“Jewelry is not art,” says Natalie Ziegler. “It shouldn’t be the show. It should not wear you.” For the Baltimore-based designer, manufacturer and importer, the hallmark of truly fine jewelry is its ability to enhance the personwho wears it. “It talks. It doesn’t scream.”

 

Born in New York and raised in Boston, Natalie Ziegler did not set out to become a jewelry designer. A

psychology major with a Masters in International Relations and Economics, she worked for years at CNN. It wasn’t until later in her marriage to engineer John Zirschky that she and her husband launched Commonwealth Imports, supplying freshwater, Tahitian and akoya pearls to retail jewelers and designers.

“All those beautiful raw materials that we dealt with daily fascinated me,” Ziegler recalls. “I didn’t just want to hold them for a time. I wanted to play with them.” Her first design was an architecturally intricate necklace of small white pearls designed to lay flat against the skin. It sold quickly. She developed additional pieces, which again sold. Soon, Natalie Ziegler jewelry became a successful stand-alone venture, under the Commonwealth umbrella.

 

The inspiration for Natalie’s designs is derived largely from the color combinations or shapes she spies in daily life: “decorative arts, Indian graphics, patterns in clothing… even an architectural motif such as a carved stone cornice.” Sometimes she sketches out an idea; more often she plays with the materials themselves to create the desired effect. “The trick is to avoid being trendy… to aim for something that will look good year after year.” Natalie’s other goal? To make the design luxurious but affordable. “There is a niche in this industry for a line that looks elegant and extravagant, but isn’t,” she says, “for pieces that fill a middle ground between inexpensive and outrageous.”

 

Natalie Ziegler jewelry is available from nearly 350 select independent fine jewelers and small chains across the U.S. For a complete list, visit natalieziegler.com. You’ll also find lovely examples of the designer’s work that will make the most discriminating fashionista think, “Now that I would wear every day.” Which is precisely what Natalie had in mind.