Jessica D’Amico of Lady J: Bringing the Locavore Spirit to Jewelry
Which, we guess so. Besides hosting an array of New York-based brands, D’Amico sells her own line, Lady J Jewelry, and uses the shop as a combination retail space and studio. Her workstation is set up in the back of the store—“people don’t usually notice when they walk in the door, and then they see me sitting there, filing something, and are always surprised”—and this setup allows D’Amico to frequently interact with her customers and neighbors. “For me, being able to have customers walk through the door has been an invaluable experience,” she says. “There’s just a great energy around here.” Having lived in Brooklyn since graduating from Pratt (with the exception of a short stretch in Manhattan), D’Amico considers Brooklyn the perfect place to raise her family and says that she utilizes their life here in her designs; trips to the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens or the Brooklyn Museum can serve as inspiration, and, really, it doesn’t get any more local than that.
679 Classon Avenue, Crown Heights
ladyjjewelry.com
Photo by Austin McAllister