Allow me to introduce you to my fabulous sister, Fannie Thomas! Fannie is an award-winning, Texas-based fine jeweler whose covetable creations are sold everywhere from ABC Carpet & Home to Quadrum Gallery. Fannie’s jewelry is layered in storytelling, nostalgia, and a spirit of playfulness that I absolutely adore. Her work is a love letter to her Texas upbringing and worldly travels, with every piece imbued with her singular eye and signature whimsy. Read on to learn more about her inspirations and creative process!

Tell us about your foray into jewelry – how did it come about? I’ve always been a creative type and passionate about creating things, especially with my hands. I love to paint and was a studio art double major, but jewelry wasn’t something I thought about. My dad and grandparents, however, have always been big jewelry lovers, and I inherited their love language. I remember being at my grandparents’ house years ago. I was newly single and in a transient time in my life. My grandfather had Marjorie and Leslie Steinweiss of Julius Cohen from New York at their home for a pre-holiday get-together. I ended up talking to them for a solid hour. Before leaving they said, if you ever find yourself in New York and you want to dabble in the jewelry world, look us up. That’s what started it. I’d never thought about moving to New York, but I was twenty-five and didn’t have anything to lose. A few weeks later, I flew there with a big suitcase in hand. I worked at Julius Cohen part time and got another job at Sequin working in the costume jewelry industry, where I learned incredible lessons about appealing to people in different markets. I went from designing a line for Madonna that was mass produced to helping create a custom domino set made of Lapis, diamonds, and 24 karat gold. It was two completely different worlds. Later, I enrolled in the GIA.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received? Be kind and be yourself.

I’m always fascinated by the things people collect in life. Can you share a few things you gravitate to on your travels, scour the internet for, or find delight in collecting yourself? My collections are my love language! I have collections of seashells, arrowheads, rocks, crystals, feathers, seed pods – lots of nature’s bounty! I also love collecting jewelry and art by artists – not just my own – I respect and admire so many different styles and love having bits of that mixed into my jewelry box and home.

What’s the story behind your Pebble Collection? Growing up in Texas, I collected all kinds of things, from rocks and arrowheads to sticks and feathers. I still do this now (albeit with more expensive treasures) but I thank my mom and her ever-growing heart rock collection for influencing me, along with my grandfather, who carried stone scarabs and river rocks in his pocket because they were soothing to the touch. Subconsciously, I’ve always loved that part of their story. My two young boys collect rocks, and I keep arrowheads we’ve found together at our family’s ranch in my bookshelves. Drawing from that tradition, I sought out a subtle, softer way to incorporate foraged gemstones into every day, wearable pieces. The Pebble Collection is my take on birthstone jewelry. Though a lot of birthstone jewelry on the market looks the same in my opinion, I wanted to contribute something new and true to my style that I personally would love to wear. I sat down at my bench one day and began melting precious stones into wax and then carving the wax out, which resulted in these golden granules which look like little pebbles that’ve been tumbled with time. Each pebble is unique, hand carved, and set with a precious gemstone. Wear one on its own or pair them together as a reminder of loved ones and life’s milestone moments.

What is one of your earliest jewelry memories? My dad has always been such a great gift giver, and loves to this day to buy my mom jewelry … watching her wear these beautiful gifts has always stuck with me. I remember distinctly anniversaries, birthdays, and milestones they celebrated with those jewels.

What was the first piece of jewelry you ever created? A boulder opal ring in a Byzantine style setting. I still have it and love to wear it!

What do you think makes your jewelry different? The jewelry I make is not run of the mill. I don’t care much about fast fashion. Having pieces that are crafted with age-old techniques, like hand-engraving or granulation, but incorporated in a modern way, makes my work unique. I also want my jewelry to have its own story. There are never going to be two pairs of earrings that look exactly the same, mainly because that’s not the way stones work. There are going to be variations in the saturation, or the inclusions, and sometimes the inclusions make them even more interesting. Somewhere along the stone’s story, it either got a crack or something grew around it, or inside of it, and I think that makes them cool.

Can you share a little about what materials you gravitate towards? I like working with high carat gold and diamonds, and I really love the variations of color you get with tourmalines. I also love the ‘odd duck’ gemstones, like dendritic agates and pearls and things that are a little out of the ordinary. I’m actually not a pearl person which is funny as they’re now one of the centerpieces of my line. When it comes to a classic strand of white pearls, you’re never going to see me wearing them. It’s just not my jam. However, there is something so fun about the funky ones that look like birds, hearts, or random little creatures. I’ve always found pearls to be such funny things to cherish. It is literally an irritant that’s expelled by the body of an oyster, like a kidney stone. The Baroque South Sea pearls used in my work are all one-of-a-kind and hand-selected for their unique character. As they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Speaking of pearls, your pearl ring fashioned in the likeness of a bird was recognized for three awards at the 2024 AGTA. What was the impetus to focus on birds and how did that ultimately lead to your Wing Collection? Growing up at our family ranch in Texas, birds were important. As the seasons changed, we’d watch barn swallows, cardinals, and hummingbirds passing through. For centuries, birds have symbolized rebirth and reawakening, hope and freedom. Designing this collection unlocked the creative freedom I needed as a jeweler. Our Wing Collection took flight after designing my first pearl bird ring using an irregularly shaped Baroque South Sea pearl. I had that pearl for a few years before I turned it into something, but I always knew what I wanted it to be. I saw it and immediately thought it looked like a bird! As a kid, my mom and I used to make out animal shapes in the clouds, and looking at this pearl was a similar exercise. I was so excited about how it turned out and immediately thought, what else can I do? I wanted a pair of studs, so I made quill wings and feathered charms, and one-of-a-kind pearl bird earrings, along with necklaces. As always, it’s really about the details for me. For the gilded bird earrings, I thought meticulously about how they were going to swing and what they were going to be set around, whether they’d have modern bezels and multi-colored gemstones, or tiny briolette bugs dripping off their beaks. Every piece is layered with hand-crafted details that make them special.

If you had to pull 2-3 things from your jewelry box to save in the event of a fire, what would you take and why? Two or three things would be HARD. I’d likely grab two to three jewelry boxes 🙂 That said, my engagement ring, and the charm necklace my husband started for me when we got married. It has a coin with my new initials and then there are charms with both of our boys’ initials. Since then, many family members have added to the collection. I also have some really special things that’ve been passed down from my grandparents on both sides and from my parents.

Where do you find inspiration? I’ve always been drawn to whimsicality and imaginative thinking… I live in what my family jokingly coined “Fannie Land,” and my jewelry is a byproduct of that. It’s a playful take on the ordinary things all around us, be it leaves, nests, birds, or rocks. Organic elements have always been an underlying theme for me, and I’m a big believer that beauty is everywhere. My inspiration still comes largely from my childhood and life in Texas, woven with influences from travels around the world.

You can shop Fannie Thomas Jewelry on her website and at Quadrum Gallery online. Follow her on Instagram @fannie_thomas_jewelry