Catbird Spotlight: Borah

Meet Borah, she is part of our small and mighty and wildly creative in-house design team. A trained architect turned jeweler with over a decade in the business, she shares her full circle Catbird moment, places of inspiration, and a hint (!) at something the design team has been working on, coming soon - we promise!

How long have you worked at Catbird?

Coming up on two years in May!

Hometown:

I grew up in Westchester but have lived in Brooklyn for the past 15 years

What neighborhood do you live in?

Clinton Hill

What originally got you interested in jewelry?

When I was little I LOVED going into my mom’s jewelry box and looking at all the pieces she collected over her lifetime. Each piece had a story like a small artifact from that moment in her life. I fell in love with the idea that a charm could bring back memories of childhood or an old love. It’s still my favorite thing about what I do, it’s like creating tokens for future memories.

When you are at the jeweler's bench, which piece is your favorite to make?

I feel like I should say one of our more sparkly pieces like the Snow Queen Ring or the Unicorn Horseshoe but I really love making Threadbares!  There’s something so meditative about the soldering and hammering. Each one carries the imprint of its maker and when I worked in the store, I loved seeing the way our customers wore them : one on every finger, a stack of 20, the most delicate wedding band… They’re also one of the first pieces our jewelers learn to make which is really special!

What piece are you excited about right now?

It’s an oldie but I’m ALWAYS excited about the Greco Lariat. It looks amazing on everyone and looks great both layered and on its own. And I’m extremely excited about an upcoming collaboration we’re working on with an extraordinary artist!

Where do you look for design inspiration?

New York City is always serving up inspiration. I am a subway ride away from some of the best museums in the world -The Met, MoMA, The Noguchi Museum, The Photo Archives at The New York Public Library. It is the setting of some of my favorite movies from the 70s through the 90s. I’m inspired by the things that stand here and feel like they will be fixed forever and by those that pass through--the rain running down your face while you do a midnight run to the bodega.

What is your favorite material to work with?

I love a good glowy moonstone.

What's your favorite part of the design process?

I love the moments right after we’ve gotten a new project or a design briefing. It feels boundless. It’s like word association but with jewelry…this kind of stream of consciousness designing where most of it makes absolutely no sense but some of it could *possibly* be something worth exploring further. It’s always interesting to see where the freedom of just throwing things out there will take you.

Describe your journey to Catbird! (Your backgrond and how you learned your craft.)

I've been making jewelry out of anything I could get my hands on for as long as I can remember (clay, candy wrappers, office supplies, you name it) but for one reason or another, it never occurred to me that it could be a career. It was like it was too much fun to be taken seriously. I wound up going to school for architecture and by my third year, was completely burnt out. My friend got me a job at a jewelry studio he was working at in the East Village because I couldn’t bear another summer internship behind a computer and it was there that I realized that making jewelry for a living was a very real possibility. I was so deliriously happy in that sweaty basement on 9th Street that I couldn’t imagine doing anything else with my life. I left school not too long after to start my own line however a couple years in I was questioning my decision and thinking about going back to school to finish my architecture degree when Leigh (Catbird’s co-creative director) reached out on Etsy to ask me about carrying my line in the store. I knew about Catbird (obviously…having been a jewelry obsessed person living in Brooklyn) and after texting all caps messages to every contact in my phone and having a celebratory mid morning alcoholic beverage, I took it as a sign that I was on the right path. I had my line for 6 years and have since worked in a number of  jewelry studios and have held just about every position that exists. Being able to be at Catbird doing what I love, 10 years after they unknowingly gave me that boost of confidence to keep me doing that very thing is such a surreal and beautiful full circle moment. 

What do you love about living and working in Brooklyn?

I’ve gone to school, worked and lived in the same neighborhood for 15 years. My first apartment in Brooklyn was in a loft across the street from the Navy Yard and years later, one of my first jewelry studios was in that same building with a couple friends that own a furniture company who are now operating out of the same building Catbird is in at the Navy Yard. There’s just something about this community that draws in and keeps creators and creatives. The support that small businesses give each other is so uplifting and it’s so motivating to be around so many people who value creative fulfillment. I honestly don't know if my path in life would've been the same had I lived anywhere else.

Best neighborhood spots near the Brooklyn Navy Yard?

Oh man, there are SO MANY good restaurants in Fort Greene…Olea, La Rina, Colonia Verde…I’m also a sucker for a dive and Alibi is one of the best (worst?).

Borah's Picks