Interview with Jewelry Designer Maureen Tuohy

Hope you saw the Pollen Jewelry giveaway that started yesterday. Please enter! It's been an exciting kickoff already. I am  so happy to welcome Maureen from Pollen Jewelry for an interview today. I thought you would love to know more about her and the great necklace we are giving away.

I’ve known Maureen for almost five years and she wears the most fantastic jewelry every day. It was always fun to see her each day at work and see what beautiful accessories she was wearing. I quickly became a customer as did a lot of other people.

Kalanicut:  Tell us a little about the beautiful necklace you are giving away here this week.

Maureen:  The necklace has a faceted teardrop blue chalcedony, gold tone African trade beads, and lavender freshwater pearl accents.


Kalanicut:  How did you get started making jewelry?

Maureen:  I'd always admired people who could make their own jewelry then had the opportunity to learn some of the basic skills on a dare. A few co-workers and I formed a club called Project Funway where we gave each other challenges to design and sew clothes for our models (dolls from the dollar store). One challenge had us make jewelry for ourselves, and a friend took me to the bead store and showed me the basics and I've been addicted to it ever since.

Kalanicut:  What feeds your passion for jewelry design?

Maureen:  Beads are like candy for grown-ups - pretty and shiny, with endless possibilities for designs. I love creating visual motifs and patterns, and I love how much my sense of style has evolved over the 2 years I have been doing it.

Kalanicut:  How did you go from creating jewelry as a hobby to creating your business?

Maureen:  I didn't plan on turning this into a little business venture but friends and co-workers would see my work and offer to buy it, and that continues to happen. I've thrown a few open studio parties and used Facebook to get friends to share the invite with others. And I just opened the Etsy site.

The selling part has become a function of necessity - I just have so much jewelry and want to make more because I love it so much. I have to put myself out there and share my passion so that I can keep doing it, and it's so satisfying to connect with others over a mutual passion, or the love of designing and crafting.

Kalanicut:  How did you come up with the name Pollen Jewelry?

Maureen:  The name Pollen has a couple of inspirations. I like that it conjures nature. Pollen is what fuels nature, it is all the plants and flowers pro-creating. It is what gives us all the flowers and plants. It is how nature constantly recreates itself.

Kalanicut:  I know you work in semi-precious stones. What are your favorite materials to work with? 

Maureen:  My favorite materials are: pyrite, turquoise, labradorite, rock quartz and agates.

Kalanicut:  Thanks so much Maureen for sharing about your art, business and passion for jewelry making. All your fans are so excited to see your business grow!

You can enter the Pollen Jewelry giveaway here. (THIS GIVEAWAY CLOSED)

And as a very cool added bonus, Maureen has graciously given kalanicut readers a great way to save 15% on your entire purchase between now and the end of the year! Enter Coupon Code PJ001 when you make your Etsy purchase. What a great deal! Shop quickly for last minute holiday purchases and then buy yourself something after Christmas!

Have a Happy Wednesday. Hope you are enjoying the holiday season in all the ways you'd hoped.


all photography from Pollen Jewelry