Hi there. My name is Ann Sanicola and I am here to share my story on how I escaped day to day drudgery to work at my passion which is fashion and handmade jewelry design.

It all started with play dough. I have a distinct memory of the first piece I made. Play dough beads and some kitchen twine and there it is!  My first necklace. I soon discovered I could trade those for toys. At the age of 11 I started visiting thrift stores, taking apart jewelry and repurposing it. But I met my true passion in college when I took my first soldering course. Working with metal is a love or hate thing. To me it was an apocalypse. I was hooked. Ever since then I have found both profound peace and utter excitement from playing with fire and metal.

I grew up being told that being an artist as a career was not an option.  Instead of going to art school like I wanted to, I studied business and then worked for many years on Wall Street. Jewelry making and teaching on and off was an occasional thing but something I couldn’t really make public. When I was offered a buy-out from my company it was a no-brainer. I left in 2003 take my jewelry full time and have never looked back.  Since 2012 I have also been teaching metalsmithing around the US.

I’m a  Gemini – hard to pin down- hard to stay focused on just one thing.  I don’t sketch too much either. I don’t even doodle. I am fascinated by how other designers first draw and then make. With me it’s different. It all starts with a stone or a component I’ve made and then some area of my artistic brain that I can’t name takes over and while music is playing I forge and combine metal and stone in one of a kind items. I have no idea where those are coming from but I sure know they come from a place of love. They are my pride and joy and I am happy to bring them to you to enjoy.

This free and intuitive creative process is apparent in my designs. Forms are eloquent, flowy and smooth, no harsh edges. They reflect the way I lead my life. Taking my stand but always seeking to understand and adapt. In a way, I feel my pieces choose me to bring them to life. Each and every piece is fabricated by hand from start to finish and this makes it unique. There is no way two of them can be exactly the same. Each of them has its own personality-even if only in the detail. But then, again, I believe that detail is where most of the important stuff lies.

I work with all kinds of metal and stone, from silver, diamonds and gold to semi-precious stones, brass, copper and nugold. You can say my favorite are the humble ones. I want my designs to be affordable and easy to wear rather than sit in a safe…

I aspire to design unique pieces with metal and stone for confident women who like to own and wear unique jewelry with a whimsical artistic touch.