About

Melissa Easton creates jewelry as a complement to her life as an industrial designer. It was initially quite difficult to reconcile the disparate aspects of those two pursuits: one devoted to creating objects high in function and longevity, and the other, a somewhat ephemeral exercise in making things as decoration. The two, it turns out, are not at all far apart. "I don't want people to buy a lot...of anything, and what I've found is that when women purchase a piece of my jewelry, they end up wearing it all the time. Those objects become personal signatures and they never take them off.” The same parameters apply to both disciplines: beauty, function, comfort, durability. 

Easton's favorite part of the jewelry process is sketching and carving the wax models. She goes on to say, "It's not that different from making a prototype of, say, a fork or a spoon. It's an exercise in restraint, and it also calls upon my skills as a designer to make a form that both looks and feels good. And one that lasts.”

Easton has said that she doesn't have any heirlooms of her own, so her initial goal, 11 years ago, was to make herself a large rectangular ring that she would never remove. That first piece launched an entire collection of simple, elegant and, hopefully, timeless jewelry. 

Melissa and her husband live in the Catskills.