Founder's Story

Marie Sexton began creating beautiful jewelry pieces in 2010, while splitting her time between Santa Barbara, California and Sun Valley, Idaho. Her craft began as a hobby, but her passion for creating elegant jewelry pieces quickly blossomed into a company— Taylor J Grant Designs, which she named after her three beloved children. Over the past decade, Marie has traveled the country, visiting dozens of wonderful Trunk Shows where she has built meaningful connections with customers throughout the world.

 

Marie's Creative Process

Every piece that you see in the Taylor J Grant Collection has a different story. Marie's approach to creating jewelry is amorphous & non-linear. Rarely does she seek new creations, but instead, new creations seek her. Mostly, Marie is inspired to create new pieces during her travels around the world— oftentimes, she comes across an elegant anchor pendant that speaks to her, and from there, she is able to visualize a versatile piece that her customers and clients love. To Marie, each piece of jewelry she creates is a "statement piece" that has deeper significance than the outer beauty of the jewels— they are made to embody a lifestyle of grace, love, wisdom and strong family values.

Design Philosophy

For Marie, every piece needs to have a combination of beauty and utility. For her typical client or customer, she creates jewelry that is elegant, but also has versatility and adaptability. One of Marie's signature elements is to use clasps that allow wearers to adjust the length of their necklace. At the core of her design philosophy is the belief that jewelry has the ability to make and outfit. By building versatile products, she gives her customers the opportunity to wear their pieces in a variety of ways that create a different feel with different outfits.

 

What Marie Love the Most

For Marie, the most important thing in the world is people, starting with her family, friends and community. Marie also loves to meet new people and make new friends everywhere she goes. When her children left the nest, she found that her Jewelry was an amazing way to connect with interesting new people at Art Expos and Trunk Shows around the country. Hearing her customer's stories, watching them respond to and interact with a handcrafted jewelry piece and getting to know them in a deep way is why  she loves to make jewelry. In a lot of ways, Taylor J Grant has grown to be a sort of forth child for Marie— a source of connection to people all over.

 

The Studios

One thing that sets Taylor J Grant Designs apart is that Marie creates pieces out of two studios in two different, but equally beautiful parts of the country: Santa Barbara, California and Ketchum, Idaho. 

Each studio lends different utility to Marie.

In the winter, Marie and her family travel to Ketchum to enjoy skiing and all that the Rocky Mountains of Idaho have to offer. It's during this time that she enjoys making jewelry, new and existing pieces alike.

When spring and summer roll around, Marie travels back to Southern California and opens up the studio. The beautiful sunshine and sandy beaches inspire her to show her products to prospective clients and buyers who are interested in adding them to their jewelry collections.

Together both of her studios work together on both the creative and business side of Taylor J Grant—and each inspire Marie in different ways that make every piece unique and elegant.