My friend Irene makes jewelry from recycled materials, and this is what I always appreciated in her approach. Not only does she create ecology-minded art, but her designs are also truly stunning.

She just launched her own website after much prompting from customers and friends (me included).

How do we know each other? Well, we both grew up in the same small farmers’ village called Hambach in Franconia. Both of our parents had farms on main street, but this was all we had in common at that time. Irene is a couple of years my senior and therefore we did not socialize with each other.

In the late seventies we ran into each other at the American Consulate in Frankfurt, where she applied for a visa to move to California, whereas mine was to move to Spokane, Washington. We exchanged addresses and kept somewhat in touch by postal mail.

In the early eighties I got to see her once in Gualala, a small Californian coastal town.

By 1990 I was living near Baltimore, Maryland, and I started making my own jewelry as a sideline income. By then Irene was an established jewelry designer who would sell her works at the Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and in art galleries. We corresponded between California and Maryland – I would send her some of my handmade jewelry, which she would sell for me. She also asked to look out for broken clockworks (i.e., old watches) to use in her jewelry design. We helped each other out a bit.

In 1992 I moved to Japan where I dropped the jewelry-making business – there was not much demand for earrings as in those days “good daughters” did not get their ears pierced and no-name jewelry was not in demand.

Well, here we are: thirty years later and Irene is still in California, creating beautiful jewelry.

My jewelry-making days are gone and all that is left is a small box of unsold jewelry and a strong appreciation for all recycled material, man-made and natural. Nowadays I only collect mermaids’ tears on beach holidays.

Tags: "poor jewelry", Gualala, Hand-crafted Recycled Jewelry Design

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