How did your career start as a jewelry designer?
I didn’t come to jewelry through a traditional fashion route. I started making pieces very organically, initially for myself and the people around me, while I was still working at Sotheby’s. Being surrounded by art and collectible objects every day sharpened my understanding of what makes something feel lasting versus merely decorative. I became increasingly interested in objects that carry emotional weight and personal history.
What drew me to jewelry specifically was its intimacy. Jewelry lives very closely to the body and accumulates meaning over time. A necklace or bracelet can become tied to someone’s rituals, relationships, or memories in a way that feels very different from other objects. Don’t Let Disco really grew from that instinct: creating pieces that feel collected, personal, and meant to stay with someone for a long time.
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Tell us about your thoughtful jewelry brand, Don't Let Disco!
Don’t Let Disco is a jewelry brand rooted in memory, materiality, and emotional permanence. I’m drawn to materials that already carry time inside them — vintage beads, found objects, natural stones — and I design in collaboration with that character rather than forcing uniformity. Many of the pieces are released in small runs or as one-of-a-kind works, which allows each object to feel personal and considered. At its core, the brand is about creating jewelry people want to live with, collect, and keep over time.
What’s your favorite part about the New York design community?
My favorite part about the New York design community is how supportive independent creatives can be of one another. There’s a real sense of exchange here — people sharing references, resources, ideas, and introductions. Especially among emerging designers, there’s an understanding that everyone is building something from the ground up, and that creates a genuine sense of community.
I also love how much individuality New York encourages. People here really respond to a strong point of view, which gives you the freedom to keep refining your own language rather than chasing sameness.
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What has been inspiring your latest designs?
Lately I’ve been really focused on fine jewelry and what happens when you translate the language we’ve built in beads into more permanent materials. Moving into 18k gold and sterling silver has pushed me to think differently about structure, weight, and longevity, while still keeping that sense of intimacy and collectibility at the core.
When you're not working with your hands on Don't Let Disco, what is your perfect day in New York?
When I’m not working with my hands on Don’t Let Disco, my perfect day in New York usually starts quietly and then fills up with looking at things. I love spending long, slow hours in museums, galleries or in an artist’s studio, just being around other people’s work and process. I’ll usually wander somewhere after and smell my way through a few perfume counters or tiny fragrance shops, because finding new scents feels like collecting little memories in a bottle. And then, honestly, the rest of the day is about trying to find pockets of peace in a city and in a world that is sometimes sick enough to drive the most sane person mad, walking, looking, maybe seeing friends, hanging with my cats and letting my brain soften a little before I go back to the studio.
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@dontletdisco