The Lost Earring

This week’s color, Cold Harbor, brings me back to the earring that started everything. It too was a magical transparent — glass that revealed new colors every time it moved through the light. When I lost one of the pair, I began carrying the remaining earring with me. I asked everyone. Truly everyone - anyone who looked like they might possibly know. I was determined to solve the mystery of what it was made of.

Eventually someone had the answer. Glass.

So I bought some glass and a small kiln and started experimenting. And then the part of me shaped by my Pepère showed up. Years earlier he had suggested that loving history might not be the most reliable way to earn a living, which is how I ended up studying accounting and finance.

So I did what felt natural — I built a cost analysis spreadsheet to see if the numbers could work. The business side of the business matters, and that spreadsheet still sits at the heart of how I think about pricing today. Anyone who has paid attention to the metals market knows how much things change. When I started in 2000, silver was about $4 an ounce. This past January it climbed to around $125 an ounce. Materials shift, markets shift, and that little spreadsheet continues to help me keep the balance between making something beautiful and making a living.

The lost earring has never been matched, and the quest it began led me to a path I’m grateful to call my life.

If you’re curious about how it all unfolded, you can watch the short video here