We were lucky to catch up with Rachel Berger recently and have shared our conversation below.

Rachel , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?

Am I happy being a creative? The simple answer is a resounding yes! But for me it been a winding road to fully get there. I was born to be a creative spirit…it’s just in my blood! My motto is: “The Beauty Is All In The Unique Details”. As early as a toddler, my dad photographed me sitting in a big field, holding and zeroing in on a single blade of grass, totally enamored.

Fast forward a few decades and my love of the natural world and attention to artistic details found nirvana when I started creating gemstone jewelry under my Clover B brand. Using ancient metalsmithing techniques to create meaningful pieces with my own 2 hands from start to finish is so fulfilling to me.

But when you ask if I think about having a regular job, I sometimes feel like I’m living a double life. You see, I’ve actually also been working as a physical therapist for the past 25 years. I was given the message that I couldn’t “make it” as a working artist and I should pursue a more reliable career. So I chose a traditional profession, and while I’m good at it and it’s provided a steady income, it’s not fulfilling to me the way that my metalsmithing is. I’ve been doing both for the past 10 years, and, inching closer and closer to doing less PT and more of my jewelry biz. But at times, there’s that uncertain voice in my head saying, “What will people think if your job is just about making pretty things? It’s very indulgent”. “Your PT work actually helps people, people don’t need jewelry”… “and what a silly notion to want to pursue your passions, you need a predictable, solid career with steady income flow”. These messages and the fear of being judged by others for taking a nontraditional path have held me back from following my true calling, so instead, I’ve been burning the candle at both ends and haven’t been able to focus my best efforts on any one thing…and more importantly, to do what I love.

I had some new insights on this when something profound and heartbreaking and eye-opening happened to me a few months ago and made me take a closer look at my career choices. It gave me the final push to decide to pursue my metalsmithing full time. My mom, who was my best and closest friend, passed away suddenly at 81 years young. Although she lived a wonderful life, it made me think about the finite amount of time we’re given to spend on this earth. She wasn’t planning to leave us right yet, there was more she wanted to do and experience in life. And it was so hard to say goodbye to her. None of us really know how long we’ll be here nor do we have full control over it. If I live to be my mom’s age, I have less than 30 years to make things count. What do I want to do in those years? The resounding feeling deep in my bones is that I want to live a creative life fully. I want to saw and hammer and melt and fuse metal. I want to set sparkling and powerful gemstones for people to wear as meaningful adornments and can be handed down through generations. I want to hone my craft and find my full potential in my creative expression. I want to have apprentices so I can teach others an ancient art that’s been practiced over centuries. I want to work deeply in my creative zone and make mistakes, refine and perfect. Above all, I want to make a choice based on what feels right and not based on a fear of what others may think.

My mom was very wise and has been one of my best teachers. I like to think that in her final act on this earth, her passing, she taught me a very valuable lesson about being true to myself and seizing the day. It reminds me of one of my favorite poems by Robert Frost, The Road Not Taken, the last 3 lines ring true:
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I’m the maker behind Clover B, a handcrafted line of one-of-a-kind gemstone jewelry using old world craft traditions that transcend the trends of the moment. Each piece is timelessly expressive and is something you’ll love to wear as much when you’re 80 as you did when you were 25. The stars of each Clover B piece are handpicked gemstones from around the globe, each telling their distinct story based on place of origin, color patterns, stone meanings or cut. The most exciting part of my work is when the finished piece with it’s unique stone finds it’s equally unique person, a perfect pairing.

I know it’s the carefully selected little things that can really set you apart from the rest and allow you to express who you are without having to even say a word. There’s an effortless elegance and natural style that I’m going for with each Clover B piece, because I believe the right jewelry can reflect a part of you whether you’re wearing a vibrant turquoise ring that adds a pop of color to your day or layers of delicate opal necklaces that enhance a feminine neckline of your favorite dress. There’s also something so powerful about wearing a piece of jewelry that enhances your natural beauty and was made by hand with love and intention.

At my core, I have always been a maker. I love building things with my own 2 hands with patience, imagination, experimentation and honing a craft that has been passed down through time. After taking my first metalsmithing class, I was hooked. Combining these skills with the power and beauty of gemstones really sealed the deal for me and I embarked on a personal quest to learn all I could about creating natural gemstone jewelry by hand from start to finish.

There’s something so meaningful about taking one of mother nature’s most beautiful creations (gemstones) and mixing them with tooled metals into a piece that can be worn everyday as a small work of art.

It’s also my way of honoring the child in all of us. As a girl, I could be found spending recess on the baseball field, searching the crushed stone piles for little glints of light, “fools gold” (aka pyrite). I could have stared at that field for hours to find those treasures! Today my “adult rock collection” is filled with gems and minerals. I love to carefully handpick each gemstone used in my work and select materials from stone cutters and suppliers that prioritize sustainability. A goal this year for me is to focus more on reducing waste and recycling all my metal scraps by melting down and rolling out into new sheet metal using my newly acquired rolling mill. Keeping the environment in mind in and using ethically and sustainably sourced materials is really important to me.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

Before I became a metalsmith, I worked in the healthcare field as a physical therapist and saw first hand how important it is to focus on self care.

Helping my clients prioritize their wellbeing became the cornerstone of my work, and though it might seem odd, it’s one of the most meaningful aspects of my work as a jewelry artisan, too.

From the moment you start searching for that perfect piece that reflects your individuality to the moment it’s actually yours–lighting up your spirit each time you look down at your hands or touch your neck–it’s giving yourself a little bit of wellness, too. The kind of self-love that gives you that outer glow.

If I can help you to feel more beautiful each day when you look at your dangling sapphire earrings in the mirror or help you express your true nature with a healing gemstone that can bring out your most important qualities, I feel my work is fulfilled!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I’m working to rewrite some of the negative, fear based messages I was told starting out. Although I was raised with lots of love and encouragement and even encouraged to pursue creative enrichment, there was also a good dose of fear mixed in…fear of not succeeding, fear of not having enough money, fear of not being capable if I chose a nontraditional, less structured path,. I needed to turn these messages around and tell myself they weren’t a reality, but just stories that were told to me to try to protect me.

I understand that these “stories” were told out of love and concern, but they stopped me in my tracks from pursuing my true calling (at least for a little while). So I’ve been working on pushing through and flipping those recordings in my head and working towards writing a new script to live by:

I am capable of pursuing a nontraditional path.
I can thrive living a creative life full of innovative ideas, creative problem solving and self expression.
I can have a successful career as a metalsmith.
The path is very doable with the right tools in place: planning, consistency, time management, and outsourcing.

I believe if you open yourself up and start thinking of all the possibilities and creative ideas to run your business, it will introduce you to new paths that didn’t even occur to you originally. The only thing holding me back is the limiting beliefs. I’m excited to see how things continue to unfold as new opportunities present themselves and I continue change my mindset.

“As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.clover-b.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/clover_b_jewelry
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/cloverbjewelry

Image Credits
Photography: Maaike Bernstrom Models: Tori McGuinness & Becca Mattis