Willa Wirth Jewelry

Sep 14

In their own words

“Jewelry is something I’ve been passionate about since I was a tiny little being when I was always found in my mother’s room on her floor with her jewelry boxes covered head to toe in anything and everything. It’s been a love affair. I got a couple of college degrees in sculpture and classical piano and took the summer off after I graduated and discovered a ring-making class. It was a game-changer.”

-Willa Wirth

Jason’s Interview with Willa

Jason

We're back on Meet the Jewelers and today we're talking to Willa Wirth from Willa Wirth Jewelers. How'd you get into the jewelry industry?

Willa

Jewelry is something that I've been passionate about since I was a tiny little being. I would always be in my mother's room with her jewelry boxes, covered head to toe in anything and everything. I got a degree in sculpture and classical piano. I took the summer off after I graduated from college. I had discovered a ring-making class, so I took this class. It was Monday nights at Maine College of Art. It was an absolute game-changer. I'm self-taught. The exploration is infinite for me. The material is so beautiful. The tools fascinate me. I have a great respect for the materials. The tool as an industry. The work itself, the process is everything to me.

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Jason
How many years have you been doing this now?

Willa
I've been doing it professionally for fifteen.

Jason
What drives you?

Willa
85% of my business is custom design now. What rewards me are my customers. The ones I have met that I continue to create for and the ones I haven't met. And the other thing that fuels that drive is what inspires me. I try to get to nature as much as I possibly can. When I'm around the ocean, I’ll go to the studio and start creating ocean designs. I have various collections that are nature-inspired. The driver’s not only the material, the customer, and the inspiration, but it's the pieces themselves and the meaning they carry—like each individual person has their own name, their own story.

Jason
What are some fun, exciting pieces that you're like, “Wow, that was a joy.”

Willa
One thing—it was the most incredible, complex piece. The first time this guy came in he was very dry, he knew what he wanted, but he was real short about how he explained it. And I came up with the concept and created a template and he was psyched. Then he came back year after year on the exact day to date. November 20th. The funny part is he bought her a piece before they got married. They wanted to get pregnant. She wore the piece all the time and she wasn't getting pregnant. And then she said to him, “I think it's the piece of jewelry that's causing me to not get pregnant.” So she didn't wear the necklace for a while. She decided that was just crazy, so she put back on the necklace and within that week she got pregnant. He came back for her birthday. He had me design this charm bracelet. Year after year, on November 20, he would come in with another story of what happened that year and what would be the charm to be designed for her. When we filled the whole bracelet, we almost had tears in our eyes.

Jason
Any fun proposals you've worked on?

Willa
One really cool one was my best friend. Her husband reached out to me and he's like, “Willa, of course, we have to have you design the ring.” He had to send me messages through other people's phones. It was hilarious. They were big skiers, so he proposed to her on a mountaintop in Taos. I was the first person to get the picture of the engagement. I've done so many wedding rings for so many occasions, I do a lot of gifts that have a lot of meaning.

Jason
Why do you think people trust you so much?

Willa
Because I'm a really honest person. I am the kind of person that when you meet me, when you see me, when you shake hands with me, that's what you get. I wear my heart on my sleeve. I love what I do so much. And I love my clients. I give it my all, I put my whole heart into it.

I had a man call me from Texas, it was this last-minute Christmas order. And it was an extremely complex piece with a ton of material, and it was the last day of my Christmas rush, and it's the kind of piece needed to be ordered two weeks in advance. But this was a customer I have a good relationship with. I did not have all I needed in stock. I needed five feet of the specific ten-gauge wire, and I had like three and a half feet. I will not cut corners, so I reached out to every single jeweler in Portland and no one had what I needed. I reached out to a friend of mine an hour and a half north. He literally pulled the wire for me. I paid another guy to drive up there, get it, and drive it back to me. I stayed up almost all night to make sure that piece was done, and it was exactly what he wanted. And the reward on the other side is she called me and said, “Willa, Jim has been buying me jewelry for forty years. We've been married for a little bit longer than that. This is the nicest piece of jewelry I have ever received.” That's why people trust me. I put my soul into it.

Jason
You do so much in the community. What causes do you want Meet the Jewelers to know about?

Willa
I am a team member of an organization called helpourmates.com. This is global and has to do with the wildfires in Australia. Tonight we're having a call with all one-hundred members and I'm pitching to create a silver piece that will contribute to the tragedy and support the relief. I will always be centered in Portland, Maine, and be a part of my community. I think it's important that we also have our finger on the pulse of how we can give. I really think giving is living.

Jason
This is your platform, you can say whatever you like.

Willa
I've gotten really clear about my purpose and my mission as a jeweler. I've come to find that my designs help people come into alignment to really express their true authenticity, which ultimately aligns with their pure identity. This is not just jewelry. It's wearable art. It captures an energy. Jewelry is an expression of our identity.