In a world of mass production, Kansas City artist Jane Signorelli has spent more than two decades creating something much rarer: jewelry that will never be made exactly the same way twice.
Some jewelry catches your eye.
Jane Signorelli’s jewelry makes you stop.
Look closely at one of her pieces and you may find yourself wondering whether you’re looking at jewelry, sculpture, or a tiny work of art. Her stones can look like landscapes or paintings, surrounded by silver and beads that seem to have been chosen specifically to reveal their beauty.
And they were.
Jane doesn’t make jewelry from a formula. She sees something beautiful in a stone and begins there.
A Creative Life Without a Traditional Path
Jane didn’t go to school to become a jewelry artist. Her education came through life.
She spent 17 years at Saks Fifth Avenue on the Country Club Plaza, working in management and later with customers, fashion shows and private events. She traveled to New York, buying clothing and jewelry and developing what would become an extraordinary eye for beautiful things.
All the while, she was making jewelry for herself.
She was particularly drawn to African jewelry and antique pieces, fascinated by their history, craftsmanship and symbolism. She began creating her own pieces, and eventually people started asking if they could buy what she was wearing.
Her first trunk show was at a restaurant called the Classic Cookie.
“I don’t even know how to put the backs on,” she remembers thinking.
So she learned.
Three-quarters of what she brought sold.
That gave her the courage to call Saks in New York and ask for a show.
They said yes.
They ultimately booked her for seven shows, and her first piece sold to a Saudi princess. In addition, she was a permanent fixture at Saks Fifth Avenue in San Francisco and in other cities.
Sometimes, Jane says, you just have to walk through the door when it opens.
The People Along the Way
One of the most striking things about Jane’s story isn’t how many places her jewelry traveled. It’s how many people helped her get there.
Designers introduced her to craftspeople. A silversmith helped her develop her work. A jewelry maker in Bali eventually invited her to work from his studio in Hawaii. A stone dealer in Phoenix began calling her when he found something extraordinary.
“So many people helped me,” Jane says. “So many people helped me and I was never afraid to ask a question.”
She has carried that generosity forward.
When another jewelry artist, Susan Mayer shyly asked Jane if she would mentor her, Jane didn’t hesitate.
“Of course I’ll mentor you.”
Why?
Because someone had done the same for her.
“If someone hadn’t helped me and pushed me and guided me, I wouldn’t be where I am,” she says. “It’s up to us to pass that on.”
The Beauty of One-of-a-Kind
Jane’s work has always been about individuality.
She resisted the idea of mass-producing her jewelry, even when doing so might have made her more money. She wanted people to wear something that belonged uniquely to them.
“Everybody should be unique,” she says.
Her stones are part of that philosophy. Jane is fascinated by their energy and the meaning people give them. For her, belief itself can be powerful.
And perhaps that’s why her jewelry feels almost talisman-like.
Each stone is different. Each piece evolves from that particular stone. Once it’s gone, the piece cannot truly be recreated.
Jane’s greatest strength, she discovered, could also be her greatest challenge. Magazines loved the uniqueness of her work, but when customers saw a piece they wanted, there wasn’t necessarily another one to sell them.
But Jane wouldn’t change it.
“I never paid myself,” she says of those years. “It was just done out of love.”
Be Kind
Today, Jane has a remarkable collection of one-of-a-kind pieces in Kansas City, many created over more than 20 years.
She isn’t traveling the country anymore, standing at shows for 12-hour days. And she’s not interested in turning her work into something mass-produced.
Instead, she still sees the beauty in each piece—and hopes the right person will eventually see it, too.
Near the end of our conversation, I ask Jane what is the one true thing she has learned through all of this.
She answers without hesitation.
“Be kind.”
Everybody has a story, she says. Everybody is going through something. If you can help someone, help them. If you can be there for someone, be there. Listen.
It is simple advice.
But Jane doesn’t just say it.
She embodies it.
And perhaps that is why her jewelry feels like more than adornment. It carries something of the woman who made it: her curiosity, her generosity, her belief in individuality, and her willingness to see beauty where others might not.
In a world where almost everything can be reproduced, Jane Signorelli still makes something only once.
Something beautiful. Something unexpected. Something entirely its own.