Meet Lyndsey Rieple

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsey Rieple.

Hi Lyndsey, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I pursued illustration and drawing through the 10,000th hour until I discovered jewelry making by working at Alfred University’s costume shop. I started making jewelry from buttons, leather, and hemlock cones I found which provided an incredible initial focus; a design focus that gave me a way to filter life through.

Fifteen years later, my business is its product of resourcefulness, community, question-asking, observation, trying stuff out, and an acceptance that discomfort will be a part of everything I want. Having attended 11 schools in my life and collected 21 addresses over time, I am at home with variety and building community wherever I go.

Behind everything I have is a relationship, a conversation, and someone who is giving his/her time. I wouldn’t have a business without a network of willing hearts. Relationships first, then products.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like many entrepreneurial journeys, I have wanted to redirect my sails, crawl under the bed, use failure as an identity, blame so-and-so, take myself way too seriously, and I have done all of the above.

Temporarily. I think I would prefer to keep going knowing that whatever I choose, I am OK. Life is uncertain anyway, and I want to have fun and live in inspiration as often as I can.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am now selling my jewelry online and at markets such as Backyard Market in the Black Forest. I also do custom fine jewelry by word of mouth along with repair and restyling of old pieces. I teach Jewelry Making at Cottonwood Silver & Lapidary at the Cottonwood Center for the Arts while also getting to work for Berges Jewelry Design off S. Nevada. I also build Squarespace websites sometimes and was accepted into the Virtual Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium on my topic “Original Jewelers of Colorado Springs 1895 – 1910: Their Titles and What They Offered”

The variety keeps me engaged. Problem-solving is energizing, although it hasn’t always been that way. I don’t consider myself a natural entrepreneur who was making a profit at a lemonade stand when I was 7 years old. My sister and I were making 1″ books and sculpting food out of wet toilet paper for our dolls though.

I hope I am best known for being encouraging. I have benefited greatly from others’ encouragement and example. I am currently most proud of my proposal being accepted into the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium. There is still a childlike belief in me that says I am not good with words, so I get a kick out of opportunities to speak and write. Mmm, I don’t want to be set apart from others. I want to join in on the collective, “we are all figuring it out (or not)” one way or another.

What were you like growing up?
I was a thinking, observational, giggly, and stubborn kiddo. My favorite family story is the time we went out to get a Christmas tree.

We walked out on our property to chop one down, and on the walk home, I decided I wouldn’t go any further. My parents wouldn’t carry me, so I sat there in the meadow for a good while. As it was approaching dusk, Dad went over to me and said if I walked to him, he would carry me the rest of the way.

Pricing:

• Popular earrings range from $30-$60
• Flip Rings around $200
• Repair range $20-$125
• Custom Design range $800-$2,500

Contact Info:

• Website: LyndseyRieple.com
• Instagram: @LyndseyRiepleJewelry
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/lyndsey-rieple-16289534

Image Credits
Eryn Stafford