Origin Story – Gaskell & Shankey Jewelry

Once upon a time there were two jewelers – Maureen Shankey and Adrienne Gaskell.  They met nearly 20 years ago when Adrienne was stalking Maureen at a local art show – of course it was at an art show!  Maureen was the brainy professor with all the degrees, an MFA in Metalwork/Jewelry, how cool is that!  Adrienne was the marketing guru looking to start her own business.

Adrienne had been making jewelry and teaching her original designs part time and was looking forward to being a full time artist.  It had been many years since she took metalsmithing in college so Maureen was in her sights.  Long story short, Maureen taught Adrienne a lot and helped her hone her rusty metal skills.  Adrienne introduced Maureen to kumihimo and the business skills most artists don’t like to be bothered with.  Along the way they became BFFs and had fun collaborating on jewelry.  The Seven Rooms Necklace was the very first Gaskell & Shankey collaboration.

Fast forward – 100s of art shows and dozens of awards later.  Tired of the hectic and unpredictable world of wholesaling to galleries and exhibiting at juried art shows, they decided to unleash their talents and go into business together.  The plan was simple, make unique jewelry and sell directly to clients without the gallery markups and art show overhead.

And just to make life more interesting they decided to move from Miami to St. Petersburg, Florida with their spouses happily in tow.  Since arriving in St. Pete, Adrienne and Carl have torn down their house and are building a new one.  Maureen and Vince have gutted the majority of their interior living space and are in the throes of a full renovation.  Through it all, they have enjoyed working in their studios and collaborating on jewelry designs.  The studio can be a wonderful escape!

Over the last year they have been test marketing their designs with Adrienne’s students.  The response has been tremendous!  Now Adrienne and Maureen are ready to take the big leap and introduce their Edgy Classics to the world!  Tell your discerning jewelry loving friends so that they can join the Gaskell & Shankey Inner Circle.

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