Jeweler Katy Briscoe Chats about Her Unique Designs and the Creative Process

Mint tourmaline and diamond “Snake” pendant

Katy Briscoe is passionate about yellow gold. And about stones. And about design.

Think rich, beautiful gems from around the world and design that grows organically out of the stones she sustainably collects.

Jewelry, she says, is not a career to her. It’s a vocation.

Briscoe, who began in the jewelry industry in 1980, worked for a privately owned shop while she was a student at Texas Christian University and then for several years at a major department store. Finally she was hired by internationally renowned Fred Joaillier of Paris. With experience and knowledge of the industry, she set up her own jewelry company in 1994 in Houston and quickly met with success. Originally, she named her company Chinati the Jeweler, later changing the name to Katy Briscoe, Inc. Among her early customers was Saks Fifth Avenue, where her designs are still sold today.

The size of her collection suggests she utilizes an entire design team, but that’s not the case. She is the sole designer – and never gets “writer’s block.” With new work in her dynamically changing collection coming out every week, that’s a good thing.

Her approach to design, to life, is spiritual. Meditating – which she does nearly daily – helps, Briscoe says. She also allows the stones to speak to her. Rather than forcing her unique designs, she allows herself to be inspired in the moment.

“The designs come in a download and can come from anything,” she says. “Once I was hiking in Glacier National Park, and I saw tree bark that caught my eye.”

When that happens, she grabs for paper and starts sketching.

“When you’re designing, there’s a creative space you drop into. There’s a whisper of God that comes out in the drawing. When the piece and the person match up, there’s an uplifting of the countenance. That’s what makes me happy.”

Katy Briscoe has three product lines: fine jewelry, home accessories produced by Lenox, and the Nature Collection – lamps and decorative pieces that feature gems in their natural state. Because of the uniqueness of the stones, most pieces are one-of-a-kind.

PHOTOS COURTESY KATY BRISCOE, INC.

Mexican opal and diamond earrings and Mexican opal (7.89 cts) and diamond (.53 cts) ring