Nancy Lee creates narrative, one-of-a-kind jewelry using recycled silver and gold, with responsibly sourced gemstones chosen for beauty, character, and meaning. Her work is grounded in craftsmanship, storytelling, and a deep respect for materials.

The Indianapolis artist relies primarily on fabrication techniques, using a jeweler’s saw, hand-forming methods, and a wide range of stone-setting skills to create dimension, structure, and lasting wearability. Years at the bench have taught her that excellence lives in the smallest details. She works daily with surgical binocular magnifiers and uses a microscope when setting gemstones.

Process-oriented rather than production-driven, Nancy loves every stage of the work: design, gemstones, chemistry, physics, problem solving, patina, and the final polish that brings a piece to life. Her designs may begin with an extraordinary gemstone, seasonal inspiration, celestial symbolism, or a concept that arrives fully imagined.

Nature remains a lasting source of inspiration, joined by recurring motifs such as leaves, flowers, the compass rose, and sun, moon, and star imagery. Her growing interest in Lithuanian heritage and symbolism has also informed newer work, including the evolving Woodland Runes Collection.

Before becoming a full-time jeweler, Nancy spent eight years in construction management, including five years at a major art museum, working alongside architects, interior designers, stone masons, and cabinetmakers. That experience sharpened her eye for considered design, quality materials, and structural integrity.

Her jewelry is recognized for meticulous surface detail and distinctive mark-making created with hammers, handmade stamps, and inherited texture tools once owned by her father-in-law. Oxidized finishes often reveal and deepen these textures, adding contrast and depth.

An award-winning jeweler and author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Making Metal Jewelry, Nancy finds her greatest reward in the collectors and clients who return to mark life’s milestones with something made by hand.