marketer, and photographer.” She has also just
French menu that no one could pronounce or spell. And, she wanted to include
completed her first official website, www.kathyscreationsofsc.com. Though she loves
“creations,” because she didn’t want to limit herself to jewelry. So, “Kathy’s Creations”
almost every aspect of her business, she is not overly thrilled with the paperwork
was born.
aspect. She’d much rather design and create.
Her jewelry is inspired by prayer and by each stone she uses. “It’s almost like each
Kathy’s goal is to have her jewelry in high-end boutiques within South Carolina.
stone is talking to me when I wrap one. It tells me where I should/should not place the
She wants to be able to visit those places and to meet the shop owners face to face.
wire. I want to enhance the beauty of the stone without taking away from it. Some
“I don’t want to have to fly to New York City or Chicago to do that.” She would,
people believe that different stones have certain types of ‘energy.’ Each new design is
however, consider expanding to the Southeast. “All of my jewelry is handcrafted,
unique in its own way… Just like we are all unique individuals and created in our own
one piece at a time, so I don’t want to be so stretched out that I feel pressured and
special way from the Master Designer, God.”
stressed. I’m not a mass production lady under any circumstances.”
APRIL 2016
SHEMAGAZINE.COM