JUJU’S JEWLES
JuJu’s Jewels at The Market
A new vendor at The Market, JuJu's Jewles, is run by Julie Mancuso. She started teaching herself how to make jewelry earlier this year through trial and error, watching a lot of YouTube videos for guidance on what worked best with Julie's style and just looking at all the other pieces she has collected over time. It only took her a few months before she could design her own pieces from start to finish.
Julie started designing jewelry because it helps with stress and anxiety while allowing her to express herself creatively. Some pieces of inspiration come from crystals that she feels out before deciding on what direction to take her piece in. Julie focuses mainly on creating designs out of stones like druzy quartz, which give off energy when you wear or hold them in your hand. Their shapes provide inspiration for new creations in which you can find stars or moons among other things. Most pieces are earrings/necklaces, but she’s recently started making bracelets and rings, too.
“More often than not I find things that inspire my creativity,” she says. “Take the moon for instance. It has been said that certain stones can be aligned with different parts of our bodies. For example, the moon is said to be connected with your throat chakra, so if you're wearing a piece of jewelry like my druzy necklace, you'll feel extra empowered!”
The Market provides a great opportunity for local artists to display their art and sell it to others in the community. Julie was drawn to The Market at Parkmerced because she loves meeting new people in the area and supporting other vendors. She hopes to get a nice following of customers and make some new connections.
"The Market looks like a really fun event to be involved in," she says. Julie is excited for the opportunity to sell her pieces on a weekly basis and believes that it will be very positive for both her and the other artists who are participating. She plans to have many different types of jewelry in the future, depending on the time she is able to put into making more pieces.
Julie can be found at The Market this Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. You can also check out JuJu's Jewels on Facebook or Instagram.
Julie has dreams of opening an Etsy store and ultimately, a brick and mortar store. For now, you can also find JuJu’s Jewels at the Center for Integrative Wellness and Bubbles And Bloom Beauty Bar in Pacifica as well as Unfiltered Beauty in San Francisco.
When she’s not making jewelry, Julie loves gardening, cooking and crafting. Learning new things every day and trying something new is a passion of hers. “I’m willing to try anything once. I can’t wait for wintertime so I can make candles from scratch.”
