Renee Kyweriga has a BFA in communication design from the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota. But designing one-of-a-kind and limited edition vintage jewelry and personal accessories is what makes her heart sing.

Each design is unique and carries with it a piece of history, the karma of the era from which it originated: pot metal from the 1920s, rhinestones, pearls, and bakelite from the 30s and 40s, plastic flowers from the 50s, natural stones from the 70s and 80s.

“Everyone has a story, and the jewelry they wear is the backdrop to those stories,” says Renee. “My goal is to integrate the history and beauty of the past with current trends to create unique pieces that people want to collect and wear today as a backdrop to their own stories.”

According to her mother, Renee was born to create. She bases her claim on the “talent” she recognized in Renee’s first work of art (a chocolate pudding finger painting on her highchair tray at six months). Renee’s media evolved over the years, progressing from raw egg sculptures on the kitchen floor (at 1 year) to crayon murals on the kitchen wall (at 2 years), to her first business endeavor, From the Heart, (at 8 when she created and sold made-to-order bookmarks sparkling with glitter for 15 cents apiece to her school mates). She moved on to more traditional media for her drawings and paintings in junior and senior high school. A trip to France when she was 16 broadened Renee’s perspective, crept into her art, and piqued her quest to identify and learn new ways to express herself.

Through all the years, Renee’s fascination with color, sparkle, shape, and texture continued to grow. In college that fascination led to an ever-growing collection of vintage ribbon, cards, fabric, dishes, wrapping paper, and—especially jewelry. The only thing that held her back was a student’s budget. Much of the time she could only afford to buy the broken pieces of the vintage jewelry she loved and had begun to stash away in a growing collection of old jewelry boxes. Finally, because she could not afford to buy the more expensive vintage jewelry she loved, Renee started to study how the bits and pieces she’d collected had been assembled, the materials that made each piece unique to its era, and began to transform them into new works of art.

If it sparkles and catches her eye, Renee will find a way to create a new work of art.

• • Browse Renee's Products