Christine Bartoletta of Society Hill Designs

Four years ago, Falls Church resident Christine Bartoletta quit her day job and became a full-time jewelry designer. She launched her own jewelry line, Society Hill Designs, and started selling her pieces at Stifel & Capra on W. Broad Street. She has a working studio upstairs and her own retail space downstairs at Stifel & Capra. “It’s like having my own boutique, which is something I’ve always wanted but never dreamed I could have,” she said. 

The local artist considers herself to be a late bloomer. She always wanted to go to art school but her parents encouraged her to become a lawyer. After school, she began working as a paralegal for a law firm and chose to shelve her artistic passion until later in life. She climbed the corporate ladder and eventually became the manager at a technology group. “I was really unhappy,” she said. “It’s not what I wanted to do. I daydreamed about quitting my day job and pursuing an art career of some kind."

Bartoletta had always dabbled in jewelry and loved it. After years dressed in uniform at a Catholic school and then in corporate America, she saw jewelry as a way to express herself and maintain her individuality. She started beading and taking classes, including a silversmithing class at the Torpedo Factory. Soon she set up a home studio and entered her work in local shows, but was itching to turn her creative outlet into a full-blown career.

“I found out about some studio space for rent with other artists and that concept kind of blew my mind because I never thought I’d work outside of my house,” she said. “I started taking it more seriously as a business.”

She stayed at her first studio downtown for two years before joining Stifel & Capra. “I just feel really blessed to be in such a supportive environment,” she said of the Falls Church boutique. “Interaction is really good for me. All of the artists are positive and they speak my language.”

Bartoletta makes jewelry with rustic elegance. She gravitates toward earth tones, finding inspiration in the textures, shapes and colors seen in nature. She chooses one-of-a-kind semi-precious stones and creates settings around them using old antique metals, which she repurposes and sets in silver. Her pieces often include turquoise, labradorite, agate, jasper and unusually shaped pearls.

“There’s definitely a soulful component to some of my pieces,” she said. “My hope is that they’ll resonate with customers. Before I was just creating for the fun of it, but now I love that women feel beautiful when they wear my jewelry. But I like to think that there’s something more than just the beauty of wearing the jewelry - an emotional or spiritual connection to the piece. I want women to feel beautiful but I also want them to feel powerful and confident. I want there to be some meaning to it.”

Customer Justyne Fischer said she absolutely loves and cherishes her Society Hill Design pieces. “[Christine’s] pieces are original, distinct and beautifully crafted,” Fischer said. “I always look forward to that one new piece that I will covet and eventually make my own.”

Bartoletta wants her customers to celebrate their style and who they are through her pieces. “You’re not going to see my pieces on everybody,” she said. “It’s about being an individual and representing your personality.”

She's recently been focused on combining newer organic pieces with vintage jewelry from the 1800s through the 1970s. “I’ve started repurposing vintage pieces with my own designs,” she said. “It’s sort of a modern take on a vintage piece. It goes through my hands and I rework it, breathe new life into it and then it goes on its own journey.” 

She is also working with other artists and designers to sell more in her mini-boutique, including accessories, scarves, linen clothes and candles that all fall under the same aesthetic. Her spring collection will be peppered with ocean jasper and lace agate. Her new leather bracelets will also be for sale. “I was taking old leather belts with different designs and cutting them to make bracelets,” she said. “Now I’m making my own leather bracelets where I’m stamping them with words and symbols and dying them.”

Bartoletta is tickled by the endless possibilities of her new career path. “The freedom is amazing,” she said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted. I can use all of those different parts of my creative brain. When I get tired of one thing, I can focus on something else so that I keep replenishing all of these different things. I don’t know where it’s going to go but it’s given me a lot of freedom, which is really important to me. As of right now, that’s what I’m happy pursuing.”