Donna Gingrasso, Owner
Let’s see….how far back does my history with jewelry go exactly? I think I first got interested in jewelry as a young child, but honestly, never found too many things I liked because I have always been on the heavy side…MEANING…I could never find “just the right Length”, or “just the right size” for my wrist, or even, for that matter, a big enough, gaudy enough centerpiece for a necklace to satisfy me. So shortly after I got married, in 1979, I started dabbling with beads. Very soon after that, I was allowed, where I worked, which fortunately for me was a large marketing firm, to lay out my finished work and sell it to employees. Through trial and error I improved my technique and soon I had many return customers, many of whom began coming over to my home after work, bringing their outfits with them for me to make matching jewelry for. About three years later, one day at work, the manager of the “in-flight” sales department came by my desk and stopped to look. That day, she said something to me about making a few pieces for one of the airline magazines we did the marketing for. I was overwhelmed and told her I couldn’t possibly do that because of the enormity of the project. Six months later I was doing just that. She had convinced me to make a tiger eye and onyx combination necklace in two lengths for the Delta Airline catalog, and I was off! I made many, many of those until I just couldn’t make any more, and was quite thankful when she finally told me about a year later (after they sold like hotcakes for two seasons) that the airline was finally formulating a new catalog with new products. I decided that the one-of-a-kind venue was what I wanted to do from then on…mass producing was not for me! BUT, I must admit, it was an exciting and once-in-a-lifetime ride! I didn’t realize it at the time that it would be such a stepping-stone to my future. A few years later, somewhere in the summer of 1986, I enrolled at a local college near our home to take a night class in Lapidary where I discovered my love for real stones…how to cut them from raw rocks and make them into a thing of beauty. After we moved to California in 1988, I took a few more Lapidary courses in Modesto; much more extensive than those in Wisconsin. I made several nice saleable items there, and decided that that would be the end of my lapidary experience and went back to beading, where I have stayed ever since. I met my business partner, Malene at a local jewelry school here in Northern California where I was working in the Marketing Department and she was a student. We were literally “thrown together” to work on a project, and that was “it”…we just hit it off ever since. We worked together there for several years until I had a very unfortunate accident, had other health concerns, and eventually a few years later had to quit working altogether, but I never lost touch with Malene. Most of the rest of my story where jewelry is concerned is self-taught. My “career” per se has evolved over the years into a more involved, design-based business. I did the craft shows, the fairs, the church bazaars, you name it, but I still liked having the repeat clients that made appointments to have things custom-made, and probably always will. I do elicit Malene’s help to assist me with some of the more complicated designs, as she is more than 20 years my junior, and her fingers work considerably better than mine. (I have had eight operations including a complete right shoulder replacement…three just on that, so my right hand cramps up on me now just a bit and I have severe nerve damage as well as Sciatica in my right leg...so....Ah Yes!…felix culpa!) So there we are….Happiness Discovered!! Donna Gingrasso (The one on the right)
