 |
Sarah Jane: The Story
Behind the Stories
Saint by Sarah Jane bears more than just the name of its designer and founder. It conveys her spirit, too. Of optimism. Hope. Encouragement. And people respond. At trunk shows women gather, slipping on the jewelry, listening to Sarah Jane tell the story each piece embodies. And they share, too. They tell about the Saint pieces they’ve collected and what they mean to them. The stories tumble out. How they never take an important meeting without wearing their Bee earrings. How a daughter still delights in the gift of a butterfly necklace. How nothing makes them feel quite like Saint does.
Finding Her Muse
When Sarah Jane began designing jewelry, she sought inspiration. “I saw a lot of beautiful work, but nothing connected with me,” Sarah Jane says. “I was looking for meaning.” She found it in the world around her. Time spent studying in Paris as a young woman ignited her creativity and taught her to see the beauty in everyday details – from the patterns of bricks laid in a pathway to the symmetry of trees lining a boulevard. “Paris is where I really learned to use my eyes.”
Sarah Jane’s Blossom line, launched in 1997, symbolizes newfound friendships, laughter and growth. In its creation, Sarah Jane tried to capture the emotions she felt while sketching on a sunny Tuileries Garden park bench. “I made so many memories with my friends there – watching children playing, lovers meeting and hurried Parisians taking shortcuts through the garden.” The spirit of the centuries-old park with its reflecting pools and acres of formal gardens can be felt in Blossom’s classical patterns and intertwined flora.
Her signature Bee collection followed, with others in rapid succession. Nature continues to be her muse. Daily walks in the Sonoran Desert near her adopted home of Scottsdale, Arizona, feed her soul. “I find life and spirit in hiking,” she says, “and in giving myself time for reflection and listening to my inner voice.”
|
|
|
|
An Eye for Design
That voice has always been there, urging her to create. As a young girl in Kansas, Sarah Jane was fascinated by color and design. She obsessed over fashion magazines, ripping out images and organizing them for future reference. Her closet was her “fashion temple” with posters she created from spreads out of W or Vogue. She filled notebooks with all her favorite looks. Even having to wear a school uniform didn’t daunt her. “I saw it as an opportunity to accessorize,” she says with a laugh. It was a skill even her mother tapped into, often calling Sarah Jane into her room to help put together an outfit. “We’d have so much fun,” Sarah Jane says, “and it made me feel really special.”
Everything Sarah Jane designs stems from her personal experience – even the signature woven patterns that tie most of her pieces together. Inspiration for the Julep pattern came from the oversized, woven-cane rocking chairs used by her very Southern grandmother and grandfather.
“They’d rock and sip their mint-julep teas out on the porch, while my cousin and I would drink soda pop, giggle and try to catch lightning bugs. I try to weave those tender memories into my jewelry.”
From Student to Master
Sarah Jane honed her designer’s eye at Woodbury University in Los Angeles and the Paris Fashion Institute. She spent four years in New York City working with luxury-designer Barry Kieselstein-Cord. She then moved to the great Southwest, where she launched Saint by Sarah Jane. Loyal to her native roots, she found artisans back in the Midwest who painstakingly forge her designs from precious metals, stones and gems. Collectors can find Saint nationwide in such leading retailers as Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue. Her collections’ artistry and craftsmanship give them an immediate heirloom quality. Their classic yet contemporary designs easily move from day to evening.
Today, Sarah Jane continues to develop new collections – and passionate collectors – as she attends trunk shows and industry events nationwide. Business is good. More importantly, her jewelry is having the desired effect. “I set out to create pieces of jewelry that were almost like small embraces,” she says. “It’s very rewarding for me to see that they really do function that way. The pieces seem to bring comfort to the wearer, almost as if they have some sort of human touch. Saint has soul.”
|
