I've been the kind of person who needs to do things herself since I was small enough to make a mess with a spoon. My mother tells the story of how I refused help at mealtimes, insisting on feeding myself even though more food ended up on the table than in my mouth. Eventually, my grandmother gave me my own little table, set apart from the others, where I could make my mess in peace. I was proud of that table.

That need for space, for autonomy, for the freedom to try and fail on my own terms, has shaped everything since.

I trained as a silversmith, then as a goldsmith. I co-founded a goldsmith's workshop with a colleague. We created custom engagement and wedding rings, working in precious metals and gemstones. I handled the business side. He handled most of the making. I respected him greatly.

But we had different visions. Mine were expansive, bold, moving quickly. His were careful, slower, more restrained. I kept suggesting ideas. He couldn't follow. Eventually, I stopped suggesting them altogether.

I'm persistent, so I kept trying for a long time. But gradually, I understood that I would have to leave. For a long time, I didn't want to admit that to myself. The space I had within that company felt too small. I need a lot of space. I need space for my thoughts to move, flow, and change.

In 2017, while I was still at the workshop, I founded Jewelryteller. It was a quiet act of claiming my own table again. But I didn't have the time to build it.

In 2018, I started studying social sciences. I was genuinely interested in the field, and it felt like a practical path. Income, stability, a way to explore a different calling. I've always been interested in many things, and I've had the possibility to follow them. But Jewelryteller went to sleep. Fear and a lack of belief in myself probably played a role in that. I wanted it, but I didn't dare to fully jump into it.

I completed a master's degree and have been working in that field for six years now. It's meaningful work. But it isn't where I feel most at home. The pull toward creating, toward making something of my own, has always been very strong. It has been there since I was a small child.

Eventually, I left the workshop. I had to step away because I felt myself shrinking.

Now I'm waking Jewelryteller up. And waking myself up with it.

The first collection is almost fully designed. Some prototypes already exist. We are waiting for the finished pieces. Designing on my own terms feels wonderful and liberating and at the same time difficult and a little frightening. There is no one to reflect ideas with in the same way. Every decision is mine, for better or worse, and everything I do is exposed to judgment and possible failure. But I am also glad that I can make my own mistakes in peace and learn from them. My thoughts are free to fly. Waking Jewelryteller feels like the world is opening up in front of me. I see it more clearly. Energy is flowing. I feel a sense of freedom I haven't felt in a long time.

I've always needed my own table. Now I'm building it.