There are many ways to mark the passage of time and life’s changes, whether it’s getting a fresh haircut before college, buying a new suit before starting a job, or cooking up a family recipe to honor someone who's recently departed.
Since she was seventeen, Erica Simon has explored using jewelry as a vessel for life's most important moments and memories. Growing up in a small, seaside community in Maine, she was surrounded by talented jewelers. She worked in a gallery owned by a metalsmith and learned about design and redesign, discovering the work that goes into giving jewelry a second, third, or fourth life.
She’s always had a self-proclaimed appreciation for vintage things, but she truly fell in love with the French medals of love, or medaille d’amour, created by Alphonse Augis. They're based on a poem called “The Eternal Song,” that's written by Rosemonde Gérard. In the poem, there's a line that translates to, “I love you more, today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow."
Simon started wearing one of these pendants when she moved back to Boulder from the south of France and felt like it gave her luck during a challenging time. As the Covid pandemic pushed us further and further apart, physically and ideologically, the piece reminded her to be open and let love grow. It eventually inspired her to begin her current business, with some encouragement from her daughter.
In her studio above the New Local, Simon gets to be a confidant, an investigator and a powerful steward for passing forward family heirlooms. She knows of engagements well before they take place and helps families and individuals celebrate milestones and commemorate those they’ve lost. Each piece of jewelry she sources or helps redesign is more than its raw materials—it’s about being able to carry a memory or a person with you, experiencing them anew every time you see the ring, watch, pendant, etc.
Recently, she helped a mother and grandmother gift their daughter/granddaughter a redesign for her 21st birthday that combined two family rings into something more modern.
When Simon presented it to the youngest woman in the family, all three were in the room together. The ring didn’t just celebrate a birthday. It cemented their close relationship with a permanent object—at least until it’s reimagined again for the next generation.
That’s the thing about quality jewelry: it lasts. Simon recognizes that gold is expensive, especially right now, but it can be reformed and reused, unlike tarnished, gold-plated pieces that will eventually be thrown out.
In the same way we’re seeing people reject fast fashion, we’re also seeing them embrace age-old jewelry techniques that reuse centuries-old materials. Simon lights up as she explains the return of the rose cut and the star set, two techniques that have truly stood the test of time and require care and handcrafting.
Simon speaks affectionately about the Boulder community and the many female makers and jewelers who are opening up stores. She describes the environment as loving, explaining how they’ll refer clients and support each other.
“I’m not curing any diseases, but I am making these beautiful connections,” says Simon.
What Simon may not realize is she’s actually part of curing one of the more powerful afflictions we currently face as a society: loneliness. Each time she brings someone into her space, they’re invited into an intimate moment to reflect over a cup of tea and maybe find a piece they didn’t know they were missing.
To learn more, visit erica-simon.com