RILEY DESIGNS
All Riley Designs jewelry is hand-made by the designers, Christina & Lori. Extreme pride is taken in the craftmanship and materials used. Whenever possible base metals are avoided, so all of the chains and findings are made with sterling silver and 14k gold-fill and will not wear down to another color. Being a mother/daughter team the designs are often infused with two different perspectives, meaning the designs appeal to many different people.
Riley Designs is available in 2 local boutiques: Runway Boutique in El Dorado Hills and Pinkadot in Davis.
They also participate in local events, such as Created in California.
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The mother/daughter team of Riley Designs got started in different ways. Lori (Mom) was known for her 16 years of making and marketing stained glass kaleidoscopes. She then went into the glass bead-making field where she truly developed a love for jewelry. Christina (Daughter) took a different route. She worked as a model for several years before moving to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career and working post-production/visual effects. During a brief hiatus in post-production she worked for a great jewelry designer who took her in and taught her much about the jewelry design world.
“We are inspired by everything around us. Whether it’s nature, art, fashion, etc. We love working with color and we are always looking for ways to pull color out of real-life.”
Personally, Lori is casual and classic, with touches of folk whimsy (a throw back to her years in various arts fields). Christina tends to be more eclectic. She loves the looks of Anthropologie and I tries to create them by shopping at vintage stores, local boutiques, and yes, occasionally at Anthropologie itself.
The jewelry ranges and the styles are switched up from season to season. It’s a goal to create looks that are timeless, as the collections are made up of high quality investment pieces that can be treasured for years. They can range from pendant necklaces with beautiful semi-precious stones and one-of-a-kind wirework, to rich pearl designs that incorporate glass blown beads, to unique and often vintage-inspired necklaces.
“In this economy, we are seeing large corporate giants struggle, so it’s pretty easy to imagine how small-businesses are being affected. As a small business ourselves, we are always extremely grateful for the support of our community and we are always looking to return the favor. We believe everything starts from the ground up and supporting local businesses and companies helps to keep friends and family employed and more out-of-the-box and creative thinking.” – Christina
Locals RD Loves:
Runway Boutique in El Dorado Hills. They have amazing clothes that appeal to more than one generation (tweens). Also, Pinkadot in Davis for unique pieces when shopping for events. Krazy Mary’s in East Sacramento is also great. While not Sacramento based, Toms shoes (based out of Southern California) is a great company. It started small, had a great mission statement and grew with the community around them. That’s a great business model and example.
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Come out to Created in California tonight and try on some of Riley Designs!
xo JJ
This looks amazing! You are so talented! You had such a wonderful idea and we can’t wait to participate tonight! I love reading about all the local designers and businesses and now I get the opportunity to see some of them in person!