Paula Dawkins
Paula is the co-owner and designer goldsmith at Jewels That Dance. She is renowned for her stunning, artistic designs and her innate ability to apply her myriad skills to each custom peice she designs, creating jewelry that embodies each customer's unique aesthetic. Many praise her for making their jewelry dreams into breathtaking reality.
A graduate of Appalachian State University with a BA in psychology, Paula is a self-taught jeweler. After graduation, she decided to try her had at the newly emerging craft circuit. With a few dollars and a jeweler's saw, she made some cut coin jewelry and her career began. Over the years, she has bolstered her abilities through attending courses at Penland School for the Arts and Holland's School for Jewelers. She also obtained her certification in diamond grading from the Gemological Institute of America. (continued below photo)
To look around the design studio below, click and drag your cursor left or right, hold the Shift key to zoom in or the Ctrl key to zoom out.
Paula began wholesaling a line of jewelry under her name in 1983, at the inception of the wholesale craft movement. She exhibited with the Jewelers of America, the American Craft Council and the Buyers' Market of American Craft. At the peak of this phase of her career, Paula's work was diaplayed in over seventy-five national galleries. In 1993, the Jewelers of America recognized Paula as one of the top twelve new designers in the country and her work was featured in multiple trade publications.
In the late nineties, Paula chose to shift her focus from the wholesale market, opting itstead to pour her creative energy into the growth of her store. Today, Jewels That Dance is a thriving, creative space, and is an integral part of the tightly woven fabric that is the downtown Asheville community. Paula is to be found there most days, doing what she loves best: desiging and creating unique, custom peices of wearable art!
If you can't visit us in Asheville, feel free to contact Paula online (at pauladawkins@jewelsthatdance.com).
