Corinne’s studio is a breeze of fresh air. Not only because it is in Santa Monica and the air is always fresher and cleaner, but also because it’s white, bright and light. Just like the jeweler herself. Corinne is very much the bobo*-hipster jewelry designer, with good vibes and a freshness about her. Her previous life in NYC pushed her to LA to try something new. She started taking wax jewelry classes at Accents Jewelry in Santa Monica with Steven Hannah, got tons of fun doing it and the rest is history.

Corinne’s jewelry is precious in every way. She started her business quite recently and just developed her first 14K gold collection, which mixes beautifully rose cut diamonds and very organic textures. As almost every designer, she started doing jewelry with druzy quartz and silver and naturally evolved her organic style to very refined pieces, with diamond pavé and gorgeous rose cut diamonds. She also just started a new bridal collection and her engagement rings are drop dead gorgeous.

The studio is a very clean, white space. I love the fact that her bench does not have a bench pin. It’s a table that is beautifully and randomly decorated with hot wax that fell and solidified on the wood. An interesting thing about jewelers is that they always save the most interesting boxes and recipients to organize their tools and materials, and Corinne is no exception. The aromatherapy massage oil holds the wax cleaning oil. A drops box serves to keep the molten wax, and small card-boxes filled with wax models lay around the bench. Each gemstone is beautifully arranged in small transparent boxes easy to find and use.

Corinne’s favorite thing to do is work on custom engagement rings. It all started when she was looking for an engagement ring for herself and it developed into a line and work philosophy: to work with natural rose cut diamonds that have their unique individual character and flaws, just like the person who is gonna wear the ring. She has developed her bridal collection and now has some beautiful rings that you can see further below. Corinne also got some meteorites which she transformed into some cool pendants, the reflection they get in the sun is amazing and nothing can beat the fact that you’re wearing a piece from “another world”.

I want to thank Corinne for her availability and kindness in letting me come in and snoop around her studio, particularly when she was starting the arduous job of moving the studio**. I look forward to see more of her future collections and the beautiful creations she comes up with.

* For those of you not familiar with bobo, it stands for Boheme bourgeoise and is intended in a very good way.

** A small update: Corinne is moving to the beautiful Santa Barbara city in Northern Socal, still close enough to LA but with much better quality of life and wine :-).

CORINNE SIMON JEWELRY

Site: http://reveriebycorinne.com

Etsy store: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CorinneSimonJewelry

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReverieByCorinne

Instagram: https://instagram.com/corinnesimonjewelry

Twitter: https://twitter.com/corsimon

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/corinnesaffell/

How did you become a jewelry designer?

“I bought a really cool stone ring at an arts fair and thought I want to learn how to make something like that. I started by taking a class has a hobby and then kept going”

What do you like most about your studio?

“ It’s bright, breezy and open”

Pick 3 objects in your studio that make your space yours:

“Peace, happiness and light.”

What’s your favorite spot in the studio?

“Sitting at my desk where I work on waxes. It’s next to a little balcony so I can peak my head out”

What do you love & hate doing at the bench?

“ I love when I’m at my desk starring at a stone and a new idea just comes to me.

Polishing…not a big fan of doing it, HaHa. The metal heats up so quickly!”

What makes you procrastinate?

“The internet, social media… I can get sucked in so I try to limit my time with it.”

What’s currently inspiring you?

“The rolling hills and romantic views of Santa Barbara wine country”

What piece of jewelry do you always wear?

“On my left finger – a rose cut diamond ring and thin rose gold diamond band. A rose gold diamond pinky ring and a ring my husband designed for me when he proposed. He sneak onto my desk and made a way model of the ring to propose with. We ended up casting it and I wear it on my right ring finger. I love that he did that!”