Daria de Koning’s new jewelry studio and retail space is filled with rich colors, special displays, and Santa Fe ambience, making it a happy place not only for the jeweler but also, she hopes, for clients.
A graphic designer before she started making jewelry, de Koning reimagined the hayloft of a former horse stable for her flagship store. She’d happened upon the site while searching for her first home in Santa Fe, after living in Los Angeles for decades. The boutique opened in June, at 821 Canyon Road.
“I knew what I wanted and what I wanted it to look like. I wanted people to come in, sit on the couches, and relax,” de Koning says. “I didn’t want a stuck-up jewelry store. I wanted them to enjoy a glass of rosé, try on the jewelry, and have fun.
“It’s come a long way since I first saw it,” she adds. “It’s what I call ‘Santa Fe authentic’—there’s nothing straight about it, the walls or the ceilings.”
Putting her interior design skills to use (de Koning worked with interior design legend Bunny Williams at one time in her career), de Koning started with the loft’s entryway, turning it into an exterior landing space where people can sit, take in the view, and admire the busy neighborhood from up high. A turquoise-framed door leads them inside.
The interior’s main seating area grabs the eye with its vintage midcentury chairs that de Koning had reupholstered in a modern coral color, along with a carved-wood couch with peach-colored fabric, simple glass tables, and a patterned rug in those same coral and peachy hues. Add a fireplace decorated with some of de Koning’s collectibles, and the space feels warm and cozy.
Elsewhere in the loft, jewelry for sale is displayed on tables, alongside elaborate glass bell jars created by de Koning’s friend, artist Andy Paiko, to show off her favorite gemstones and minerals. Think of them and other items on display as de Koning’s personal “cabinet of curiosities,” she says.
“It’s the ideal environment for people to come in and try something on that they might have seen online,” de Koning says of her shop. “What they come in for might not be what they walk out with.”
For art in the space, de Koning features her own jewelry as well as some of her favorite works from gemologist and photographer Danny J. Sanchez, known for his photomicrography of the interior of gemstones. And, of course, her jewelry bench is in the loft too.
As she’s obsessed with every part of the jewelry-making process, de Koning says she wanted her own gallery so she could display objects like agate slices or the handmade lapis bowls she curated from Afghanistan.
“I love rocks. I love gemstones. I love the creativity of other artists,” she says. “I wanted to show my love of stones by using other artists and my jewelry, collaborating in a way.”
Top: Daria de Koning outside her turquoise-trimmed new studio and gallery in Santa Fe, N.M. (Photos courtesy of Daria de Koning)
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