When Casey Perez puts on that metalsmithing apron and sits down at her bench, she is guided by curiosity and the desire for a conversation with the materials she uses as she transforms an image in her mind into a ring, pair of earrings, or necklace.

The Brooklyn-based designer worked for other jewelry brands for years, but that desire to explore materials—testing ideas directly in metal, wax, or clay and letting the process as much as the initial sketch shape the final design—pushed her to start her own company.

“I fell in love with jewelry because of the craft, and that connection to the bench is still at the center of everything I do,” Perez says. “Even when I collaborate with other craftspeople for specialized steps, I stay closely involved in the making, whether that’s prototyping, soldering, polishing, or setting stones myself.

“Inspiration often comes from art, architecture, and nature, but it’s in the physical dialogue with materials that those influences find their voice. Every piece is a continuation of that early fascination with making, and a way of leaving a trace of myself in the work,” she adds.

A first-generation Mexican American. Perez grew up in Dallas, where her family had settled after coming to the United States. She is the youngest of four siblings and credits her two older sisters for sparking her interest in making things.

“My eldest sister was into crafting, and I remember her having these little baskets where she kept things like poster paints, glitter, googly eyes, and stickers. She’d let us tag along to the Michaels craft store, where we’d pick out seed beads and embroidery thread,” Perez says.

“I loved making friendship bracelets and stringing tiny beads into necklaces. What I loved most was the act of creating itself, the way my hands could turn what was in my imagination into something real.”

Perez attended New York University, graduating with a degree in psychology and art history. Those two interests—art and the human mind—define who she is as a person, Perez says. But a jewelry class she took during her senior year opened up new possibilities.

“With most of my coursework finished, I had room in my schedule for electives and decided to take an introductory jewelry class out of curiosity. I quickly realized how much I loved the process of working with metal,” Perez recalls. “It felt so natural, and I loved seeing ideas from my imagination take shape into something real. I was hooked.”

She started as a bench jeweler for Pamela Love in 2011, creating and problem-solving with a team. That job immersed her in a community of people who understood the obsession and patience that jewelry-making requires. In 2013 she moved to Joomi Lim, a fashion-focused brand where she helped design, create line sheets, and work with vendors.

“It gave me a behind-the-scenes view of how a jewelry business actually runs, and I loved seeing how the creative side and the operational side fit together,” Perez says.

She later freelanced in jewelry design for such companies as Urban Outfitters, Free People, and Madewell, then in 2020 decided to take her skills and operational knowledge to her own brand. She has since been honored with the WJA Foundation’s Cindy Edelstein Scholarship in 2023 and selected for the Natural Diamond Council’s Emerging Designers Diamond Initiative in 2022.

“I chose to work under my own name because it felt true to how I approach jewelry as a creative, hands-on practice,” Perez says. “It reminded me of studying art history and how much I admired the simple practice of artists signing their work with their own name. Over their careers, their styles evolve, their approaches change, but the work is always theirs.”

Top: Casey Perez worked behind the scenes in jewelry for more than a decade before establishing her own brand. (Photos courtesy of Casey Perez)

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