Meet Your Maker - Spencer
Posted on June 27, 2017
We're continuing our series to help you get to know the hands (and the people they belong to) behind our handcrafted jewelry. Please meet Spencer, a betsy & iya veteran of a little over a year.
Name: Spencer
Title: Maker
Hometown: Bay Area
Zodiac Sign: Cancer
Can you describe your path to becoming a Maker?: When I was learning Stop motion animation at the Academy of Art in San Francisco it was a requirement to learn jewelry making to get used to working in miniature and get an eye for detail so I kinda got into it through that and kept pursuing it. After school, I worked for a production company doing Stop motion animation, and then I was a freelance animator for a while doing various projects and working on my own jewelry. Then I moved to Portland and found this job.
Being a maker has taught me: To appreciate handmade goods and to support small businesses. Seeing and knowing what it takes to create and run a business and how challenging it can be make me want to support them.
My favorite piece of jewelry to make is and why: I like to form cuffs, it's always a challenge finding the right shape and it’s very satisfying when you have a big pile of finished cuffs.
What are some of your favorite tools to work with: Hammers and the casting equipment. I like the manipulation of metal and those are the kind of tools you can use to form and change it. The hammer is a very universal tool and casting is creating it.
Items of jewelry you most often make: I do a lot of forming and soldering for the company. I like jewelry making in the sense that I can sit and do it for long stretches and not get bored.
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Spencer working on a soldering task. |
Best thing about my job: Being able to work with my hands and create. I’ve always been interested in making and creating things and I don’t see myself doing anything else.
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Looking happy after a successful cast of a 14k gold Fine Collection ring. |
Favorite b&i Piece to Wear: The black Durango Pod ring. I like its clean lines and it has a kind of unisex appeal, plus a lot of people with different styles can wear it.
Do you listen to music while you make? If so, what are some of your fave jams? I listen to more podcasts. I like a lot of ones about history- topical ones like that, as well as comedy ones. I like to listen to podcasts (instead of music) because it keeps me thinking while I’m working. The rhythm of music falls into a beat and becomes mundane and repetitive but an interesting podcast keeps me focused and helps my mind stay on what I’m doing.
When I’m not working, I’m probably doing this: Working on my own jewelry or working on my house. I work on my own jewelry line at my production studio at home that I began in 2009. And I’ve been building my own house for the last 2 years.
What's your favorite thing to do, or place to visit, in the Portland area? There are so many great music venues in this city, it’s always fun to go to a wide variety of shows that happen here. I go to anything from punk to country to rock, just based on what’s going on.