Jewels Make Designer Rich in Life

Jewelry designer Jill Willey

Covered in glittering gems of blue, green, and almost every other color in the rainbow, Jill Willey’s dining room is as close to a candy store for grown women as you are ever likely to find. Necklaces of every shape and length decorate the table, as shiny beaded earrings glisten from the corner of the room. As two women begin to “ooh” and “aah” over her designs, Willey calmly smiles, clearly enjoying the pleasure her jewelry brings to those who wear it.

That calm smile is the result of following a passion as it led Willey in a new direction. After spending 30 years in interior design and architecture, Willey experienced a change in creative focus in 2002. Following a chance encounter with a jewelry designer in a little shop in Arizona, Willey came home to Indiana with a necklace she made herself, and a new career. “I have always loved rocks and shells, and have been drawn to the sea. It just felt natural to put these stones together in a necklace,“ says Willey, sitting in her comfortably decorated living room. “Whenever I wore the necklace, I always received so many compliments, and other ladies started suggesting that I make them and have a trunk show to sell them.” Combining her love of natural elements and her experience as a designer, Willey began to craft necklaces, earrings, and bracelets, and JILLDUZAN Jewelry was born.

Willey has allowed her business to take a note from the organic elements that comprise her jewelry by letting the business evolve at its own pace without forcing rapid growth. “I am driven from an intuitive spirit. From a business perspective, I just do what feels right,“ says Willey. “I feel like what I do is more about the relationships I build than the jewelry I sell. The jewelry has been a conduit. I’d much rather stay small and take care of these relationships that I have made with people than turn it into a business just for the sake of business.”

Beginning with a few trunk shows a year, Willey has slowly added retail sales to the mix, and is in the early stages of partnering with a fine jeweler to design a line of rings. In January, Willey brought her daughter Brie, who has a background in fashion design, into the business. “It was a big step to bring Brie in full time, but she brings a great perspective. If we like something, we know that it will appeal to women of all age groups.”

The jewelry itself is an eclectic mix of metals and stones. Willey uses chains that are made in the American west by Navaho craftsmen, as well as chains made by metalsmiths in India. Willey says, “I feel like my pieces are an organic mix of geometry and design. I don’t want the jewelry to overshadow the wearer. I want it to bring out the natural beauty of a woman. I want people to notice the woman, not the necklace.” Each piece is unique in its own way, and one of Willey’s favorite pastimes is to watch clients combine pieces in ways she never intended during the design process. “There are no rules with my jewelry. Women put two or three pieces together that somehow just work, and just let it happen.” The JILLDUZAN line has price points ranging from the very affordable $60 for a simple necklace, up into the thousands for more complicated pieces. Willey says her designs are difficult to categorize, as they aren’t fine jewelry, but they are not costume either. “I think we offer something different for women, and I find that exciting.”

As the two clients circle Willey’s table while fawning over the jewels on display, Willey’s pride continues to be evident on her face. It is very clear how much she enjoys her craft, and the people it brings into her life. “It’s about the synergy of relationships. I think it is better to be rich in relationships than financially.” And the bonus of having a jewelry store in your dining room, well, that’s not bad either.

More information about where you can find JILLDUZAN and upcoming events may be found at www.jillduzan.com.