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Stefanie Wolf Martha's Vineyard Jewelry Edgartown Lighthouse

Coming Full Circle: Love, Life, and the Islands

Stefanie Wolf and her daughter at the Edgartown Lighthouse

Vineyard Dreams

My older brother took me to Martha’s Vineyard for one week during summer vacation when I was twelve.  I fell in love with the storybook villages, the expansive beaches, the rolling waves perfect for boogie boarding, and the feeling that this tiny twenty-by-nine-mile triangle of land was right where I wanted to be.

Each spring I begged my mom to let me live on the island for the summer.  She replied that Martha’s Vineyard summers were mine for the taking once I was in college and if I could find a job that could cover my summer and school year expenses.

Soul Cleanse in the Island Breeze

I went to Wellesley College where I met a group of women who shared my dream to summer on Martha’s Vineyard.  What a glorious season! I sunbathed, gallivanted, created, and celebrated with young people who were happy to be alive, high on life, and just like me.

Stefanie Wolf Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard South Beach Katama Edgartown Ocean Inspired 1995

And I worked.  A lot. I worked at a women’s clothing shop in Edgartown; I bussed tables on a sun-drenched deck on the Oak Bluffs harbor; I served food at the yacht club in Edgartown; I passed appetizers at black-tie events up island in Chilmark; and I made jewelry.

It started with a handful of glass beads purchased from Beadniks, a local, legendary bead store.  The colorful treasures fascinated me. I had no formal training in jewelry making or beadwork. I devised ways to connect the beads with wire and pliers to create fun, colorful necklaces. To my surprise, three stores on the island started selling my jewelry.  They quickly sold out.

I felt comfortable on Martha’s Vineyard with the locals who stayed year round, long after Labor Day weekend BBQ grills had cooled. Later I would marry a local, whom I met that same summer.  After a late night shift, a friend who grew up on the island invited me to meet his best friends, who called themselves, “The Team.” We climbed two flights of stairs to a roughly finished attic room.  There were a handful of young men shooting the breeze, enjoying beer. Little did I know that one of them would become my husband a decade later.

Corporate Heartbreak

College graduation day came and went and I spent the next four years as a corporate cubicle worker.   I was only 24, but I felt over worked, unfulfilled, and listless. My heart just wasn’t in it.

Maui

In the midst of my doldrums, I booked a ticket to Honolulu to attend the wedding of one of my best friends from college.  I planned an extended trip to Hawaii, packed up my belongings, quit my city job, and decided to move to San Francisco after the wedding.

It was a great wedding.  Reunited with my college friends and enamored by the ocean,  I surfed and swam at Waikiki. Coincidentally, one of the Vineyard attic friends from that chance meeting in 1995, happened to be in Hawaii at the same time.  And somehow, between wedding festivities and tourist activities, he and I booked two one-way tickets to Maui.

Stefanie Wolf Colorful Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard Full Circle Maui Hawaii 2002

The Valley Isle embraced us with open arms. We found employment aboard sailing catamarans, bought a “minty condition” used car, and secured a modest rental condo with an ocean view complete with breaching humpback whales.  Maui life was good and we fell in love, seven years after we first met.

Quit Your Job Buy a Ticket Get a Tan Fall in Love Never Return, Stefanie Wolf Martha's Vineyard Maui Artisan Jewelry

California Love Beads

Our time on Maui drew to a close and we relocated to San Francisco so I could could begin my graduate program in psychology.  There I also pulled out my bead box and started experimenting with jewelry again.

Stefanie Wolf Colorful Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard San Francisco CIIS

Soon I was making jewelry for friends and selling at craft fairs and street festivals.  People were purchasing my quirky, colorful jewelry right off of my neck. By the time I had earned my masters, I had also launched “Stefanie Wolf Designs” jewelry and married my soulmate.

Stefanie Wolf Wedding Martha's Vineyard Inkwell Beach Oak Bluffs

Vineyard Dreams Come True

Seven years later my husband and I were expecting our child, and wanted to raise her outside of a bustling city, so we moved to Martha’s Vineyard (of course!).  It is the island where my husband was born and raised, where we first met, and the island that I fell in love with as a young adult.

On April Fool’s Day, 2009, we boarded the Steamship Authority ferry, with all of our belongings, to move to Martha’s Vineyard for good. I was six months pregnant.

Before leaving San Francisco I had amassed a moderate but loyal customer following.  I was selling my colorful handmade jewelry wholesale to about a dozen West Coast stores. On Martha’s Vineyard I set up a cute little studio space in the Arts District in Oak Bluffs and quietly knitted while waiting for my baby to arrive.  JUST KIDDING!

Stefanie Wolf Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard Beach Ocean Inspired Pregnant

I peddled my wares around the island, sold at the Featherstone and Chilmark Flea Markets, and got picked up by CB Stark Jewelers, the best jewelry store on the island.  I continued to sell online through my website.

After the birth of our daughter, my husband took the role of full time dad and I continued to build the jewelry business (although both of us were stringing beads and packing boxes to ship to customers).

Stefanie Wolf with Family Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard Arts District Oak Bluffs 2010

Today, my daughter attends school here, my studio and shop have expanded and relocated to Circuit Avenue in Oak Bluffs, my husband and I own a home (hallelujah!).  I sell to over 100 stores nationwide and I delight in how my life has come full circle. From coast to coast, island to island, bead to bead. Martha’s Vineyard stole my heart two decades ago, gave me space to discover jewelry and express myself and then a decade later, halfway around the globe, in Maui, my husband stole my heart again and now we raise our daughter here on the island as I continue the work I love.

Stefanie Wolf Colorful Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard Full Circle Edgartown 2019

 

 ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~ 

Stefanie Wolf Colorful Artisan Jewelry Martha's Vineyard Full Circle Edgartown

My full circle collection was inspired by my life story. Sometimes life has a way of moving forward while circling back around again and again.

Stefanie Wolf Full Circle Collection Rainbow Jewelry Edgartown Martha's Vineyard
Organic like beach stones, yet colored by imagination, these circles reflect the cycle of island life, where old and modern coexist timelessly.  Shop the collection here. 

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15 comments

  • Anne Caldwell

    Stef, even though I knew the gist of your story, this was so wonderful to read. (Knitting ;) You have such a terrific storytelling voice. Your drive and creativity, the ability to re-examine and re-prioritize your life and simply finding what you love and making it work is so inspiring!

  • Melinda

    To be able to do what you love, finding love on the way and creating a lovely life is what comes out in all your designs Stefanie. We love what you do!

  • Barbara

    Loved reading your story. I always pick up a new piece on my annual vacation in Menemsha.Your work is so recognizable. One of my new colleagues was wearing your necklace. She bought it on vacation but didn’t know your name. I directed her to your website. See you soon!

    Barbara

  • Michelle Howard

    I fell in love with your jewelry and now your story!! I hope Sundance catalogue starts to buy from you.

  • Amy Kurth

    I love this story, Stefanie!! It’s inspiring to know people can still follow their dreams and make a living at what they’re passionate about!
    LOL @ “corporate cubicle worker” :) Great writing!

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