The Girl Next Door: Oakland Jewelry Designer Sarah Swell
San Francisco can be a tough home for fashion designers, but luckily, thanks to the relatively low overhead for bauble makers, we’ve lucked into our fair share of mega-talented jewelry designers. And at the top of that local
heap is Oakland-based Sarah Greenberg, who creates stunning hand-hewn metalwork pieces for her label Sarah Swell in a light-soaked studio in Jack London Square. The Cape Cod expat, who studied at S.F.’s Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts, took some time out of her day to show us around her workspace, clue us in on the hidden gems in her ‘hood, and talk about what makes her tick (Hint: It has to do with Ici's Earl Grey ice cream).
Name: Sarah Greenberg
Occupation: Jewelry designer behind Sarah Swell
I live in: Oakland, in a 1920's bungalow
Tell us about how you got into making jewelry.
"I started in jewelry sales while I was attending art school in Boston. I took a metalsmithing class and just knew that it was for me. I always dreamed of being an entrepreneur and loved that jewelry was so much more tangible and marketable than painting. So, I switched gears, immersed myself in the industry in every way possible, and launched my own business in 2008."
Name: Sarah Greenberg
Occupation: Jewelry designer behind Sarah Swell
I live in: Oakland, in a 1920's bungalow
Tell us about how you got into making jewelry.
"I started in jewelry sales while I was attending art school in Boston. I took a metalsmithing class and just knew that it was for me. I always dreamed of being an entrepreneur and loved that jewelry was so much more tangible and marketable than painting. So, I switched gears, immersed myself in the industry in every way possible, and launched my own business in 2008."
