Studio Collection owner Bess Nathan Rice in her new shop on East Napa Street just off the Plaza. Rice uses semi-precious and precious stones in many of her handcrafted pieces.
Ryan lely/Sonoma Valley Sun
Ever since she was a kid, she says, Bess Nathan Rice always had beads and made jewelry. Now, after over 20 years on the wholesale side of the business, she recently opened a retail shop on East Napa Street, next to Readers’ Books. At Studio Collections, she sells her own work, plus the jewelry of six Bay Area artisans who are using new techniques.
Her first job after college was as production manager for Ana Amour Accessories, a producer of beaded jewelry in Mill Valley. After three years working for Amour, Rice established Bess Nathan Accessories in Marin. With five employees, she designed and produced costume jewelry inspired by Victorian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs. Her customers were small shops as well as such department stores as Macy’s and Nordstrom.
Deciding she need a break from creating the four or five new collections a year the department stores demanded, Nathan Rice sold her business, eventually working at home in Sonoma as a designer for a company in Toronto that manufactured its jewelry in Nepal.
In 2001, feeling isolated working alone, she started Bess Nathan Rice Jewelry, making bracelets, necklace and earrings in 18 carat gold, with semi-precious and precious stones. Today, her pieces feature such rare stones as brown, blue and pink tourmalines, rich-red spinels, Peruvian opals and white topaz as clear as crystal.
“I wanted to create a beautiful venue to show my jewelry and the creations of other adventurous designers,” said Rice. She also sells the work of Alix Bluh, who makes rings of silver and gold that hold loose gemstones under glass. Another designer, Presh, creates sterling pendants that contain pieces of fabric covered by glass. Sally Bass sets amber pieces of Bakelite plastic from the 1930s in contemporary rings, bracelets and earrings of sterling. And in the small world of Bay Area artisans, Nathan Rice’s first boss, Ana Amour, works one day a week at the shop on East Napa, taking care of customers and making jewelry in the back of the store.
Prices at Studio Collections, where two chandeliers hold lit candles intended to imbue the shop with good feng shui, range from $30 to $2,000. Rice also makes custom jewelry and does repairs.
Studio Collections
126 E. Napa St., Sonoma
707.935.6772.
Open daily 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
