Jewelry Designer Erica Montejo

Erica Montejo

Based in Cleveland, Ohio, Erica Montejo handcrafts 14k gold, sterling silver, and gemstone jewelry inspired by nature. She abstracts familiar organic shapes and textures into unique geometric pieces celebrating individuality and love, allowing the wearer to impart their own special meanings and memories onto them.

Artist Biography

A Rust Belt native and resident of Cleveland, Ohio for over a decade, Erica Montejo is a metalsmith and jewelry designer who works in 14k gold, sterling silver, and gemstone accents. Her jewelry draws inspiration from her garden, paying homage to organic forms and textures, and she often abstracts and simplifies elements like seedpods and flower forms into pieces of linear wearable art.

Erica's journey into the world of jewelry making began after she earned her BFA from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania in 2009. Her first role in the industry was as a bench jeweler at a beloved mom-and-pop jewelry store in her hometown, where she expanded her custom fabrication skills. Her career took a significant turn when she relocated to Cleveland, and later in 2014 she established Tiny Erica Jewelry, marking the beginning of her full-time dedication to her craft. Her hand fabricated jewelry designs, characterized by their abstract interpretations of natural elements, feature streamlined geometric shapes and forms, mimicking the beauty of nature's architecture.

Erica firmly believes that the jewelry we wear on a daily basis reflects our values, identity, and the people and moments we cherish most in life, and she takes immense joy in collaborating with clients to commemorate their stories through private custom commissions in addition to showing her work in galleries and online.

Artist Statement

I spend a lot of time tending my garden, which increasingly influences my jewelry designs. My work has long focused on abstracting organic forms like flowers and seed pods into streamlined geometric shapes that I hand-fabricate in 14k gold, sterling silver, and gemstones. The resulting pieces are nods to nature’s architectural beauty, and their abstract traits allow the wearer to impart their own special meanings and memories onto them.

Recently I’ve felt a deeper kinship with the flora around me and I aim to honor it more directly — this shift involves mimicking nature more literally in my latest pieces, emphasizing and celebrating the small, intricate details of the natural world and preserving it in precious metal.

Jewelry Designer Tess Young

Artisan Made

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