Balboa

Before Natalie Portman wore a Balboa pendant necklace with her apple-green t-shirt and gold-woven Chanel blazer.  Before Alicia Keyes put on a read head scarf and Balboa filigree earrings for a photo shoot.  And before Hillary Duff, Paris Hilton, Alicia Silverstone and Ashlee Simpson wore Balboa jewelry in fashion pages and on the red carpet, a young designer in the Carolinas put each one-of-a-kind piece together at her workbench.

Meet Jane Pope, founder and owner of Balboa, who still designs and creates each piece by hand. In her studio, beads of every color, silver and copper coins, pearls, antique brooches, precious and semi-precious stones, chains, clasps cover almost every inch of a long table and fill carts and bins. It’s here – upstairs in a circa 1840s storefront just blocks from the Atlantic Ocean – where she decides how to put all of the pieces together.

Since 2001, Jane has designed necklaces, earrings and bracelets – many incorporating as many as 2-15 vintage elements.  Always a fan of vintage jewelry, Jane’s personal style and interests in both heirloom and fashion jewelry are what drives the company.  And magazines from Cosmopolitan and Seventeen to Elle and Glamour have taken notice. The young designer and company owner was even named once of Marie Claire magazine’s "10 Best Stylemakers to Watch."