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Raven Eve Jewelry in Niche Business Directory

This page is a humble attempt to convey to you, a cherished and welcome customer, of the beloved toil that is involved in the production of my jewelry. This is what Raven Eve Jewelry is about, in a few candid and honest paragraphs . My name is Emily Sullivan and I am a full time jewelry designer and retail bead store owner. When I was 11 years old, I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up. A jeweler. Not the usual career daydream for the average American preteen, but mine none the less. So I pursued this goal with my unflinching pure stubborn drive that many people love and hate me for. I devoured all the metal and jewelry classes taught in High School. I spent all my money on art and jewelry supplies. Collected books and magazines on and studied all sorts of different jewelry and clothing designers. Then came college. I knew I did not want to be a fine jeweler, but a metalsmith. So I started my fine arts degree, took all of the art ,language, and Anthropology courses. Then about 2 years into that I got my first really BIG commission, took all of the money I made from that and filled my jewelry studio with metal smithing equipment, much of which I still use today. When I realized I did not need a degree to be a metalsmith and get work, I immediately dropped out of college to pursue life as a jewelry designer and metalsmith... with awful, soul draining day jobs of course. My first company was born in my second year of college in 1991 as Storm Jewelry ( which was promptly renamed AMULET when all of the STORM brand watches took over in the US in the early Nineties.) My first company specialized in very large metal works usually commissioned by local interior designers through the Michigan Design Center located in Troy, MI. This gave me an opportunity to do some really challenging and labor intensive works such as forged fireplace screens, wall hangings, etched floor tiles,kitchen cupboard handles and forged silverware. My work was first recognized on a professional level at the esteemed Detroit Institute For The Arts, when 2 place settings of my hand forged sterling silver flatware were on display for the Arts And Flowers designer showcase in April of 1992. Also, in 92 I got a job at the Thomas company in Birmingham, MI and that really set me on track. The Thomas company was a jewelry tool and supply company which also taught classes. There I met and was tutored and befriended by some of the best up and comming metalsmiths and jewelers in the US, such as Ben Clark Wearly, Paul Melmendier, Mark Fujii and later J.J. Masuda. It changed the direction I took with my work and I made some wonderful life long friends. Then in 1994 I really found my niche in organic cast and fabricated metal work mixed with hand lamp worked venetian glass jewelry and was hired as the full-time jewelery designer for Bella Luna, INC. This is where I got my sea legs and confidence in jewelry design. I had the chance of a life time to design beads that were handmade in Venice and to go and visit the amazing glass artists of Murano first hand at my bosses studio in Venice,Italy. During this time, I did several jewelry how tos for Lapidary Journal and had my work advertized and featured in several issues of Ornament Magazine under my maiden name Emily Storm/Sturm. I did this full time until 1998. When I had a change of heart and decided after working 11 hour days for 4 years, and being in charge of a small crew of talented jewelers busily making enough jewelry to stock 3 retail stores ...it was just too much. I wanted to go into business for myself again. I quit my job, stocked up on enough sterling silver and beads to feed a small army of fashonistas and went for it! Then in January of 1999 I found a good reason to give up metal smithing for a while. I was pregnant! What was I going to do? That is when I switched over to doing just bead work, found ebay and in 1999 Raven Eve Jewelry was born. It did really well... really really well. It did, TOO well. The success of my business was a blessing and a curse. After 5 years, I could not keep up anymore. By 2004 I was making 60 to 70 pieces of jewelry a week! No joke! I was used to high production, but I was being completely overwhelmed. Add this to the stress of being a newly divorced single mom of a pre-schooler... it was too much. I burned out. I had to stop. It got to the point where making anything from my site was a chore, not a joy. My lead times we getting longer and looooonger. Time for a new change of pace. So I took a break from my online business and in 2004 my boyfriend and I decided to open a bead store. Beetle beads is my retail store and Raven Eve Jewelry studio combined. I started metal smithing and lamp working glass again and reopened Raven Eve Jewelry in 2005 with a new vision and site design. Now most of the jewelry on my site is one of a kind. I LOVE making jewelry again. To keep up with orders and to run the bead store, I still have to work 7 days a week! However, it is a labor of love as I feel blessed to be able to wake up and go do something I love to do and has been my lifes ambition everyday. My new works are more true to my heart and now that I can use my own metal and glass work are even more original and collectible. Quality and joy goes into every item I make. Every piece on this site is handmade by me. I think in a day and age of multi conglomerate mega stores and mass produced merchandise that it is even more critical to help support independent stores and artists! I can offer my customers not only a unique hand-crafted product but also the one on one sales help and individual attention that is so lacking in retail stores. I thank you for your support and look forward to your order.

Address: Raven Eve Jewelry 11328 10 Mile RD Warren, MI 48089 USA
Telephone: 1 (586) 756-1894
Website: http://www.raveneve.com/