Our style team adores the intricate, gemstones and collection of Sandra Brooks. Over the past decade that Sandra Brooks has been designing and making one-of-a kind jewelry, the Sandra Brooks Collection has expanded from its original body of work featuring ancient jade artifacts to include today’s fashion forward contemporary cuffs and pearl with leather necklaces. Her handcrafted gemstone jewelry for men and women create juxtapositions of organic elements and glitz modern and traditional, casual and formal elegance.
Inspired by a quote from Dr. Wayne Dyer, “Don’t die with your music in you,” the businesswoman turned artist says after owning a marketing firm, two specialty coffee houses and a life coaching business, she realized she had never really “played her music”. And that’s what she set out to do. Brooks knew that two of her passions were gemstones and horses, so she determined to explore how she could incorporate these very diverse elements into her life. Her jewelry career happened quite by accident when a San Francisco gallery owner commented on a necklace Brooks was wearing and asked if she could represent her work. At that point she was only making jewelry for herself and hadn’t considered creating a retail line, but that day was the beginning of the Sandra Brooks Collection.
She quickly added galleries in four other states and a career was launched. She has been featured in a number of fashion magazines and collectors include Sue Grafton, author of the Kinsey Millhone mystery series, and Elizabeth Gilbert, author of “Eat, Pray, Love”. She was a sponsor at the 2012 Golden Globes Luxury Gift Lounge where celebrities from Jennifer Love Hewitt to Damian Lewis to Elizabeth McGovern raved about her unique designs. Whether a person is drawn to one of her antique jade pendants or a stone and crystal encrusted bracelet or dangle earrings, she/he is assured that each piece of jewelry is unique and carries Brooks’ design imprint. The stones are sourced around the world and many are extremely rare. For example, Brooks was recently able to obtain a few magnificent fossilized, crystallized seashells from the Sahara Desert dating back thousands of years.
Simultaneously with the beginning of her jewelry design business Brooks had begun working with a “horse whisperer” in Cave Creek, AZ and had the opportunity of gentling a wild mustang captured in the Oregon Mountains. After six months of being with “Shy Hawk” one-on-one, she completed her certification in horse whispering and the wild mustang was following Sandra around the horse arena. Brooks relocated from Arizona to Florida and now her jewelry is handcrafted in her Atlanta studio. In addition to her jewelry design work, she volunteers at an equine facilitated therapy stables working special needs children. Brooks plans to continue “playing her music” for years to come. A percentage of her jewelry sales benefit horse therapy facilities.
Visit her website at www.sandrabrookscollection.com.
Check out the Style Power jewels from Sandra Brook’s Collection
