About Me

So...um..."About Me"...What to say?  First off, I'm a sentimental sap.  A full-blown, tear-up at lovey-dovey commercials kind of sap.

What does that have to do with antiques or jewelry you may ask?  Everything! I get weak in the knees when I get my hands on a piece of history.  And, jewelry has been a part of our collective history since the beginning of time and is the ultimate sentimental baubble.  All the evidence is right in front of us - in the tombs of the ancient Egyptians; hidden in the ash at Pompeii and splashed across the front of every newspaper any time a celebrity gets engaged.  Running my hands over those shiny bits of history and thinking back on the lives who touched that piece before me...It's an emotional moment.  I admit it.  It's the histories associated with each piece that touch me on such a deep level. Awe-inspiring is the only way I can think of to describe it.


This is my Grandpa & I working on an old washstand that my Mom used to have in her bathroom. It was a housewarming gift from her when I bought my first home...A little white bungalow.

I guess it was growing up surrounded by artistic people - like the days spent with my Mom helping her to "paint" (I think she spent more time fixing my mistakes though!) items to sell at area craft fairs; listening to Grandma's hours playing the organ; my immensely interesting and creative Aunts and my Grandpa's patience with his eldest grand-daughter while she learned from his passion for woodworking - that shaped my desire to be surrounded by the history of lives gone by. To feel that connection to the past...a bygone era or a person we miss dearly. It brings a calm.



My wedding rings, designed by me in platinum & pave diamonds.  The engagement ring was based on a 1930s design.  And will, I hope, someday become a family heirloom.

I still enjoy whipping out some power tools, paint and the like to create something unique or to give an old piece of furniture a new life but I always come back to those shiny, little baubbles.  At the start of time, those first bits of metal that were passed down from generation to generation and called "Family Heirlooms" will always have a special place in history.  They are the stories of our lives, and of those before us, kept near our hearts on our fingers; around our necks; on our wrists or dangling from our ears.


Those stories beg to be collected and held tight.  So, I try to do my part.  Over the years, I've tried to become a well-educated collector.  I've gathered a few prized pieces and designed some of my own for special friends.  And here, at Inspired Antiquity, this is my opportunity to share that passion with others.


Finished product done for a client to wear to her wedding. White gold & pave diamond spiral culminating in a .40 carat flawless tourmaline on an 18" white gold chain.


So please enjoy your time here and visit back often!

Tiff


Example of a fine, gem-set pendant / brooch designed as a pierced curved bar with diamond palmette terminals suspending an articulated plaque of marquise-cut diamonds & carved ruby, emerald, sapphire, amethyst or citrine flowerheads with diamond-set borders to the emerald, diamond and yellow diamond tassels, circa 1930.



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