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SUSAN | Artist. Author. Founder of AVILA.

@avilabydesign

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I make objects + write words.
Jewelry. Books. The Thinking Circle.
AVILA by Design | NYC
NYC Partner @themellowmassage
Founder @susansmithcoaching

POSTS STORIES REELS

Two collections. One purpose.

The Light Within is Baltic Amber in three expressions, lemon, cognac, and cherry. Forty million years of formation, hand strung in New York City.

The Tide Within is six coastal gemstones designed for the woman who has learned to move with change rather than against it.

Both collections are now available for wholesale through Faire. If you own a boutique or shop for one, the link is in my bio. Opening orders start at $100. Every piece is handmade in NYC in small batches.

AVILA by Design. Modern talismans for women in the middle of something.

🔗 avilainspireddesign.faire.com

🤍 by @avilabydesign

Hi. I am Susan.

I make jewelry by hand in my New York apartment. I write books about reinvention. I host a monthly Zoom circle for women who are tired of pretending they have it all figured out.

I also just accepted a Director role building a wholesale channel from scratch. So apparently I do not believe in doing one thing at a time.

AVILA by Design is where I put everything that does not fit neatly into a job description.

The objects. The writing. The conversations that actually matter.

If you are in the middle of something and not quite sure what comes next, you are in the right place.

I am glad you are here.

🤍 A V I L A by @avilabydesign

Scorpio begins with Topaz, a traditional November birthstone, paired with Black Tourmaline and Black Onyx.

The two black stones are different from each other. Black Tourmaline has natural texture and irregularity, and Black Onyx is polished and uniform. Topaz brings warm cream and honey tones that sit against the black, so the bracelet has depth and contrast without any extra decoration. Not everything requires access, and I wanted the design to leave some things unexplained.

Designed and hand strung in New York City, and available now on Etsy. Link in bio. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

New on the Journal. Everyone inherits categories, among them a birth month, a sign and a generation, and we still get to decide what each one means. The Twelve was built on that decision, one stone at a time.

Full piece at AVILAInspired.com. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

Libra begins with Pink Tourmaline, one of the October birthstones, paired with Rose Quartz and Labradorite.

The two pinks are different stones, and I wanted that to show. Pink Tourmaline brings deeper, more varied color, Rose Quartz is paler and more uniform, and Labradorite adds gray with flashes of blue and green. Balance does not require sameness, and here it comes from different colors and surfaces sitting next to each other in proportion.

Libra season ends this Thursday. Designed and hand strung in New York City, and available now on Etsy. Link in bio. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

Twelve bracelets, each one an interpretation of a zodiac sign through material, color and contrast. There are no charms and no symbols. The sign is where each composition begins, and the stones, proportions and patterns decide where it goes from there.

I started with the traditional birthstones where they made sense and then built outward, which is why Gemini looks nothing like Leo and Capricorn looks nothing like Pisces. They belong together as a collection, and none of them is a recolored version of another.

You can choose your own sign, the sign of someone you love, or simply the composition you recognize something of yourself in.

Available now on Etsy. Link in bio. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

There is more than one way to be.

I have been working on twelve interpretations of that idea, each built from its own combination of materials, color and contrast. Each one begins with a zodiac sign, and the design is about something more individual than the sign itself.

The sign is where each piece starts, and it does not have to be where it ends. The full collection is coming soon. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

It is another of the twelve interpretations I have been working on. More to come. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

I have always been drawn to the way different materials work together, especially the contrast, the unexpected combinations, and the things that make each one distinct.

Gemini is one of twelve interpretations I have been working on. More to come. 🤍

#avilabydesign #objectsstoriesmeaning by @avilabydesign

I’ve been working on something new. Twelve different compositions, each with its own materials, color and point of view.

This one has been especially fun to build. More soon. 🤍 by @avilabydesign

The Shield Within

I could have chosen perfectly round stones for this collection, and I chose not to. Hematite, Black Onyx, and Black Tourmaline are each left in their freeform shape, with their own edges, irregularities, and weight.

These stones have long been associated with protection, strength, and discernment. I am less interested in promising what a stone can do for you than in what those ideas ask us to consider: what gets access to us, what does not, what is ours to carry, and what is not.

There is something I love about making a piece around those questions without polishing everything into perfect uniformity, and these stones did not need it.

Freeform Hematite, Black Onyx, and Black Tourmaline, designed and hand strung in New York City. 🖤 by @avilabydesign

The Shield Within is made from freeform Hematite, Black Onyx, and Black Tourmaline, left irregular rather than polished into uniformity.

I liked these stones because they were not trying to be identical. The shapes differ and so do the surfaces, and each piece changes the composition slightly from the one before it. Nothing here needed smoothing out.

Each bracelet is designed and hand strung in New York City, and the collection is available now through AVILA. 🖤 by @avilabydesign