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Earthy, organic, with a romantic, vaguely vintage, fairy-dusted patina. Today, that could describe any number of jewelry designers cultivating a boho luxe aesthetic, but that general look and feel originated with California-based Cathy Waterman in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The East Coast answer was Karen Karch, in New York’s SoHo neighborhood, and skewed a little more rock ’n’ roll. And there were other indie talents quietly going against the grain in their city or city-adjacent studios. All their work predated Instagram and a stylist-orchestrated red carpet demanding bigger, bolder jewels (and gems).
Stores like Twist and Ylang-Ylang in Dallas (now Ylang 23) knew a good thing when they saw it and gave Waterman a platform that ballooned into widespread name recognition, paving the way for the designer’s many adherents.