It all started with a day of antiques shopping with her parents in Tennessee a couple of years ago. Neighborhood resident Kimberly Moore kept coming across lovely old costume jewelry — brooches, shoe clips, hat pins. “I thought, ‘People don’t really wear these anymore, and it’s too bad because it’s such beautiful work,’ ” she says. So she bought a few pieces and started thinking about how she could reuse this jewelry, from the ’20s through the ’50s, in a modern way. Cocktail rings were in style, and that’s how she came up with the idea for her eponymous jewelry line. Moore, who is a personal trainer, made one of her vintage pieces into a cocktail ring. “I wore it to an event, and someone asked me where I got it,” she says. “I told her I made it, and she offered to buy it off my hand.” Moore knew she was on to something. She went to gemology clubs and her jewelry-making friends to learn as much as she could about the craft. “I learned all about adhesives and epoxies,” she says. Now she sells her rings and cuffs, which she makes from larger vintage pieces, at The T Shop in Lakewood Shopping Center, as well as Mallie in Snider Plaza and Stephanie Ann in Highland Park Village. They cost $85-$95. Moore says marketing herself and her jewelry to retailers came naturally to her after her years as a self-employed trainer. “I’ve had my own business for 17 years,” she says. “I’ve had to market myself.” She also makes custom jewelry for people who bring her their favorite old pieces, typically from a mom, grandma or aunt. “I love the custom stuff because it’s so sentimental,” she says. “There were some amazing jewelers in the era I work with.” Moore still considers the jewelry a hobby. She works on it mostly at night, after her workday. “This is what I like to do, so it’s really fun for me,” she says.
Find more information at kimberlymoorerings.com.
