An Aspen jewelry store was selected to showcase some of its pieces at the National Museum of Women in the Arts later this month.
Rosie Whipple-Andrews, the designer and founder of Katherine LeGrand Custom Goldsmith, is one of only two fine jewelers invited to display pieces for auction. She said she’s honored to have her work displayed at the only museum in the world to solely recognize the creative contributions of women.
“Jewelry is still such a male-dominated world from the mines, from the dealers, from the wholesalers, the cutters, jewelry designers themselves,” she said. “There’s hardly more than 10 percent of the field as women designers, period.”
Whipple-Andrews brings her experience as a fashion designer and an interest in nanoparticle engineering to jewelry making. She’s been in this field for 13 years and said this achievement validates her work as an artist.
“I think what I’ll really take away from it is just a firm standing of if a design that I have in my head might seem a little too outlandish, because nothing like it’s been done, that I should just go for it,” she said.
She’s designing a special piece to commemorate the museum’s 30th anniversary. The pieces on display will be bid on during a silent auction at the museum’s 30th anniversary gala to raise funds for the museum’s exhibitions and programming. That will take place in Washington D.C. April 21.