ORLANDO, Fla. – Beautiful pieces of jewelry are usually worn to enhance your wardrobe but what if these pieces were actually meant for much more?
Designer Mackenzie Weise hopes her jewelry not only looks good but empowers and inspires the person wearing it. She calls her designs “mindful jewelry.”
“Whether that piece represents strength or that piece represents creativity or appreciation for mother Earth you know when you look at it you think about that,” Weise said. “So that helps the pieces to be used as tools to keep you in a mindful place.”
Weise founded her business, Kenzie Weise Jewels, three years ago and runs it out of her Orlando home.
She crafts each piece by hand and most of her designs are delicate pieces inspired by nature.
Weise said she wants the jewelry to do more than adorn the body. She also wants it illuminate something from within.
“These are pieces that you wear that go just a step beyond your outer appearance it’s not just something you just adorn yourself with but it is something that represents something to you when you look at it,” she explained. “It takes your mind back to what that representation is and it continues to do that throughout the day as you wear it.”
Weise works primarily with copper which she describes as a purposeful metal.
“Copper is used in a lot of our body physiology bodily functions. It’s even what helps pigment in the skin with all types of systems in the body and we can’t survive with it,” Weise said. “I try to work with materials that are raw, natural materials and that just felt like it was closer to home.”
To create these beautiful pieces she uses drills, hammers and even electricity to bring them to life.
Running a small business out her home is no easy task for this wife and mom of two young boys.
But designing jewelry isn’t her only job. In fact, she spends most of her time on her other job as an epidemiologist.
She said he sons assumed her only job was designing custom made jewelry but she says it’s important for them to know they, too can do more than one thing when they grow up.
”I definitely explain to them that mommy’s jewelry business is her own business because I want my boys to grow up understanding the importance of being a business owner, creating different streams of income for your household and feeling free to do that and not feeling boxed in like you have to work for an employer, retire and that’s it,” she said.
Weise also has advice for others who may be hesitant to start their own business.
“Just know that you can do it. There is no reason to just sit and dream about it and not act if it is really something on your heart. There is no reason not to push that forward.”
Weise’s designs can be found at Kenzieweisejewels.com.