“A strong woman is one who feels deeply and loves fiercely. Her tears flow as abundantly as her laughter. A strong woman is both soft and powerful, she is both practical and spiritual. A strong woman in her essence is a gift to the world.” — Unknown
You know who you are. You’re unique and have your own sense of style. You look at life’s experiences as rites of passage. They’ve made you who you are. No one else can claim those exact ones. What matters is that no matter what life brings, you continue to move forward, learning what you can, take the good you can find and attempt to leave the bad behind. I can relate.
I’ve had many experiences in my life, some wonderful, some downright devastating. I know what it’s like to feel like life has knocked you down to the bottom. The worst came for me when I lost my son. As terrible as that experience was, will always be, I know what he would want for me, to continue moving forward and encourage others to do the same.
That’s why WV3 Designs (named after him) was born. As a child, he was constantly gifting me with some fascinating rock that he’d found. His love for nature and stones never left. After losing him, his father found the 10 stones that he kept with him all of the time and we split them between us. Trying to find a way to keep them with us, he stumbled across wire wrapping. Fascinated, my dream of 30 years, to design jewelry, came to life. It opened a whole new world to me. Designs have since evolved to include styles from boho to classic, using mainly natural stones and materials.
I’ve always had a hunger to know people’s stories, their why. When one of my passions was family history research, it was never about dates and details, but digging to try to understand who these people were, to make sure they were remembered. As a girl, I loved digging through my mother’s “turquoise” chest. I remember being in awe at how unique each piece was, how every stone was different, like it had a life of its own, its own story. (I’m pretty sure that’s where my fascination with turquoise came from) At heart, I’ve always wanted to be a story teller, but not my story, to tell other’s stories.
Design inspiration flows from nature, history, the true uniqueness of each stone and the passion to help others tell a little bit about who they are or about one of their “rites of passage”. It is a gift from God, a way to share something my son loved with others, to touch the lives of other strong women who have overcome or are in the process of overcoming their own knocks from life. I have been honored to work with other moms to create a one of a kind piece using a special stone, birthstone or symbol that had meaning to their child and I’ve been excited to work with brides-to-be to design a unique compliment for their special day and with others for many other occasions in-between. For each, the mission has been for me to get to know who they are, what makes them one of a kind and then create something that allows them to display it proudly.
You’ll never feel lost in the crowd when wearing a WV3 Designs original. Need inspiration? If you have a special piece in mind, let’s talk about how to bring it to life. Or, maybe one of the pre-made pieces speaks to you and tells part of your story. Each piece is made knowing it will find its way home to just the right person. Whether it’s custom or something from one of the existing collections, you know it’s as unique and special as you are.
