Sharon Swed is a New York based jewelry designer whos love for the craft began when she started receiving pieces that marked important occasions in her life. Although those gifts were expensive and glamorous, Sharon felt they were commercial and could be seen on other people. So began her quest to find jewelry that was unique, special, and rare. At the same time she was also looking for a creative outlet to the life of being a mother to three beautiful young boys. She started out shopping to find unusual pieces to fill her wardrobe and in doing so began imagining jewelry in her mind and researching ways of producing them. Through a friend, she was introduced to a teacher who taught her the basics of fine jewelry making, and further networking in the field led her to working alongside international masters.
At workshops and schools such as FIT, and The Jewelry Arts Institute, Sharon was able to translate her sumptuous conceptual ideas into her rich aesthetic of timeless, wearable jewelry. Throughout her fifteen years of practice, she has learned to sculpt and carve in wax, and produce works using the ancient metal techniques of chasing and repousee. She has also learned how to choose top quality stones with which to set in her meticulous stone and metal-smithing.
Sharon has also spent many years studying guitar and piano and has become an accomplished salsa and ballet dancer. She loves to travel to exotic locales and uses her trips as time to relax and be inspired. Sharon’s main inspiration for her jewelry is her love of nature and architecture and recalls some of her earliest memories as spending countless hours coloring using bright spectrum markers that she found in her father’s sunny architecture office in California. Now those memories and travels serve as basis for the choices of bright colored stones that is signature to Sharon’s work.
Sharon loves the tactile use of working with her hands and the reward of creating pieces that people covet and will hand down to their family. She is currently working alongside a New York jeweler who is writing a jewelry making guidebook, and is also finishing her own eponymous line.
