In 2008, I arrived home from a trip inspired to create after visiting an outrageously creative friend. I had this urge to make jewelry and would stop at nothing. With limited funds in my bank account, I was forced to branch out.

 

What could possibly double as a bead?

 

I pondered as I rummaged through drawers and cabinets. I recalled a time when I was in Australia and helped clean up coffee beans that had scattered across the floor of a church entryway. As I used my hands to sweep them into a pile, I formed a cross.

 

One day I want to create artwork using coffee beans.

 

Encouraged by my mom, I pulled out a bag of dark roast. Using leftover wire, seed beads that I had stashed away, and coffee beans, I constructed the very first earring of a line that I would eventually call Expresso. It wasn’t that glamorous, but it was a start.  

 

The line unexpectedly evolved while on an adventure in Uganda. I brought jewelry tools and supplies in the event that I had the opportunity to train women how to make Expresso earrings utilizing coffee beans, a readily available resource. I wasn’t expecting to learn something myself. In Uganda, women make an income creating beads out of magazine paper. Together, we tested out what it would look like to combine a coffee bean and a paper bead. It worked! Expresso-paper bead earrings were launched.

 

With an Aztec feel, the Warrior line was created in honor of my friend Zina, who in November of 2013 began her new life in heaven. She was truly a warrior princess. Each earring highlights a unique paper bead in combination with an iron Aztec feather. ​

 

DID YOU KNOW?

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A portion of the profit generated goes directly to local and international causes.