Tiny Erica Jewelry celebrates who we are & who we love with a unique and inclusive collection that’s designed on paper, crafted by hand, and built to last.
The jewelry we choose to wear on a daily basis is often a reflection of our values, who we are, and who & what we love. It can be expressive, inspiring, and empowering; and it often serves to memorialize and celebrate our special moments and milestones, large and tiny. This is why crafting inclusive, high quality, and customizable pieces with a detail-oriented personal touch is such an important tenet of Tiny Erica Jewelry. Everything is thoughtfully designed on paper, crafted by hand, and made to last to reflect what matters most to YOU.
My hope is that these pieces will become well-loved and lived-in everyday staples that move with you, live with you, and go wherever you go. Whether it’s an everyday essential you’ve purchased from the collection or a deeply personal one-of-a-kind custom piece we’ve designed together, Tiny Erica Jewelry aims to create beautiful, versatile, lasting jewelry pieces that express your style and celebrate your stories and values.
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THE PROCESS...
Metalsmithing and jewelry making have always been practices of mindfulness and playful exploration for me: from the ideas that strike after many long hours of brainstorming (or occasionally in a moment's notice), to the process of sketching and editing designs, then finally working with my own two hands to carefully build out each piece or collection — forging, fabricating, soldering, polishing, stone setting, and more. It’s artful, expressive, even challenging at times, and with nearly every piece of jewelry I make I learn something new about the process.
It’s such a joy to welcome clients into this creative and immersive practice with bespoke custom work. The design process is a chance to tap into your creative side, to commemorate your stories in everlasting precious metal + gemstones, and I'm always thrilled to work with my clients to create unique wearable treasures you can impart your own personal stories and meaning upon. If you're interested in designing your very own one-of-a-kind custom piece, be it your engagement ring or wedding band suite, a special birthday or anniversary gift, or even a special "just because" piece, I'd be so honored to work with you!
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A LITTLE HISTORY...
In 2009 I graduated from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania with my BFA, dual-concentrating in graphic design and metalsmithing. Soon after, I found my first job in the jewelry industry as the bench jeweler for a mom-and-pop jewelry store in my hometown where I repaired heirloom pieces and built one of a kind custom designs for the shop's clientele. Eventually I relocated to Cleveland and worked for several years as a metalsmith for another independent jewelry company — All the while I’d slowly been saving up and investing in tools and equipment for my own private studio. Tiny Erica Jewelry as we know it today soft launched in late-2014, and a year and a half later I made the jump to dedicate myself full-time to Tiny Erica Jewelry. Through early 2020 I regularly traveled the region to showcase my work at local craft shows and juried fine art festivals, and today you can shop my work here in my Etsy storefront as well as several brick and mortar fine art galleries in the greater Cleveland area: Heights Arts Gallery in the Cedar Lee neighborhood of Cleveland Heights, and The W Gallery, which just opened its brand new location in Rocky River.
As of the 2025 holiday season I'm re-entering the world of selling my work at craft shows so please be gentle with me as I brush up on my in-person sales skills, lol.
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SUSTAINABILITY + QUALITY...
Sustainability is a continuous effort, and I'm always striving to find better, safer, and more environmentally sound ways of sourcing my materials, crafting the work, and shipping your orders.
Assessing Quality...
When assessing the value, quality, and ethics of handmade jewelry there are a handful of questions I always encourage folks to ask about a potential purchase. If a piece is priced significantly under typical market value it may be too good to be true, so it's worth taking some time to ponder the following:
1. Who is making this piece? Is it truly handmade by humans or is it mass-manufactured/drop-shipped?
2. Is the artist/studio making this work doing so in safe working conditions while earning a fair, living wage?
3. How were the materials used to make the piece sourced? Were they procured from certified suppliers?
4. When was the piece completed, and what did the metal market look like at that time? What does the metal market look like currently? The gold and silver markets have a big impact on material costs!
The Jewelry...
Each piece of jewelry in the collection is hand-crafted using best practices and materials sourced from well-reputed suppliers with whom I have long-standing relationships such as Rio Grande and Stuller. Precious metals are sourced from companies that recycle and refine existing gold and silver into fresh, clean pieces of sheet, wire, and casting grains. Scrap metal I acquire over the course of crafting the work here in my studio is in turn sorted and melted down in-house into little nuggets, ingots, and sheet for future use in my work. Diamonds and other precious gemstones are sourced from trustworthy and established suppliers that operate under industry-specific vendor codes of conduct. I also really love working with lab-created gemstones, as they're responsibly manufactured in a safe, clean, and conflict-free laboratory environment, but they still generally have the same chemical and physical (refractive and reflective) properties as their earth-mined counterparts. They're also often a lot more affordable than those earth-mined counterparts. Some of my favorite lab-created stones to work with are moissanites and lab-created emeralds!
The Packaging...
My cardboard gift boxes are made in the USA from 30% post-consumer recycled canvas paper and 100% recycled cardboard. Padded paper mailers and corrugated shipping boxes are both sourced from EcoEnclose and made in the USA with 100% recycled and recyclable content. Kraft paper void fill is collected and saved from my own packages received in the mail so that it may later be reused in TEJ's outgoing parcels. Jewelry cards for earrings, rings, necklaces, and tie bars are printed on FSC-certified, 100% recyclable hemp card stock, and finally business cards and jewelry care cards are printed on recyclable card stock.
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Thanks for visiting my shop today. Please keep in touch — I'd love to work with you.