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How did your career as a jewelry designer begin?
It began as a tiptoe, I would say, around 2000. At that time I was making jewelry and selling it on consignment in a few stores, starting in SF, then moving into LA, Chicago and NYC. It became a career when I started with The News showroom in 2004. I had no employees or spec sheets or any idea how to ship packages - and here they were going to Paris and Japan. I didn't even know how to organize my paperwork and files. At the time I had one of those candy colored Macs (orange for me!). And a friend came over and showed me how to make folders for incoming and completed orders, loan forms for press. One of so many revelations when I was just first starting out!
Tell us about your namesake jewelry brand, Anna Sheffield!
So much to say to that question! The brand is many things from dream job to labor-of-love, time spent with sparkle and in creative fulfillment to facing incredibly challenging hurdles. The biggest secret to tell is it's hard to tease apart me from the brand. Being an artist that runs a company doesn't instantly remove those artist tendencies. So, I lean heavily into my creativity in all things, and though I technically design jewelry, there is so much more creative output - from problem solving in my CEO hat, to spinning the gold of brand marketing: storytelling, creative direction and even prop styling or shooting our content and campaign imagery. The making is where I am most inspired.
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What’s your favorite part about the New York design community?
Foremost, the solidarity. I love that designers and creatives, as well as craftspeople, showroom owners, curators - the community at large is generous with support and encouragement. Second would be the inspiration. There is an absolute wellspring of creative talent and innovation coming out of New York City and around (upstate friends are making magic too!).
We love your new line of decorative + ritual objects, Objects, The Ver Series. What inspired you to add pieces like this to your brand's offerings?
At first I was interested in adding housewares, but sending drawings to a factory didn't feel aligned with my intent. During the pandemic I attended an artist residency at Pocoapoco in Oaxaca, and that experience shifted my perspective on pretty much everything. It was an inflection point in my career, turning the brand inside out, exploring what I most want to bring into the world. It turns out I want to teach and share my personal take on beauty, through connection - the basics of that are intentionality, spirituality, wonderment. So I started writing more (substack has been an amazing vehicle for that), and making these things that became the Ver Series which are sort of altar pieces or objects to create personal rituals with (think taking off your jewelry in the most artful way). I also make pieces that live in the intersection of art and decorative objects - larger scale, similar materials. And I am co-facilitating a workshop series called “Object/s & Us.”
How does your background as a sculptor inform the style of your jewelry and object pieces?
I feel that each has a sense of presence, of hand, a love for natural materials, and if not utility, then some kind of meaning. I love the tiny details, and the way things feel on your body or in your hand. That throughline has always been there and exists, I think, in my photos and writing as well. I love to play with contrasts and create harmony from disparate elements... whether putting a unique piece of quartz into a gold and diamond ring to pairing the mirror finish of
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