Thirteen years ago, Amanda Keidan fatefully decided upon her career as a jewelry designer after a magazine editor discovered her work. “In my early 20s, I was trying to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, and I spent my free time in a metalsmith studio creating elaborate pieces of jewelry because it was cathartic,” says the Westchester, New York native. “In June 2001, when an editor decided to feature me as a ‘designer to watch,’ I decided to start a company, and take something that I loved doing and make it into a business.”

Her eponymous line now includes both custom and one-of-a-kind pieces (she’s designed everything from engagement rings to showstopping pieces for starlets on the red carpet) from stackable bands made with tanzanite, to a 14-carat gold key necklace, an Art Deco-inspired blue sapphire and diamond ring set in platinum, and a diamond button cuff in rose gold. “Much of the jewelry I create has an element of vintage, whether it’s the cut of the stone, the style of the setting, or the hand-engraved detailing,” says the Harvard graduate, who admits she is inspired by photographs, her travels around the globe, and her own backyard. “I travel often and I am like a silent stylist. If a woman is without jewelry, or if she is not wearing jewelry that I think suits her, I’ll start to imagine what I think she could and should be wearing. Sometimes that exercise will culminate into a piece down the line, even though the woman doesn’t know she has inspired it.”

By Jennie Nunn

 

Pictured: Select ring designs by Amanda Keidan Jewelry.
Photo courtesy of Amanda Keidan Jewelry

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