We recently connected with Gillian Trask and have shared our conversation below.

Gillian, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

I knew that I wanted to start my own jewelry line, and be my own boss. Thankfully, SCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design, allowed me to tailor my Masters study around building this business. Midway through my husband and I got pregnant with Gabriella.

Mind you, I was heavily pregnant with Gabby, so I wasn’t getting much sleep, if any. I’ll never forget the night that I had a big project due. I remember trying to push myself on the technical side- straight lines and lots of detail. I wanted to see how precise I could be. Practice makes perfect, right?

It was around 3 or 4 in the morning, exhausted, hormonal and hungry when I accidentally melted a huge side of my piece. That wasn’t the only thing that melted down! I was so upset, but then I got angry. I started melting the whole damn thing. I furiously pulled pieces apart, and melted them back together. I added and subtracted to this mini-sculpture thing that now looked like how I felt. Beat up and spit back out. And I LOVED it. I finally found a way to alchemize all of those feelings into something, hopefully and eventually, beautiful. It was euphoric.

That’s how I found my artistic voice with my jewelry for Gillian Trask.

Gillian, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

It was my store getting held up at gunpoint while I was on bereavement leave from my father’s passing, that motivated me to go back to school for my Masters degree in Jewelry at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).

I grew up in New Jersey, New York and Virginia as a daughter of a government contracting business owner, and graduated James Madison University with a BFA, and then earned my second BFA with a concentration in Graphic Design, from California Institute of the Arts. I had minored in Art History and in Jewelry Design at JMU, but ended up following my Dad’s advice of pursuing graphic design for the potential stability it could offer, financially.

I really didn’t enjoy graphic design, and truthfully didn’t feel like I was very good at it, so by 2008, I had moved to Dunedin, Florida, where I worked in luxury retail and jewelry and worked my way up to management. It gave me the business experience I needed. I loved forming the relationships with my customers. I also loved setting an example for my team and associates. They became like family to me.

When my Dad got terminally ill, I moved back to Hilton Head, SC (Where my parents had retired) to help my mother care for him. I was so grateful that the company (and my management) I worked for was open to my transfer to be with my Dad.
After my father passed, and my store was robbed, I thought to myself, “If I’m going to do something, I want it to be important. Be something I love. And I want to give back.”

Literally that same week, I met my now husband, Zack, who encouraged me to go back to school. My goal was to create a recognizable line of jewelry, something that would be uniquely mine, with pieces that I absolutely love creating.”

It was when I was working on a piece for like, three weeks, and pregnant with my daughter, Gabby, that my inspiration came. It wasn’t happy at the time – I melted my whole damn project. It wasn’t the only thing that melted down! But out of that meltdown, came a new technique was born.

I had a breakthrough, melting and sculpting the sterling while it was in a molten liquid state. I loved pushing the boundaries of what sterling and gold can do by melting it down and then riding that fine line between complete destruction and the creation of something empowering and unconventionally primal and beautiful.

From wining Top Ten for The Halstead Grant, 2019, getting appointed the Ambassador for Metal & Smith Show in 2020, wining Honorable Mention in the International Design Awards for the Star Ring in 2021, it’s been a whirlwind since I started focusing on Gillian Trask in 2019.

I started to recognize the need to give back to the community, so very early on, I became a friend to our local Savannah Chatham CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates for Foster Children), donating a portion of the proceeds to help these amazing and highly trained volunteers.

This May, I performed in their Annual Dancing with the Stars event and raised 18k for CASA. Then in October, I was grateful to be invited to the Milano Jewelry Week to showcase some of my pieces in the Artistar Exhibition in Milan, Italy. It was truly a remarkable experience and I’m already planning a collection to showcase for next year.

Have you ever had to pivot?

Isn’t 2020’s keyword for business, “Pivot”? I’m forever reminded of Chandler from “Friends” trying to carry a couch up the impossibly steep stairs. It’s exactly what it felt like, for sure!

To keep relevant, I had just launched my website and joined an amazing group of people and coaches called Flourish & Thrive, spearheaded by an incredibly talented jewelry designer, Tracy Matthews. Collectively we would brainstorm and quickly started to utilize social media to sell to our customers. I would go ‘live’ for my shows every other week, and truthfully, it’s what really helped me launch my business! Being able to connect to the masses is what gave Gillian Trask the foundation to continue.

Now, having the skill and experience of speaking in front of a camera is something I truly enjoy, so now when I create my Reels for Instagram, or Tik Tok, it’s much easier and hopefully, engaging.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

(See previous melting process)

Each and every piece is hand melted and sculpted. It’s almost bigger than me, when I’m working. Meditative, even. I am truly at my happiest when I’m creating pieces and playing with fire. How many people get to say that? That they get to play with fire and metal for a living?

Each piece is a test. I never know how it will be received. Sometimes I’ll create an entire collection. I haven’t really had any fails, just slow-moving product. I don’t consider that to be anything other than that particular piece just hasn’t found it’s special person yet. I’m okay with that. They are meant to make others feel good, and empower, so I try to infuse each piece with that energy.

Contact Info:

• Website: gilliantrask.com
• Instagram: gillian_trask_jewelry
• Facebook:Gillian Trask Jewelry
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/gilliantrask0521
• Other: Tik Tok: gillian_trask_jewelry

Image Credits
Headshot: Shot By Somi (https://www.shotbysomi.com) Empowerment Cuff by Valentin Sivyakov