Julie Cohn

"For me, designing each collection is part artistic inspiration and part technical exploration. Much like pre-modern jewelry, the handwork used to create each piece is evident, as is my modernist aesthetic. Designed as limited editions, each piece is a labor of love.

Learning new techniques is often the catalyst for inspiration. I often don't know where a process is taking me until I start exploring a concept. All the ideas from my inspiration board begin to converge through different methods of interpretation and suddenly I've arrived at my destination. This is the beauty of hand fabricating my way through life. "

Julie Cohn's creative endeavors have come together to form her unique vision and aesthetic, characterized by the tension between rough and refined, traditional and modern, ultimately paring things down to their essence. Educated as a painter and printmaker, Julie studied the craft of bookbinding and box-making to house her prints which lead her down a diverse design path that included rugs, textiles, hardware, tabletop, collaborations with architects, and public art.

Her studio in Dallas, Texas functions as an artistic collective where she mentors young artists to see the possibilities of parlaying their talents into art-centric careers. Working together, they learn the complexities of making products by hand, collaborate in the artistic process, problem solve fabrication and observe the trials and tribulations of bringing handmade products to the marketplace.

Her goal is to inspire young artists to learn how to connect the dots, take forks in the road and use their skills to create an artful life.

Many of Cohn's staff are studying art with her peers from graduate school. Their conversations about the creative process, artistic influences, movies, podcasts, fashion, etc. create a rich environment for birthing new ideas, combining disparate materials and creating non-traditional fabrication techniques. Everyone in the studio has a voice.

As a self-taught jeweler, her approach is unconventional in process and begins by working directly with materials rather than sketching a preconceived idea. She finds inspiration in nature, traditional and pre-historic forms, and old world processes. Her pieces are about possibilities for layering and stacking to create personal collages that uniquely juxtapose disparate elements with simple elegance.