Before opening her jewelry store, No Roses Artisan Jewelry, in Sherman Oaks, Calif., Lisa Sirlin-Hall wrote many of the quippy movie descriptions we all peruse on Netflix—the jeweler was a longtime copywriter for the streaming service prior to opening the shop with her husband, Tracy Hall, in 2011.
Since then, the store has become a favorite neighborhood fixture, known for its custom designs and hard-to-find brands. No Roses is the only store in Southern California that carries pieces from New York City jewelry designer Monika Knutsson, a Beyoncé favorite and recent subject of a splashy New York Times profile.
The store is also, to Sirlin-Hall’s knowledge, the only area shop that re-strings pearls by hand to create innovative, one-off styles (see photos above and below). “We really saw the need for the pearl restringing because no one was doing it locally,” she says.
The process of revamping an estate or vintage pearl necklace at No Roses entails more than simple beading/knotting: “We evaluate the drilling of the pearls, we talk about knotting, and we discuss what the client wants, and what their style is,” says Sirlin-Hall. “It becomes a collaborative process. People come in and say, ‘What can I do with these?’ And we go from there. We want to make something that’s not your grandma’s pearls—unless of course you want that.”
Top and above: Restrung pearl necklaces by No Roses (courtesy of No Roses)
Beyond pearls, the retailer specializes in revamping and redesigning all kinds of jewelry. “We get people coming in with pieces other jewelers have turned away…. We work with diamonds, and we work with Lucite.”
The retailer has cultivated a homey, unpretentious store, a state of being she says her clients appreciate. “They want a next-generation jewelry store,” she explains. “We don’t want them to feel daunted when they walk in. We want to encourage people to come in with their family jewelry that they want rethought and redesigned and feel comfortable.”
Sirlin-Hall says her clientele has been skewing younger recently, a fact she chalks up to a collective desire for “something a little different” that’s more curated and special-feeling than online shopping.
“My clients don’t want the online experience,” she says. “They want to text me at 11 p.m. and know I’m going to respond.”
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