VeruDesigns – The Tour

Welcome to our our jewelry love nest!

Over the last year I’ve received several e-mails and comments, asking me to share pictures of the space where I work.
I wasn’t sure why anyone would be interested in seeing the place where VeruDesigns jewelry is made, until I found myself feeling curious about another’s Artist studio.

So today I’m opening the doors of my studio for the first time ever!
I read somewhere that you can tell a lot about someone by they way their office and home is setup. I’m not sure what conclusions you’ll have after seeing my little place, but then again, there is nothing I can do about that 🙂

Either way, welcome and enjoy!

My VeruDesigns Studio is located on the 12th floor of a historic building in the heart of center city Philadelphia, next to some of the most inspiring theaters and Art Universities in the country.

Something you may not know, is that I share this office space with my husband’s company (Culture Spots), which surprisingly hasn’t prevented us from making our “corners” of the space a perfect reflection of who we are, what we like and what our businesses are all about.   The studio is approximately 330 square feet in size (around 31 square meters), with high ceilings and beautiful sunlight coming in all day, and it includes a lovely sitting space with a couch and coffee table, a kitchenette and bathroom of course.

For today’s reveal, I’ll share with you “my portion” of this space.  Enjoy!

The Desk:

My desk is everything, and the most important piece of furniture hands down.  This is where I draw, design, make jewelry with polymer clay, finish my pieces, prepare the packaging, do accounting, work on my computer, etc, etc. In other words, this is my everything place.  As such, I made sure it’s comfortable and very spacious.  It has everything I need, which includes all my key working tools as well as reminders of what is beautiful and important in my life. Because without inspiration, nothing can happen.

VIP Jewelry Storage:

My most recent creations are organized and carefully stored in this jewelry cabinet.  It’s a fairly small piece but incredibly efficient and just perfect for what it’s meant for.

My Ghost Chair:
If you’ve ever suffered any sort of discomfort from working at your desk for too long, there is a high chance that your chair might be the problem. I absolutely LOVE my chair. It’s super comfortable, beautiful, doesn’t take hardly any space and it’s very light and easy to move. But comfort for my body (and my back in particular), is key. It took me a while to find something that I love but would make me feel like sitting on the clouds. If you’re looking for a great chair, I recommend the ghost chair wholeheartedly. I found mine on amazon.com  🙂

Organization:

My space was designed in a way that would keep things nice, clean and organized at all times (even while making jewelry).  For some reason “chaos” puts me in a disconnected mood and takes my inspiration away. So organization is critical for the wellbeing of my soul and mind.  Everything is literally an arm-length away from me at all times, as you can see below 😉

Beauty:

I love flowers. In fact I need them. I need to be surrounded by beautiful things. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I believe that beauty is contagious, just like a cold or yawning.

Mementos:

There are so many in my space!  Here I share a few.

• One of my most precious ones is this picture of my brother Chris and I. You may have seen it on prior posts where I’ve written about him.  We both were so happy when this picture was taken, and it has become a daily reminder of his presence in my life now that he is not physically with us anymore.
• If you take a close look, you’ll notice a few pennies in the picture frame. These are some of the unexpected gifts that Chris left under my chair a few times to let me know he was there with me (at least I like to think so!).
• You can also see a very simple necklace hanging off the picture frame.  This is the very first polymer clay necklace I made, ever! It’s also the necklace that made me fall in love with polymer clay and was the seed behind VeruDesigns.
• In the back you’ll see one of the pictures of my wedding.  There is Cliff (in black and white) waiting for me at the altar. A beautiful day.

Books and Notebooks:

If you work with pictures, marketing or videos and adobe photoshop, these are the two guide books that have served me incredibly well! (LAYERS – The Complete Guide To Photoshop, and iPhone Obsessed)

Creative Tools:

When I’m not making jewelry, these are my two most important daily tools. My awesome mac computer, and my magical little pink and orange design notebook, which fits in all my bags and purses, and take with me everywhere, because ideas and inspiration can come anytime and I’ve learned to be ready to capture them!

Encouragement:

Like every artist, there are times when inspiration escapes me. It’s for times like this, or pretty much any other time, that I like having reminders of what VeruDesigns is all about.  I do that by displaying some of my favorite pieces in these lovely glass boxes for me to see. I normally rotate them based on the season, the time of the year or my mood.

My Wall Of Love:

My wall of pictures is soooooo powerful and important for me. I think everyone should have one. No matter what kind of day I’m having, this is what reminds me of what really matters, the abundance I have in love and loved ones. The truth is if we have people in our life that we love and loves us back, there is nothing else we need. But there are days I forget, and for those days, this wall puts me right back into my awareness of well being.

Customization:

I love making everything unique and beautiful. I got this idea for decorating my keyboard from another artist. I wish I’d remember her name or website! If you can recognize the artist who came up with this idea, please let me know so that I can add her name!

Details: 

Anything beautiful, feels beautiful because of its details.  One of my favorite details is this love note from my husband, who makes me feel more loved than I thought possible. But I also love my design pencils. These are my key tools for designing my jewelry on paper.

Affirmations:

I believe in affirmations. And my computer has become one of the ways I keep my favorite affirmations running in my consciousness.

THAT’S IT!

Thank you for visiting 🙂

It’s so important to surround yourself with things that matter to you and make you feel the way you want to feel. And I think this is true no matter what you do for a living or for fun. If you own your own business or work from home, keep in mind it doesn’t have to be too expensive either. Beauty is in the little things. For reference, all my cabinets, wall furniture and desk come from IKEA. My white desk organizers and jewelry glass display boxes come from West Elm, and the rest are small treasures that I made myself or found along the way.

Now that I’ve opened the doors to my creative place, tell me::

• What is your favorite office (or home) piece? (a piece of furniture, a decor item, a picture, a technology item?)
• Is there anything in particular you enjoyed the most about our little space?
• Was there anything else you would’ve liked to see and didn’t?

Leave your answer in the “COMMENTS” section at the bottom of this page.

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