Blessings show up in the oddest of places, as I discovered in 1999
in San Francisco when a Ford F250 pickup truck ran a red light and at
45 mph crashed into me & my little car. Considering I had earlier
survived a more serious head-on collision as well, the message seemed
very clear. It was time to find my passion in life and to focus on it.
That search proved to not be easy, and I finally reached my wit's
end. I didn't know what to do but to kneel down and have a serious soul
searching with the powers that be. The very next morning the art of
jewelry design fell into my lap in the form of a job at a bead shop
in Palo Alto. I would learn the basics during the day, and literally
hide away every night teaching myself the rest. Then one morning I woke
up and knew that it was time to come home to Kalamazoo.
Amy Zane designs grew as I supplied jewelry to boutiques and galleries all over Michigan and the Midwest. Sales experience from summers as a door-to-door bookseller while a student at the University of Michigan helped me to know how to approach retailers, and Amy Zane grew further when a Chicago Sales rep picked up my jewelry line.
One fateful day, Sylvia Steeg of Oggi planted a seed in my mind concerning gathering up some local artists to start our own store, and Fervor was born (see Our Story). Although I continue the wholesale side of Amy Zane, it is the interaction with customers at Fervor that brings me the most joy. It still astounds me to see people made so happy by something my own two hands created.
I do believe the ideas for many of my designs began in the pre-San
Francisco years with my life in Manhattan and my solo journeys across
foreign lands. I will never forget the diverse and seducing palettes
and contours of the lands and in the dress of the people I encountered.
I would like to think that some of these same elements can be glimpsed
in the colors and curves of my jewelry collections. I have found that
my jewelry business has neatly tied up all the far-flung adventures
and seemingly random things I have done in my life. I feel that everything
I did led up to this point in life. I also feel that this is just the
very, very beginning. I cannot wait to bring the rest of my plans to
life in Kalamazoo.
