Inspired by the birth of her daughter, Jenny Crane McHugh left the corporate world to design colorful, fun fine jewelry.
After 10 years handcrafting fashion jewelry on the side of a corporate career, Jenny Crane McHugh decided to take the plunge and launch her first fine-jewelry collection, Campbell + Charlotte — a combination of her daughter’s first name and her location in North Carolina. It was the birth of her child in April 2018 that inspired her to devote herself full-time to her passion for design and create the higher-end pieces she’d had in mind for years.
“It’s scary to take the leap after you’ve been working in one field for 15 years. And frankly, that’s where I thought I would always be, climbing the corporate ladder. But I do hope that [Campbell] is inspired by saying, ‘My mom followed her dream,’” McHugh confides.
Having spent about a year designing and manufacturing her line — all of it handcrafted in New York — McHugh left her job when the collection debuted in April, though she retains the Button Box fashion range she was creating while working there. Launching in the midst of a pandemic prevented her from attending trade and consumer events to showcase her colorful, joyful, classic-with-a-twist works, which feature diamonds and custom-cut gemstones in 14-karat yellow gold. Here, she presents her first four Campbell + Charlotte collections.
Evolve
“I describe this one as kind of strong and modern, for the bold woman. All the pieces in this collection have a concentric circle somewhere in the design. And it was really inspired by the feeling that you constantly have to be evolving to be your best self, which is certainly something, in developing and launching a line, I’ve felt throughout the year that I was doing so.”
Found
“This collection is probably the one that feels most personal to me. It marries my love for those organic-y stones, like the malachite, and diamonds or sparkling gemstones to bring both of those worlds together. Most of the pieces in this collection require us to get the stones custom-cut to ensure the design is the aesthetic that I’m looking for. This was really the collection when I decided I was going to do this and I put pen to paper. This was the collection that exploded out of me and showed the love I have for color, the love I have for stones, and really finding unique ways to find beauty in all different kinds of stones.”
Juju
“These are our childhood doodles that have been elevated into charms that we would want to wear every day. These are meant to be really fun, feel magical and sparkly. They’re all covered in melee, whether it be sapphires, rubies or diamonds. They’re made to be layered. And they’re also two-sided: On one side, they’re completely covered in gemstones, and the other side is still 3D in the design, and it’s just the gold part. We wanted to elevate the craftsmanship and the design and have it be ready on both sides.”
The Crew
“Those are the everyday pieces that you shower in, that you don’t take off and you sleep in. And this is our take on some of those more classic designs, but with our signature design detail. We have bangles, stacking bands, some hoops and studs. What this collection is all about is, how can you take some of those really classic jewelry designs and then add some of our signature details and design aesthetic into them to make them a part of Campbell + Charlotte?”
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