Jessica Ricci

I didn’t plan this. 

I wanted to be a journalist and travel to report on important events that would eventually add up to history. I got my master’s degree from NYU in journalism to start the process and moved to Rome before age 30 to perhaps be in the way of something worth writing about. 

Instead, I taught English and became consumed by the local flea market called Porta Portese, where I collected love-worn antique prayer cards and discarded chandelier parts. Suddenly, other people’s objects piled up in my apartment and started to seep into my subconscious. 

Sometime between those moments spent looking out of my window onto antique cobblestones, and now, as I look out of my studio window at Downtown Providence, I decided to gather cultural artifacts around the world and transform them into jewelry. Antique lace, coins, spiritual amulets, and keys found their way from flea markets in far-flung lands into mine, and maybe, yours. We hope those who wear our jewelry feel how beautiful time can be.