Featured indieNC Designer: Sonya Coulson Rook, Metamorphosis Metals
Tell us a little more about your business and how you got started:
My business started as a hobby and has slowly grown from there. I first started making jewelry while studying art in college. I tried working in several different media before a professor suggested that I take a Metal Design class. I signed up and was instantly hooked. After graduation I was not really sure what I wanted to do and took a break from metal work for a few years. During this time I worked for a bench jeweler learning how to repair jewelry and had a few retail jobs.
I eventually found myself working full time in retail management and feeling completely unfulfilled. I needed a creative outlet, so I started making jewelry again. Soon after I heard about Etsy, which is this amazing online marketplace for artists and crafters. I signed up and spent a few months looking around the site and then I realized “I can do this”. I borrowed my sister’s digital camera, took some really bad pictures of my jewelry and listed a few pieces for sale. Things started off slowly, but I sold a few pieces, and being around so many creative people (even if only in a virtual atmosphere) really drove and inspired me. I kept working to improve my product photography and develop a style of my own. A few months later I signed up for The Handmade Market, a local craft show, which is when things really started to take off. I did much better at the show than I expected, which really gave me the confidence to keep going.
I started getting emails about other shows, was featured on a few blogs, started selling my work at a couple of local businesses, and traffic at my Etsy store began growing every month. I was selling my work at one of my favorite local shows, The Rock & Shop, with a ton of amazingly talented artists, when a customer came up to me and said that she came to the show specifically to see me. I was completely blown away and I think that’s when I really decided to commit to making this a full time business. I’ve been slowly phasing out my full-time job over the past two years and just recently went down to part time. This year my main focus is going to be on growing Metamorphosis Metals into a full time venture.
What projects are you currently working on?
I love working with vintage components found objects, and am always on the lookout for unique materials. I recently came across some amazing WWII era US military wings and old watch parts. I have been having a lot of fun incorporating those into some one of a kind, steampunk designs.
I have also started working more with gold. I began incorporating it into several of my designs as an accent last year and am taking it one step further and making some of my most popular sterling silver designs in 10k and 14k gold.
What advice do you have for other designers who want to sell their products?
Be true to yourself and make what you love. Don’t get caught up worrying about what others are selling. If you love a design, chances are others will too, and that love will show in your product and help distinguish it from the rest.
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You can find Sonya’s jewelry on her etsy site as well as online in the indieNC shop.
Congrats on slowly fazing into full time jewelry design! yippee! & I must add that Sonya is as sweet as punch in person