We were lucky to catch up with Erika Rosenbaum recently and have shared our conversation below.

Erika, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

If I had it to do over, I wish I began my creative career sooner. My jewelry career started slowly by taking classes at night as a hobby. As time went on, I became more fascinated with the jewelry process and eventually took a job in the luxury/high end craft business. I started participating in small retail craft shows while holding a regular job and did this for several years before transitioning to a full-time commitment to jewelry as a business.

Although many positive things came out of this, I often wondered what it would have been like if I went to school for Fine Arts from the beginning and continued on to a career in the arts, either in jewelry or perhaps going on for a master’s to prepare for being a Museum Curator. Even though I was exposed to the arts in general and handmade craft through my family, it was not considered a wise career choice to be an artist. I often bought art jewelry for myself from High School on and was always curious about the process and loved those pieces.

I do feel lucky that I have been able to explore my jewelry interests while developing other marketable skills since as we all know it is challenging to earn a living doing our art.

Erika, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Whether it was a summer trinket picked up during childhood trips to Maine or a family gift, jewelry has been a fascination for me from a young age. Hands-on jewelry design started with evening classes in Metalsmithing, while working full time in Human Resources. The process of working in metal by hand became an obsession and a wonderful balance to my full-time regular job.

This ultimately led to a passion to create timeless, personal jewelry and transition to a new career. Formerly the Gallery Director at Aaron Faber Gallery, I was further inspired by marketing studio jewelry, & launching exhibitions of handmade studio jewelry artists. My interest is in clean, elegant designs that are nature inspired, fabricated in sterling and gold with vibrant gemstones. Collections include unique handmade works & limited series. Organic yet sophisticated.

The collections featured in the photo section are the CPW collection inspired by my walks through Central Park and the various textures in the tree trunks. The Wave collection is inspired by early years spent on the beach in Maine, starting my love of the ocean and days on the beach.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

Sometimes well-meaning friends and relatives will suggest to me the types of jewelry and/or other related products I should be making. Often this reflects a trend or better option to perhaps make more money. It all depends upon your mission or the reason you make what you make.

There are times when an artist should absolutely re-evaluate their art but in my opinion that comes from actual customer feedback or learning a new technique that you would like to integrate into your collection. If you’re an artist on a journey of your own discovery, uniqueness, it isn’t well received when a non-artist speaks with authority about what you should be trying to do.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

As corny as it sounds, knowing that some customers appreciate my work enough to collect it over time. Jewelry has that wonderful aspect that it’s personal and can be passed down through the generations. This motivates me to use quality materials with excellent workmanship. Although I do some pieces that are multiples, I get great satisfaction from the one-of-a-kind pieces that one can’t exactly reproduce, each one is its own.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.erikarosenbaumdesign.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/erdjewelry/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikarosenbaum/

Image Credits
Don Kozusko, DK Photo Imaging Barry Wisotsky