Etsy

Hi there, My name is Cristina Hurley, and I was born to make jewelry. I did not know that until I was about eighteen years old though. My mom met a friend in Woolworth's, which was CVS in our past lives, who was and still is a jewelry designer. We (my parents, sister and I) lived in Puerto Rico, and it was really hot and pretty boring if you weren't at the beach. So she told my mom to make me take a jewelry class with her. I loved it and never looked back.
I got better at it as time passed, and my teacher now mentor suggested I attend RISD. I had never heard of it and had planned on going to college to study marine biology, but for some reason figured she knew what she was talking about. I told my mom I wanted to go to RISD when I got home that day. By then I had been an apprentice for a while and needed a change of scenery. Being an apprentice is not fun.
Mom told me to apply and see what happened. I did and got a big envelope in the mail, not the small one. So I packed my bags and headed to Providence.
I got a pretty darn good albeit expensive education there(it was worth every penny). I think I'm a lot happier than I would be on a research boat in the middle of the North Atlantic in February too. I always thought it meant swimming with dolphins but now I'm older and wiser and know I'm much happier sitting at my bench making miniature sculptures that people can wear on their bodies(or not, if they so choose.)
I live in Massachusetts now and love the seasons and trees and clam chowder. Sometimes I still miss those beautiful beaches though....