“I really believe we all have an artistic medium. I love metal.”
When talking about jewelry, Carol Ferguson just glows. “It’s not pretty; it’s dirty, it’s blackened,” she says about the process of making a piece. “But then, my favorite part is when you put it on the polishing wheel, and the metal becomes like liquid—it becomes this unbelievably beautiful thing. It’s what was in your mind the whole time.”
But it isn’t just the process of creating the pieces that she loves. For Carol, jewelry making is alchemy. It’s the art of listening to a person’s story and turning it into stone. Metal and stone. “Jewelry is so personal, and people really attach to it. It’s like a talisman for times, for our lives, for people.” And what’s more: it lasts. “It’s not like fashion that goes in and out. Jewelry is more like a tattoo—it’s an art collection that’s wearable and deeply personal. It reflects you over a lifetime, and then you pass it on.”
When describing her origin story 25 years ago, she recounts, “I was young, and I wanted to give my sister something I couldn’t afford, so I made it! That’s why I started making jewelry.” Carol got her start in the early 2000s, during an era when a new—yet almost ancient—more personal form of jewelry making was just entering the scene. There was a gap between big-name brands and costume, plated jewelry, and something about the candor and integrity of this blooming wave of artisanal fine jewelry struck a deep chord in Carol. “I don’t believe people can connect to costume jewelry. The jewelry has to have intrinsic value to be worthy of our emotional investment in it.”
But that doesn’t mean fine jewelry worthy of deeper attachment has to cost an arm and a leg. “One of my favorite rings I ever made wasn’t very expensive; it just turned out to be so unique and perfect for the person wearing it.”
Carol is an artist as well as a businesswoman. Originally from the Chicago area, she has been a Coloradan since 1997. In March of 2017, she founded her retail store, Element 79, on East 3rd Street in Cherry Creek. Today, she not only runs the shop and sells her own lines of jewelry—The Golden Bee Line, Element 79 Lux, and Fusion—but also represents 60 different jewelry designers who all, in some way, align with her philosophy of jewelry making. “I only carry lines of designers I like.” She believes there’s a certain magic born between the maker, the piece, and the wearer. “When someone loves the piece, I love saying, ‘You would love the person who made that.’”
In these days of endless greenwashing, there’s no shortage of businesses that say all the right things about sustainability. But very few, in their foundational philosophies, are actually sustainable. Because it really doesn’t matter how organic the shampoo or the pants or the dog food is—if the business is standardizing the goods into identical units, mass-producing these products, mass-sourcing the resources to make them, and shipping both from all over the world to all over the world—it’s just not sustainable.
But Carol has an allergy to mass production. It’s simply antithetical to the artisanal process of jewelry making. “Honestly, I don’t think I could have more than one store—I would have to get out of the custom part of it altogether, and I don’t want to do that!”
She relishes taking the time to give wearers of all occasions an excellent experience at the shop—getting to know each person, listening to their stories, and sometimes even popping a little bottle of champagne. “We do custom custom,” she says, emphasizing the difference between choosing from three or so options and her version, where “you can draw something for me, and I will have it made for you.”
Her secret? Collaboration. “People come to me with jobs that most jewelers don’t want to do because they’re really time-consuming, but I’m willing to take them on. And it’s not because I can do everything, but I’ve been in the industry long enough that I can find someone who can do it.”
Carol lives in Wash Park, and when the weather is nice, she rides her Vespa to work. As an artist and business owner, her love for what she does is grounded in community. “I think our business is really special. We’re local; we want to be your family jeweler. These are the reasons I do it.”
To shop Carol's jewelry, visit Element79Jewelry.com/Carol-Ferguson/.
For Carol, jewelry making is alchemy. It’s the art of listening to a person’s story and turning it into stone. Metal and stone.