00:04No one needs to wear jewelry. We choose to wear jewelry as a reflection of ourselves.
00:09It's probably the most personal aesthetic choice that you can make every day to put that piece on.
00:15When you're going to be so attached to something like that,
00:18it's definitely there has to be something that pulls at your heartstrings
00:21when you're going to make that kind of decision.
00:24Artists are really making the jewelry and they're putting their own special stamp
00:29in every single piece of jewelry.
00:32I live true to my belief system.
00:35My belief system is that I want to lessen my impact and create a better world with my work.
00:40My name is Melissa Joy Manning and I make jewelry.
00:50When I started my business, there were very little opportunities for artists working in the United States
00:55and I really wanted to build in domestic production into our labor practices.
01:01New York was the center of fashion and aside from design, it can still be the center of fashion in
01:07manufacturing.
01:08And then we can control our standards.
01:09We use recycled metals. We do our best to use socially responsibly mined stones.
01:16But to me, the most important part of the company is that we're providing jobs to artists that need and
01:23want jobs.
01:24A pretty amazing thing to be able to build something with your hands every day and make a good living
01:29doing it.
01:30You know, I think a lot of people don't know how much work actually goes into making a piece of
01:35jewelry,
01:35especially something that is 100% handmade.
01:39You can buy pre-bought settings and even bands.
01:42That's not what we do here. We're working with the raw material.
01:46For me, everything's about creating relationships.
01:49We're in relationships with the people with whom I work or to whom I sell to our vendors.
01:52And most of the people we work with in the States have their own miners' rights and they cut their
01:57own stones
01:58and they treat their own water. And they're artists.
02:01I do appreciate the American-made jewelry and also the fact that Herkimer's come from America.
02:07The Herkimer diamonds are one of the few things that are USA only.
02:12If you're opening a fresh pocket of Herkimer diamonds, it's 450 million years old,
02:17and you're the first one to touch it and you're bringing them out of the earth. It's very exciting.
02:22Everyone used to be so proud of things made in America.
02:25When we make things, we make them right.
02:27And we make them with the best technology, the best experience, and the best materials.
02:33Maybe it's time to return to our roots of making things.
02:35Oh, here's your hands.
02:36Thank you, friends.
02:37Hello.
