Elizabeth Adams Regard Magazine

DESIGNER PROFILE – Elizabeth Adams

We love your collection and also the meaning behind the brand. But, before we get into it, tell us, how did you get your start as a jewelry designer?  

My parents are both artists and I often say, my upbringing was one long art class! I was an architecture student, and took studio art classes in college. At one point, I had a company creating custom stationery. Then, after my youngest daughter passed away, I dove back into painting. Painting turned into a mixed media collage, where I worked a lot with texture, using vintage jewelry components, even broken pieces. I would create pendants from these pieces and add them to necklace chains I already had, and before I knew it, the galleries that had been carrying my paintings, were carrying my jewelry instead.

Elizabeth Adams Regard Magazine

What is the meaning behind the name “Ex Voto Vintage” and what is your inspiration for your jewelry line?

Ex Voto, means a testament of gratitude and I was researching exVotos, at the same point that my collage was evolving into jewelry. I liked the sentiment behind the exVoto. A handmade testament of gratitude, for an answered prayer that is left at an altar for others to see and therefore, be hopeful that their need could be met as well. When it came time to name the collection, I chose exVoto, because it was a mysterious word and there is so much mystery behind these antique lockets and pendants.

Elizabeth Adams Regard Magazine

What were your influences and experiences early on in life, which led you to the success you have today?

Well, my parents and their outlook on life, our 1920 home and it’s ever changing walls of artwork of their own, or the art they collected. Also, my best friend’s mother owned an antique shop. I think the time I spent there, helped me develop an eye for antiques, a love of the rich patina that comes only from time, an appreciation for fine detail, workmanship and the understanding that just because something isn’t perfectly perfect anymore, doesn’t mean that it’s any less beautiful and appealing.

Style and aesthetic is so personal. Who would you say is an “Ex Voto Vintage” girl?

I would say an ExVoto Vintage girl is someone who is sophisticated, yet a little bit sentimental as well. Not sentimental in a sappy way, but in an understated way. A girl who appreciates a good story because each piece has a story behind it. A girl who likes to be current in her dress, but can appreciate some of the lost arts that can be found in antiques.

Elizabeth Adams Regard Magazine

As the designer, I’m sure that you love all of your pieces, especially since such detail and care have been put into all of them. Which ones are your personal favorites? 

I love my Patrick Signet Ring, named after my husband, who found the original antique ring it is cast from. Mine is hand engraved with each of my children’s initials. (We offer hand or machine engraving). I wear that and the Vine Ring every day, and then, I go through different periods when I wear certain necklaces or bracelets on constant repeat, it seems!  Right now I’m wearing the Grace choker and the red jasper necklace a lot with either the Lilla cuff or the crocodile cuff paired with the Gothic cuff and the Coleman bracelet.  But last month I was wearing the wood bangle and the white ceramic bangle non-stop!  My handbag has one of our Equestrian scarves tied to it at all times.

Elizabeth Adams Regard Magazine

This is not an easy business to be in, when you think of the landscape of fashion and jewelry design. What advice would you give up and coming designers that aspire to have a career like yours?

Do not make things you have seen before. If you want to be essential, you need to have your own viewpoint.  

Thank you for taking the time to chat with us about your business. What more can we expect to see from you in the near future?

I am really loving the collaborative projects I have worked on lately, like the Equestrian scarves and the Lilla Cuff. You may see more of these in the future. I love learning about the craft of other creatives and intersecting them with my designs. The collaborative process of us working together, is as rewarding as the final product.

 

Twitter: @ExVotoVintage

Instagram: @ExVotoVintage

Facebook Page: Ex Voto Vintage

Photo Courtesy:  Laura Purtee & Lee Harrelson