What were the inspirations that led you to
become a Jewelry Designer?
stereotypes or lived my life according to someone
else’s story arc, and lots of people like to point
that out. When you don’t fit into a well-defined
box it can make people uncomfortable. But, if
weird means working hard for yourself and
pursuing the life you’ve always wanted as a
maker, then I’ll gladly wear that badge.
With all of that being said, I’ve recently
done some rebranding and changed my business
name to The Garrison. It was time for a name
that’s suited to the jewelry itself instead of a
long-felt personal philosophy that didn’t have
much to do with adornment. One of my good
friends recently said, “When you put your name
on something it implies that it’s worthy of it.”
This is my next leap of faith and growth as a
business.
Ever since I was little I’ve been making things
with my hands.
When I was young, my father had a 5 gallon
bucket full to the brim with miscellaneous nuts
and bolts and loose hardware that floats around
any garage. Whenever he was working on
something he’d dump the entire bucket out onto
the floor, and I’d pick through the pile looking for
interesting pieces to either keep, or fit together
into sculptures. With that being a regular
occurrence in such formative years, it’s really no
surprise that I ended up in this profession.
The idea that so much effort and work can go
into a relatively small item, which is then imbued
with meaning and sentiment, is very appealing as
a creator. It helps to give value and worth to what
I get to do every day.
You’ve recently made a change by no longer
using the name, “Weirdzone”. Where did the
original name come from and was there a
philosophy behind it and why the change?
Funny you ask… for the last few months I had
been thinking about the name and what it meant
to me personally and the brand. On the surface
‘Weirdzone’ is a bit odd. When I graduated from
SFAI I wound up working in an office to pay the
bills. It was a day job that didn’t fulfill my
creative energy, but they had a gigantic xerox
copier and an endless supply of impromptu art
supplies in the mail room. With such an
abundance at my fingertips I ended up illustrating
a zine with one of my coworkers and we titled it
‘Weirdzone’ becaus e we didn’t really fit into the
office life and everyone thought we were a bit
peculiar.
Naturally when I started making jewelry it was
the first name that popped into my head, and as
far as the philosophy goes, I’ve been called weird
my whole life. I’ve never fit in to the generic
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THE CONE - ISSUE #15 - 2018