Jackie Cohen’s journey to motherhood was not easy. After struggling for a year and a half to conceive, the creative director of Timeless Designs by Jacob & Bryan in New York City opted to adopt a baby. That decision paved the way for immediate and immense rewards—and some new designs in a new My Story birthstone jewelry collection.
“I had the fastest and easiest adoption,” she says. “And now I have more love than I could ever imagine.”
After a three-month maternity leave, she returned to her post at the bridal jewelry manufacturer and started thinking about a piece of mother’s jewelry to keep her daughter Julia close during the workday. Since Timeless Designs specializes in bridal jewelry, though, she didn’t have any options on hand to consider. So Cohen perused other vendors for an appealing piece. But that move was unsuccessful, too, so she once again took matters into her own hands by having one made in house.
“I never thought that I would be the typical mom who would want mom jewelry,” she says. “It didn’t occur to me until saw pieces at shows, and they convinced me that I did want something to remind me of Julia.”
Her creation? A ring with a baguette-cut citrine to mark Julia’s November birthday with diamond pavé on the band and Julia’s name engraved on the inside. She liked the simplicity of the piece and the fact that the baguette stood out. She became so smitten with it, in fact, that she built up a collection around it, complete with four petite stackable and layerable SKUs—two different ring options and two different necklaces—to tell personal stories in color.
“It’s a collection of cool mom’s jewelry and birthstone pieces,” she explains. “It’s called My Story because everyone has a special story of his or her own, and this is the story of journey to motherhood. This is my Julia story.”
Cohen adapted the baguette style into a necklace, converted an all-diamond Bubble band with milgrain edges (“That is very Timeless Designs,” she observes) that was already in inventory into a colored stone piece, and made another necklace with a baguette-cut focal point with pavé and disc motifs on the chain.
The collection officially debuted at JCK Las Vegas 2015, where upwards of 20 retailers placed orders. “The stacks were on almost every order, and buyers said ‘Give me a couple of those bar necklaces to try out, too,’ ” Cohen says. Made in 14k gold, baguette rings with 0.1 ct. center stones and 0.12 ct. diamond accents range in retail price from $850 to $1,250; round stacks with 0.22 ct. t.w. gemstones and 0.07 ct. t.w. diamond accents range from $745 to $1,155; bar necklaces with 0.12 ct.–0.14 ct. baguettes and 0.11 ct. t.w. diamonds range from $865 to $1,229; and necklaces with disc motifs, 0.12 ct.–0.14 ct. baguette-cut stones, and 0.07 ct. t.w. diamond accents start at $850.
Disc-motif birthstone mother’s necklaces in 14k gold with 0.12 ct.–0.14 ct. baguette-cut stones, and 0.07 ct. t.w. diamond accents start at $850.
Birthstone mother’s rings in 14k gold with 0.1 ct. baguette-cut center stones and 0.12 ct. diamond accents range in retail price from $850 to $1,250.
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