Christine Ryan Designs
Jewelry, Handmade, Opals

Transcript

Chrissy: My name is Chrissy Jones and our business is Christine Ryan Designs. And so that's a combination of me, Christine, Chrissy, and then my husband Ryan and so we work together in the business. 

VO: This is Chrissy of Christine Ryan Designs. They took a thoughtful gift and turned it into a successful business.

Chrissy: Ryan was looking to buy me something, really was just trying to find some jewelry that he liked to give to me as a gift. Couldn't find what he wanted. Um, or if it was cool and interesting it was a fortune. It was so expensive. And he is, you know, somebody that wants to do it himself. So he learned how to make it and boxes were coming to the house and not telling me what it was and it was working on stuff but not showing me what it was and then finally gave me a ring that he made himself. The whole thing, you know, the setting, set the stone, all the stuff. It's great. It was phenomenal. And then we have all of this equipment now and it's like well, I guess we can do this for other people that are looking for something cool and interesting. 

The more specific you could be the more events you could get into, you know. If you're not just doing all kinds of jewelry really having a niche and we were working in a lot of different stones that were uncommon. So not using just your typical onyx, garnets maybe, and we were doing more interesting stones that people weren't using which led us to Opals and that has now become our sole focus and all we work in all we do is opals. So it's fun to have people's interactions with this stone that is so pretty but you know doesn't get it's justice, I feel like so now we sell online and then go to different art shows and share these Opals with everybody. 

They are more challenging which is why most people don't work with them. They are they are a bit softer. But you know one of the big reasons they have a bad reputation is that a certain diamond company started a rumor back in the 20s that opals were bad luck. So that they could sell more diamonds and then opals became unpopular after that. And so I feel like half of my mission is to like re-educate people that you know Opals are you know a sign of good fortune and represent love and you know can help strengthen friendships and you know, there's a lot of good towards it. 

Now that we have this skill and technique of working with it, know what tools work best for it. Like there's so many options with just opals. We're not getting bored with it ever. You know, it's all the different colors. It can come in a lot of different shapes and sizes. And so the opal can form in crevices so it can have interesting shapes to it and the cutter will cut unique shapes to capture color in it.

We're a bit more modern and simple and so not quite minimalist jewelry that is popular and dainty. We like it to be sturdy and made for every day. But at that same time we want the opal to be the hero of it.

VO: Jewelry is easy to ship. So why do Chrissy and Ryan still love taking their work to events?

Chrissy: Oh, it's my favorite. It is really people being so happy with the stones and bringing that joy to people. You know, it feels special when I talk to people that you know jewelry makes me feel special and these Opals make me feel happy is a lot of the reaction that I get but there is nothing like going to an event and interacting face to face with buyers and seeing how they respond. It helps you build your story for that online aspect, you know to hear what they have to say about your product. I mean, there's nothing like that feedback that instant feedback that you're getting. Just to have that interaction, you know, there's people at these events that you know that the events are typically annual and seeing them every year come back and you know, we one of our most popular pieces is stacking rings. And so you layer on a ring and we've made it a joke now like you can get a ring each year and like, you know, this was my you know event this year and this was the event this year and just add on a fun one like a token almost and that excitement that people have and becoming friends with these people and finding out what they're up to and who they bring with them to come and check it all out. It's really become very family-like amongst the artists and with the patrons, but it's just so, it's fun to see their excitement with it all and that's what I love is just sharing my passion for it and they get just as much joy out of it. 

VO: So take a look at the beautiful work of Christine. Ryan Designs. They're a team you'll definitely want at your event, and you may be taking away some jewelry of your own too. Here at Eventeny we love sharing the incredible work of great artists, vendors, and exhibitors.