A jeweler in State College since 1974

Fifty years in Centre County

Sharon is a Central Pennsylvania native. She studied fine art at Penn State, took her master's in metal arts there, and set up as an independent designer in 1974. Fifty years later she is still working from a studio in State College — which means a substantial number of the engagement rings, anniversary pieces and heirlooms circulating in this county came off her bench.

If you found her at the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts, you are one of a great many. She has exhibited there for decades, alongside eighteen to twenty shows a year across the country.

What a designer does that a jewelry store does not

A retail jewelry store buys finished goods and sells them. The stones are calibrated, the settings are cast from stock molds, and nobody in the building has handled the material loose. It is a perfectly reasonable way to buy a piece of jewelry, and it is a completely different transaction from commissioning one.

Sharon selects every stone herself, often with no design in mind, and builds around what she finds. Because there is no storefront, no inventory financing and no sales floor, the price of a piece reflects the stone, the metal and the labor — which she itemizes separately on every listing so you can see it.

By appointment, and why

Sharon sees clients by appointment at her State College studio. Inventory is kept securely rather than in a display case, so an appointment lets her have the right material out and ready when you arrive — and lets her give you an hour of attention rather than the fifteen minutes a retail floor allows.

For clients who would rather not come in at all, the entire process runs perfectly well by email, photograph and video. Sharon has worked that way with clients across the country for decades.

Common questions