Naomi Herndon- Jewelry Designer

Naomi Herndon's fascination with ornament was born during visits to her grandmother's jewelry store in Juarez, Mexico. Art school and travels through Europe and Asia nurtured her passion. Today, she draws inspiration from diverse cultural influences and the landscape around her Santa Fe studio. Her metal smith husband Mark and design partner Jeri Lynn Heald join her there, a team dedicated to creating wearable art.

This Santa Fe based company takes their jewelry seriously. They make everything by hand including some of the tools they use! The finished product is a testament of the love and care that goes into every single piece they make.

"My background was sculpture. I first worked as a polisher and apprentice at Cartier. Then a manufacturer in Dallas was looking for a producer. That job did not involve Photoshop so every collection was hand drawn. They were then manufactured in Bali and China. Working on other’s jewelry isn’t as fun as designing your own. So now I make and design everything. I make our own clasps, extenders and jewelry tags. We have been in business for 2 years and have 3 full time employees."



"Some of our inspiration comes from antique Indian wedding jewelry. They have discs we call paillettes. Those are seen on Indian anklets. In Santa Fe we are surrounded by Native American jewelry as well. We take inspiration from older jewelry and also how a modern day woman wears her jewelry. Jeri Lynn does a lot of weaving and crocheting techniques while Mark brings in his expertise in Native American jewelry. As designers, we tend to get ideas from many different places, even sculptures around town."