Today we’d like to introduce you to Sangeeta Nair.
Hi Sangeeta, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I’m not kidding when I say for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated by jewelry! I’m of Asian Indian descent and jewelry is huge in Indian culture- gold jewelry are very often given as gifts, even for little babies! Indian babies are the absolute cutest, decked out in simple gold studs & bangles. Since I was a little girl I have admired the traditional bridal necklace my mom wore daily, her thaali, and I would dream of the day I’d wear my own. I started my ever-growing jewelry collection when I was quite young, and in 2009 I began collecting and making jewelry out of broken or forgotten pieces at thrift stores.
Early in undergrad, I mostly made jewelry for myself and my friends that we’d wear at parties, but after getting tons of compliments from drunken girls I decided to start selling jewelry on Etsy. I sold jewelry online for about three years but paused my side hustle when I started a Master’s program at SDSU in 2013. This was right after I had watched a few lectures online which taught me how to yield a micro torch to make stacking rings, and though I dreamt of a new line that focused on metal fabrication, I just didn’t have the time or energy while I was in such an intense graduate program. Though I wasn’t actively making jewelry, I spent a lot of my time at local maker’s arcades and farmers markets.
After a few awesome years living in San Diego, I moved to Birmingham, Alabama to start a PhD program in Behavioral Neuroscience. Two things I brought with me from my years in SD were a love of craft beer & all things handmade, and that made it easy to quickly integrate into the beautiful, budding community that Birmingham is.
One day, I was checking out a fairly new retail shop in town, Elements, and got to chatting with its sweet owner, Mallory Barnett. She told me she was always looking for handmade goods made by local folks, and I left the shop itching to pick up my torch and start this jewelry line that had been in the back of my mind for years, ember&onyx was born in 2017 out of a desire to create meaningful, high quality pieces with a focus on stone setting using metal fabrication techniques that I had learned largely on my own (aka the internet). Things moved quickly after that! I whipped up some rings, earrings, and necklaces with arrowheads and other raw gemstones for the shop. Everything did so well that I soon applied to Birmingham’s local market, the Pepper Place Farmers Market. It wasn’t too long before I got to meeting many other makers in the city & distributing jewelry to other shops in town. In addition to a close knit, talented maker community, Birmingham had awesome opportunities, like free business courses and workshops too.
After vending at a few local concerts, hosting some stacking ring workshops, and developing relationships with some big names in city, I felt like I’d made it when I had a pop-up scheduled at Madewell. Unfortunately it was the first thing to get cancelled for me in the pandemic and I just have to know- do I still get to brag about it even if it never happened?
My husband and I have gone through some big changes since then: COVID-19 drastically changed our wedding day in May, and since then my husband earned his PhD, got offered a job in San Diego, and we moved out here! There are some directions I am so excited to take e&o in the future as I learn new techniques, but for right now. I’m interested in developing relationships with small businesses that are looking for quality, handmade jewelry!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
I feel that for so many folks following a passion, it is rarely a smooth road. Something that I feel has been a struggle in both my life as a small business owner and as a graduate student is imposter syndrome. Though I’d never really call myself a perfectionist, I often have concerns about doing everything to the very best of my ability. I’ve come to realize that that’s an unrealistic expectation to hold myself to, especially because I consider myself a Jane of all trades, or someone who likes to have my hands in a ton of different projects at once. I often feel like I could be doing better, making more, etc., and lately I’ve had to learn how to let go of that feeling and give myself love and space when I need it.
Something else I’ve tried to embrace lately is that if there is something I love to do & genuinely care about, the rest has a way of following. It might take time, but passion & drive are a pretty killer combination! Other people shouldn’t keep you from pursuing what you want to do, but I also believe passion is a superpower that no one should ever be able to take from you.
An example of this could be ember&onyx adopting green practices in my home-studio. It’s often overwhelming to strive for perfection- there is always a better thing we can be doing to align us to our values! I take some comfort in knowing I promise transparency of what my values are as a small business owner and what I do to align myself to those values each day. I have a genuine willingness to help my community and our planet through the work that I do. Another promise I make to my customers is that though I might not be doing everything perfectly, I’m learning more every day about what I can do as a metalsmith to lessen my footprint & that I incorporate those practices when I can.
Some keystones of e&o include using ethically sourced gemstones, plastic-free packaging, and regular donations to various local organizations that help marginalized communities.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I’m a neuroscience graduate student studying how the human brain processes memory! For most of my life I’ve worked with kids: I was a camp counselor for years, I’ve worked at an Occupational Therapy center, and I’ve worked as a Behavioral Interventionist for kids on the Autism Spectrum. It wasn’t until my Master’s program at SDSU that I started getting interested in how the human brain develops. I worked in the Brain Development Imaging Laboratory under some brilliant scientists, Drs. Axel Müller & Inna Fishman, and was introduced to the world of brain imaging.
I quickly learned the ins and outs of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and coding, since so much of processing that type of data is on the computer. After taking advanced courses at SDSU and UCSD, I became more and more interested in just how many brain imaging techniques there are available today. There are techniques that are invasive, and non-invasive. The coolest thing is that every method has different pros and cons. While some methods can tell you brain activity is taking place (like fMRI), other can tell you, I started my PhD program hoping to learn how to integrate different methods so we can learn both where and when different things are taking place in the brain. Most graduate students don’t get to write up a grant for their dream project but after a rocky first year, I had an awesome opportunity to do just that and I took it!
Now, I’m wrapping up the final stages of my dissertation, where I develop a data processing pipeline to merge two different types of brain imaging techniques.
I think something I’m really proud of is being able to master challenging topics, but also enjoying using analogies to explain complicated things to people. As a psychology major, I was always intimidated by neuroscience. I thought it was so interesting but that I’d never be smart enough or whatever to be good at it. Those lies we tell ourselves are the worst! And if I could help someone understand something science-y in a way that makes them less freaked out by science and better armed with tools to interpret science moving forward, I’d feel like I’ve used my degree in the best way possible.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Though my parents had been living in Southern California for years, almost all of my extended family lives in India. I grew up with a very small family here in the states, but a huge, bustling, loving family in India. My parents and I would travel to visit everyone about once a year, and with the time difference (~12 hours) jetlag was so brutal, often for a few solid days or more.
My mom and I got in the habit of buying a ton of our favorite snacks the minute we landed. We would sleep under this giant mosquito net and when we’d wake up in the middle of the night together we would eat all of them and make each other laugh with stories and impressions. Who knew waking up at 4am would be so much fun for a little kid!
Pricing:
- brass pieces typically range from $15-65
- 14kt gold filled pieces typically range from $22-150
Contact Info:
- Email: emberandonyx@gmail.com
- Website: emberandonyxjewelry.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/emberandonyx
- Facebook: facebook.com/emberandonyx
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