Judi McCormick grew up with a passionate interest in the arts.  She created and played in the Washington DC area for her formative years continuing on to  study fine arts at Denison University and graduate school in fine arts at Denver University.    Her study of oil painting and photography laid the groundwork for a varied series of creative ventures.  It was merely the media that changed.

In the winter of 2000, she began to learn the art of jewelry making and found she was especially drawn to working with rough cut and unpolished sto

nes. Judi often combines the softer colors and natural shapes of unpolished stones with the highly finished gems, likening the former to a preliminary artist's drawing and the latter to a finished work of art. "I have always loved seeing works-in-progress as much as a finished painting and the unpolished stones remind me of the excitement and potential in those drawings. The recently quarried stones have a rough, immediate and natu

ral beauty, and at the same time display a softness and gentleness of color that is truly amazing". McCormick discovered many similarities when she made the transition from textiles into jewelry, pointing out that both mediums focus on color, shape and finish, and both are highly tactile art forms. "You are drawn to touch the stones and explore their surfaces with your fingers, just as with yarns of different hues and textures. The interplay of light and color is fascinating and intricate, and is even more remarkable when you see a highly polished gem beside its unfinished cousins, or a rough piece of chalcedony, for instance, next to a beautiful, shining faceted aquamarine."

Today, Judi travels worldwide to develop contacts for importing her gemstones and pearls directly.  This is an invaluable tool to bring home new and exciting discoveries.  In the past couple of years her concentration has been directed toward pearls.  Travels in China and Hong Kong have been particularly important to the sourcing of significant pearls.  Through a series of courses with the Gemological Institute of America Judi has become a Graduate of GIA in Pearls.  Her education has been valuable in making intelligent and esthetic purchases of many different styles of pearls.  Judi’s discoveries will bring you to the forefront of a new gem world.

Sit back and enjoy the adventure!

In 1980 she moved to New York City to work with Halston, designing fabrics and then to Manchester, Vermont to design ski wear for a major sportswear company. By 1988 Judi had found a home and family in Vermont and created her own company designing the finest sweaters from the most luxurious yarns in styles that fit the lifestyles of her friends and most especially, herself. Special buttons became a signature trademark of Judi's sweaters and when she made buttons using semi precious stones, it seemed a natural progression to coordinate necklaces and earrings with the buttons.