Jane Taylor Jewelry is where technical savvy meets technicolor stones, sentiment meets style, and function meets form.

Jane’s 40+ years in the industry can be felt from her unparalleled color combinations, to the consideration she gives to each and every millimeter of her designs. While her daughter Cleo’s 15+ years of working with her acts as a bridge from past to present, as her passion for storytelling and technology drives her mother’s vision forward. Strongly influenced by our family ties to adornment, we love how personally expressive and commemorative fine jewelry is. We want our customers to feel like their best versions of themselves when wearing our creations, and to wear them often!

At the heart of our business is a dedication to sharing love, beautiful design and heirloom quality craftsmanship. Family, form and function are our motto, totally everyday.

Her eponymous collection combines her love of sparkle with her love of sleek design by using refreshing combinations of gemstone cuts and colors. This rare ability to juxtapose elements that blend function with femininity has been met with successful reviews among leading retailers.

“I loved (and still love!) everything that was iridescent and sparkled,” says Jane.

Jane Taylor has been designing jewelry as far back as she can remember. At age nine, while other young girls and budding jewelers were playing with beads, Jane was already fabricating pieces, sketching and transferring them to sheet metal, sawing and soldering.

Jane has earned industry-wide recognition by winning the Mort Abelson New Designer Award at her very first trade show, two DeBeers Diamonds Today awards, two AGTA Spectrum awards and a Couture design award. Her Chubby Bezel™ design was also featured in the DeBeers Millenium campaign.

Jane’s early passion was fueled by examining, trying on, and playing with her maternal grandmother’s jewelry collection, which included period and estate pieces, contemporary and custom designs. “She was a veritable Zsa Zsa Gabor,” Jane laughs. Her paternal grandmother also had “quite a collection and an incredible taste level and she really understood how to build a wardrobe that went with her personal style.” Growing up in New York City, Jane was also inspired by her father’s affinity for collecting antiques and enjoyed being surrounded by various periods of decorative arts and cultural influences. Mid-century modern’s streamlined designs left a lasting influence on Jane as she developed her own visual aesthetic.

It was Jane’s first job as a production assistant where she learned about the process and techniques of creating fine handmade jewelry. The craftspeople in the workshops she apprenticed in over the years generously shared their knowledge on the art of hand-finished pieces in the old-world tradition of European jewelry making. This foundation influenced the quality, construction and details that she strived for and achieved in her own designs.

Launched in 1994, Jane’s first collection, now fondly known as JT Classics, displayed her early affinity for streamlined, geometric shapes and sculptural symmetry.

“I started with bezel setting as it lent itself to a clean, unstudied and very modern style for diamonds and also made them appear larger,” explains Jane.

Her signature “Chubby Bezel ™” debuted this at a time when bezel settings were not the norm and she became widely renowned for this collection. Her look was picked up by the DeBeers Millennial campaign in 2000, but following this widespread publicity, designers and manufacturers alike began applying her ideas to diamonds and other gemstones.

“When my customers and the press ask me to define my design identity, the one constant I keep coming up with is change. It might sound contradictory, but to evolve creatively and have a successful business at the same time, you need to make sure you maintain your integrity and your original point of view while being able to adapt with the times. This doesn’t mean following trends, it means following your own instincts to figure out what women will need to expand their jewelry wardrobes each year, how they can personalize what you are creating and make it their own. When I started out, my design aesthetic was very simple and uncomplicated. While I am more attracted to design that is not ostentatious or excessively detailed, I have introduced pieces that have become more sumptuous,” Jane continues. “In 2006, I began to design pieces that were more flirtatious and fun with my ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ and ‘Tom Foolery’ collections, in which I combined various colored golds, gemstones, minerals and pearls with a lighter touch.”

Unassuming about her success, after 30 years, Jane is still more comfortable behind the scenes and prefers the attention be focused on her designs. Her collection continues to speak to the talent and originality of the young girl so enamored with jewelry, who has grown into a true artist and a leader among independent luxury jewelry designers.

Luckily for Jane, her only child ended up with a passion for story telling and natural propensity to talk people’s ears off. Utilizing her degree in Communications & Media Studies, in 2010 Cleo proudly joined the company her mother had founded out of their New York City living room when she was a child.

Growing up at her mother’s side, Cleo was exposed to the cultural and artistic spirit of the city, while making frequent trips to NYC’s Diamond District, and eventually assisting with trade shows and trunk shows throughout her college years.

After joining the company full time, she slowly took over all sales and marketing duties, most notably crafting their social media presence from the ground up. Cleo continues to enjoy photographing and sharing her mother’s work with the world.

Want to learn more about Jane and Cleo? Here are a few fun interviews!    

The COUTURE Show Blog [april 2023] | JCK Magazine-Cleo | Upward Magazine | JCK Magazine-Jane | The Gem Therapist | For Future Reference