Designer Spotlight: Pennyroyal

Designer Tim Foster decided to leave the recording industry in 2006 after discovering a new passion for jewelry-making while creating a gift for his girlfriend.  What followed was Pennyroyal Studio and a slew of edgy, inspiring, handmade collections. Keep reading for more on Tim's career and insight into the life of a jewelry designer.

Let's start at the beginning. How did you get into jewelry design? Are you formally trained, self-taught, or some combination of the two? 

Before I was a designer, I worked in artist development and marketing at a major record company and after about 6 years I was looking for a way out as the industry was changing very quickly.  I made a Christmas gift for my girlfriend out of a penny from my birth year that I hammered into a rough shape and hung from a cord.   I loved the process of creating an object that was imperfect and meaningful and that started me on the path of becoming a designer full time.  I bought as many books as I could and watched videos online and started buying and improvising tools to teach myself how to work with silver.   One year later I left my job at the record company and launched the first version of the Pennyroyal website with just 7 designs.   Over the past 6 years, I've had some training in various techniques but for the most part I was self taught.   

What inspires your designs?

When I first started, all my designs were inspired by music. They were named after songs and often featured imagery from the songs they were inspired by like "Learning to Fly", "All You Need Is Love", and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". I've always compared my design process to the songwriting and recording process.   I like things to be a little bit imperfect so they have that handmade human quality. I've never been a fan of music that is overly produced and too polished, and I embrace that same philosophy in my jewelry design. These days my designs still embrace imperfection, but I find inspiration in a lot of different places.  It's very creatively freeing to allow yourself to be open to different types of inspiration.  My latest collection for women, called The Empire Collection was inspired by Art Deco art and architecture. It's a departure for me because I've never really done anything that involves so many straight lines, but the combination of my imperfect, handcrafted texture and the straight bold lines makes what I hope people think is a unique take on the style.  

 

I love how you also design jewelry for men. Many designers overlook this market. How is designing for men different and how has the feedback been?

Designing for men is really easy for me because, well... I am a man. So I just design stuff I would want to wear and lean on texture and simplicity. Designing for women is the more challenging one for me but I do a lot of research and I have some really great women in my life both personally and professionally who I bounce ideas off and make test designs for all the time.  

Being a jewelry designer, what do you like best about your job? What are some of the trials or toughest parts of running your own business?

My favorite thing about being a jewelry designer is the actual process of designing jewelry.  Whether it's working on a custom design for a customer or drawing and carving my own ideas, its easy to get lost in that process.  I also love the business side of things, so it's relatively easy to switch back and forth between the two whenever needed and that keeps me from getting burned out on one or the other.  I think running any kind of business is a very difficult thing to do, but when you love what you do it's easy to get up every day and face whatever challenges happen to come up.

What is your typical day like?

I don't really have a typical day.  I'm really into making lists, so the beginning of the day always starts with making the plan of attack.  After that, it's anybody's guess what might happen, but that's what keeps it interesting.  Some days I'm carving wax and sketching ideas, and dealing with website issues.  Other days I'm back and forth on email hashing out details of custom designs for individual customers.  Some days I'm in the car for a few hours driving around LA going to meetings, and some days I get a phone call or email in the middle of my plan that sends me off in a completely different direction.  

If you could go back and give your 20 year old self some advice, what would it be?

The only advice I would give to anyone who is 20 would be to embrace the mistakes you make in life and learn from them.  Nobody has a magic answer that will make you happy, or make you more money, or find you the perfect mate.  You just have to commit to your own journey, follow your instincts and make the best of whatever comes.  But also, I would tell my 20 year old self to invest everything you can in a new company called "Facebook".

Thanks Tim!