UrbanOceans Designs

My physical environment inspires UrbanOceans Designs. There is such an endless amount of stimuli from both of my “homes” – the island life on Maui and the constant hum and energy of the San Francisco city life-style. Visuals often come to mind such as grey, silver, blues, skyscrapers, edges, hard lines which are paired with tones of sand, waves, sea salt, turquoise, nature and ocean creatures.

When I was pre-teen, I loved buying beads and making beaded jewelry and did so through high school, bead shops were my favorite! I had a desire to create and wanted to learn to work with metal, so I took some classes in Oakland, CA at The Crucible, continued learning at Scintillant Studio in San Francisco and then Hui No’eau Visual Arts Center on Maui.

I always have loved silver, but have received many requests for gold, so going to start with gold-filled as a new option for some of my pieces.

Creativity has always been something that clicks for me. When moving to Maui, I went to University of Hawaii- Maui College and used my love and passion for jewelry as my business idea throughout the Applied Business & Information Technology (ABIT) program. I graduated there with a Bachelor of Applied Science degree.

Early on, higher education was encouraged and I floundered quite a bit when exploring what I wanted to do “when I grew up”. Out of high school I went to Empire College in CA, a business school and went through their stenography program. I did not complete the program, but gained a lot of useful business skills to supplement my job skills that I could offer. School/ education has always been the motivation, but it wasn’t until I moved to San Francisco and found the California School of Professional Fabric Design that I began the dive into creativity. However, I realized that I wanted to get back to jewelry making and started taking community classes in the metalsmithing department at The Crucible in Oakland, CA.

Focus is always a challenge; there is never enough time in a day!

Working with any metal is an ongoing challenge. If one is willing to learn and try new things, the processes, tips and tricks and techniques are ENDLESS. Constant change feeds my soul.

I love to explore new ideas by taking art classes in different mediums; my current favorites are printmaking and encaustic painting. In taking classes outside the jewelry perspective, new ideas are spurred across the board for jewelry and other art projects. Another way I like to come up with new ideas is to create pieces for local art exhibitions; many of my designs have come out of the larger bold pieces that are created for miscellaneous exhibitions.

Being all things (maker, bookkeeper, web designer, marketing/ social media etc.)! As business grows, I will be to delegate different aspects of the business.

I love house music, old techno and love listening to podcasts or my current TV series while in the studio!