Brook and Laurie started Brookmarks to, well, sell a unique product. There are not so many shops out there that specialize in bookmarks. Seemed like a niche market, and it has worked quite well for us.
We have accumulated fabulous maters over the years to make all sorts of fun markers to stick between the pages of books. The most popular have been the hand stamped quotes~! But notice how the general feel of the bookmarks in like jewelry. That is because Brook and Laurie are jewelers. It is their day job... how they pay the bills. Thousands of their dichroic fused glass jewelry and functional items can be seen in their Hayden Brook Shop right here on etsy~! This Brookmarks shop was started as a hobby. A way to use other materials. So many other materials!
And yet, Laurie must return to her first love. Making jewelry. See, jewelry is personal wearable sculpture. Women go crazy for jewelry. Women can own many pieces, and change how they look on a daily basis. Change how they feel, just by changing their jewelry. Jewelry is magic!
So here in our Brookmarks shop, you can find the fun hobby side of what a professional jeweler does in the down time. Take it seriously, because this is great stuff. But let the love and joy in each piece, whether jewelry or bookmark, get into your soul. We love what we do, and you will feel that when you hold Brookmarks in your hands!
Thank you for shopping with us. We really appreciate you. Truly! You help us to live a dream come true.
More personal stuff...
Laurie Hayden and Brook Bergey “met” at their 10 year high school reunion. They had never spoken to each other until that day. In fact, they each had led quite unique lives in the interim which prepared them to be very compatible when they finally did come together.
Hayden went to the University of Pennsylvania, and then immediately joined the Peace Corps after college. She lived in Africa, and then Jamaica, and travelled extensively in Europe, Africa, and North America. When she returned to the USA, she worked in the field of Art Conservation at Hearst Castle, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Fusing glass was a passion that happened by accident along the way. When Hayden bought her glass kiln, she couldn’t stop making glass. She says, “I had a big pile of jewelry already made, but what I needed was more glass. So, I had to start selling my jewelry to feed my new hobby.” The hobby turned into a business almost instantly, and has matured and been refined over the last 17 years. The colors of Hayden’s many travels is all over the jewelry lines.
While Hayden was exploring Africa, Brook was lying in a hospital fighting to stay alive. He had gotten in a car accident, and suffered a severe head injury, a broken neck, and a severed spine. While the head and neck trauma were healed miraculously, the severed spine left him paralyzed, for now. Well, this did not stop Brook from living life to the fullest. After the accident, he went to Temple University and graduated, Cum Laude, with a degree in Art and Art Education. Although his scholastic training was in 2D design and color theory, he was a clay artist when he and Hayden met, in 1993. When they started the business together, they sold both pottery and jewelry. But, women love their jewels, so eventually the Dichroic glass jewelry became the main focus of Hayden Brook Studios. Of Brook, Hayden says, “He is more alive, more secure, and in better shape than almost anyone I have ever met. He rides his bike thousands of miles each year!!”
Since 1994, Hayden Brook Studios has been selling finely crafted dichroic fused glass jewelry. (Link to the Hayden Brook Line: https://www.etsy.com/shop/HaydenBrook)