Jewelry designer Tarra Rosenbaum says she can’t remember a time when she wasn’t creating. “At my core nature has always nurtured and inspired me,” says Rosenbaum, who comes from a family of artists and creators. From New York City to London, where she’s now based, Rosenbaum has traveled the globe finding nature-based inspiration for her handcrafted pieces.
Tarra Rosenbaum will be designing jewelry from family heirlooms at Red Flower, 13 Prince St., New York, NY, 10012, from May 11–13, 2017. Book your complimentary appointment with Tarra by emailing tarra@tarrarosenbaum.com.
What inspires you to create?
I have always worked with my hands. Sometimes I say that designing jewelry is the adult version of what I did as a child. When I was at university I enjoyed the challenge and clarity of the sciences while minoring in art history. In the end I gravitated back to the arts, using my science background to become an art conservator during the day and a jewelry designer in my free time before I devoted myself completely to jewelry.
I love the three-dimensional aspect of jewelry-making, using my sculpting skills along with the technical side of metallurgy. It’s a little bit of light engineering and then the pure glam of creating beautiful things and playing with stones from all around the world.
How do you balance the creativity of being a jewelry designer with the business demands of being an entrepreneur?
During my first year in business I had to come to terms with reality. After months of creative bliss designing the collections, creating custom packaging, writing haiku poem to accompany each piece, I found myself sitting in front of my computer teaching myself Excel. I wanted to cry. I thought, this NOT what I expected designing jewelry would be like!
But now I find an odd satisfaction in making a price list beautiful or accounting fun. I think the difficult thing is switching between different “hats” quickly. So I recently gave myself a month’s sabbatical away from the business side. I completely submerged myself and fell into the flow of my inner spirit without social media or emails to pull me back to reality. Doing that helped me achieve the balance I needed to create.
Tell us about your latest project.
I’m working on a new collection for my company and some custom pieces for the British Museum’s Hokusai exhibition. I submerged myself deeply into his work and got to not only design a jewelry collection, but also a dress for one of the curators, inspired by one of the collection’s prints. It’s hand-embroidered and I’ve been seen working on it almost everywhere I go!
