Nicole Gariepy of FantaSea Jewelry - Meet the Maker

June 05, 2021 2 Comments

Instagram says March is meet the maker month, but I’m declaring June meet the maker month here at FantaSea Jewelry! I break the rules sometimes - it’s an artist thing - or at least that’s my excuse! That’s one of the beautiful things about being a creative, we get to break the rules, and we are often celebrated for it.

Sometimes, as a creative business owner, I get so busy bringing my customer’s visions to life and creating for others, that I don’t have the opportunity to create from my heart, from my own inspiration. I have so many ideas that could keep me busy for years and decades to come! Of course, there is more to owning a creative business than just the creating, and that is where I often find myself stuck without time to really dig deep into my creative vision. It’s the struggle many artists have, the balance of business and creativity. This month, for my birthday, I am giving myself a gift! I am finding my way back to my creative center, to my personal center, and to the inspiration that allows me to continue creating new designs and collections.

I’m grateful to be a left-brained creative, which is a bit of a rarity, and this allows me to run a well organized business while doing what I love. Like anything else in life, the key is balance. Balance between the left and right brain, between the masculine and the feminine energies, between intuition and action. As one of my spiritual teachers says, “the masculine creates the container for the feminine to dance!”

While I am in my creative zone this month, I will be sharing some (hopefully) interesting facts about myself and some of my favorite things! If you are just here for the jewelry, feel free to just scroll on by, and I will be sharing jewelry and gem stuff as well too!

So I will start with a few fun facts about me!

My first art was actually performing! I am a classically trained ballet dancer and got very serious about it in my teens. I studied at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York City when I was 16 years old but opted for a career in jewelry rather than performing and had to make that difficult decision with an offer to a ballet company in San Juan, Puerto Rico on the table.

I believe growing up in the Caribbean is one of the things that has made me so creative (and resilient!). Creativity and entrepreneurship are strongly linked, as both require looking at things from different angles and approaching life and business in non-traditional ways. It’s very much about thinking outside the box. I credit island life for this incredible gift! I had to learn pretty early on how to make do without a lot of what we call “stateside conveniences” and I’ve had to learn how to deal with life after hurricanes! Some people may see only the obstacles in these situations, I see the challenge in finding an alternate way.

I also credit some of my incredible life experiences with my continued creative journey and passion for “living my best life”. These include skydiving, a drum circle, zip lining in the Costa Rican jungle, a rogue elephant ride in Chiang Mal, Thailand, and a Michael Franti concert, just to name a few! I have learned to get comfortable with the uncomfortable and to try new and often frightening things - like jumping out of an airplane at 13,500 feet! I think we learn so much about ourselves when we try new things and get out of our comfort zone. A huge life lesson for me has been that if something feels a little scary, that’s probably where I need to be!

Many people dream of moving to the Caribbean, or maybe retiring here. In that sense I am truly living the dream! It’s a dream for many, but it is also my personal dream, and why I am so inspired by what it means to live our best lives. There is so much of what I call “space” here in the Caribbean, so much less “noise” and so much goodness in the people and beautiful nature that we get to experience. This is where so much of my inspiration comes from, it’s the unique energy of island living and how that touches our lives.

I once said to a friend, “I’m just a girl, living on a little island in the Caribbean and making jewelry”, she reflected back to me how awesome my life really sounded when I said it out loud (I was also dating a marine biologist at the time and she thought that was pretty cool too). That was one of the moments where I learned about living in the beauty of my reality and soaking up the magic in everyday. Like it says on my laptop, “life is beautiful” and I believe we are here to enjoy this journey. And this is where so much of my inspiration comes from...

2 Responses

Leave a comment

Comments will be approved before showing up.

Also in FantaSea Jewelry St. Croix Blog