Name: Valerie Lamott
Business: Valerie Lamott Designs
Medium: Sterling Silver & Gemstone Jewelry
Originally From: Highland, IN
Now Located: Columbia, SC
How Did You Get Started?: I’ve been making jewelry as long as I can remember (including a business selling it in fifth grade!), but started metalsmithing as a hobby about 10 years ago at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago.
What Do You Love About What You Do?: I love the process of taking ordinary rocks I find and transforming them into something beautiful that someone would want to wear.
Mission Statement: I love the outdoors. Forests, mountains, oceans, I’ll take them all. I believe spending time outside contributes significantly to overall well-being and I make jewelry inspired by these experiences. I want my work to be a reminder of those times spent playing outdoors.
Etc.: Valerie loves to travel all over the world, having been to enough countries to know that counting how many countries she’s been to is meaningless. After college, she spent a year living in Japan and took the long way around Earth to get home—Tokyo to London by herself without an airplane. Valerie still sneaks away to foreign lands when she can, but recently she’s been having the time of her life finding adventures in her own backyard. Much of Valerie’s jewelry is inspired by her travels and the great outdoors.
