Jewelry is a Powerful Storyteller
Stacey Fay Designs is founded on the idea that jewelry is powerful - it tells the story of the past, present and future, and helps us connect to our deepest hopes and dreams. Vintage and antique jewelry, in particular, holds the passions, love and energy of all the lives who once wore it, and now it's brought into this lifetime to be given another chance. There is nothing more special.
How did my own journey start? With some sea turtles, birds and warm weather in Costa Rica.
In my 20's I lived in Costa Rica for six months tagging sea turtles and birds for a conservation organization. While there, I became good friends with jewelers who sold their wares to tourists in the small village where I lived. Day in and day out I would watch them make beautiful macrame and sterling silver jewelry, and see them interact with customers. Occasionally they would teach me a few lessons. Needless to say, I was hooked. When I returned to the States, I started simple and small, with beaded jewelry. I adored the tactile sensation of making it, the ability to bring beauty into the world, and the smile on customers' faces when they wore my creations. I first opened my Etsy store in 2006, with the dream of selling to the wider world.
That chapter, however, was not meant to be. Soon after Costa Rica, I started full time at a busy nonprofit, and only a few years later lost my sister suddenly and devastatingly. I had neither the energy nor the passion to keep going with the business, and I never did bring the Etsy shop to life.
Fast forward to a few years ago, when loss again entered my life, this time with my mother. This grief brought many emotions full circle, and I felt a fire and determination to revisit the jewelry. I knew that the jewelry represented a powerful way to tell my own story - in all its ups and downs and complexities - and help others tap into their own. I also had the deep and unshakable recognition that life is very short, and too short not to live out your dreams.
Without much experience but with a determination to learn, I took classes, read countless books, and worked endless hours honing my craft. In 2015 my Etsy shop went live, and now in 2019, I am deepening my knowledge as a student at the Gemological Institute of America, pursuing my Graduate Gemologist degree.
I search far and wide for the vintage jewelry in the shop, saving those pieces from the fire and giving them a new chapter and life. My Memoir and wax seal jewelry, handmade start to finish in Philadelphia, holds the complex, messy and difficult stories of our lives, transforming that grief into something beautiful.
I am humbled and honored to offer more than jewelry - to offer talismans for your journey, and to help you tell your story through beautiful objects.
