- [Announcer] Making is presented by the Coal Yard Cafe, in Ithaca, New York.

(gentle music) - I choose my colors based on my love for just a super bright palette.

I mean, I love all color, but really the vibrant kind of neon, super bright colors are my favorite.

I think if I had to choose one favorite color in this moment, it's probably a neon green, but that changes on the daily.

My name is Sophia Sophia and I am a jewelry artist maker and designer based here in Binghamton, New York.

I started making jewelry, I think it was 2008.

I went to Pratt Institute for my undergraduate degree and I took one jewelry making class and kind of fell in love with my professor.

So I kept taking more classes and then decided to major in jewelry making.

I kind of, in art school always was a little bit self-conscious about my work not being really conceptual.

I didn't have some grand idea that, you know, I was putting into the work.

It was always about shape and color that was inherently just really colorful child.

I've just always been obsessed with color and so once I realized how to get color into the work, it really just started evolving, being inspired by different paintings and kind of putting that into the work.

And it was always kind of about pop art and abstraction.

It's funny because usually the finished piece lives in my head, like I can see it before it comes to life, and that's always really interesting to see kind of how it changes and evolves along the way in the process of making it.

I love jewelry because I love expressing myself with my fashion, and my style, and it's a way to start conversations, and a way to really just show who you are as a person, adorning yourself.

A lot of different types of people are drawn to my work.

One of my most loyal patrons is, I think she's 84, she's super funky, obsessed with fashion lives in New York, but honestly, all types of people, people who love art, people who love color, people who love fashion aren't afraid to be wearing a loud outfit.

My tagline is, is jewelry not for wallflowers.

So if you're not prepared to make a statement in public, then maybe my work is not for you.

But I get a lot of people who tell me they could never wear my work 'cause my earrings are too big or they need a longer neck.

And I used to think, oh, I need to make smaller things to, you know, fit everyone's preferences.

But I've just decided to really stick to my guns, and be my most authentic self as an artist.

I think it's really important and special to me to be kind of a part of a larger handmade maker community.

That's always been really important to my work.

'Cause you know, everything is handmade here by me and it's nice to be part of, you know, a slow fashion in a world of fast fashion.

And it is a way to kind of ground me in the world of just the handmade and the love of making art.

And I am so grateful that I am doing it for my career.

I have to sometimes like slap myself and say, wow, I can't believe I'm doing it because 10 years ago I would've never imagined being at this point.

I mean, it looks really fun and it is fun, but it's also really hard and it's a hustle.

I started the business in 2014, and I mean, it was always full-time in my head, but financially it wasn't paying the bills.

It was part-time.

And there was a quote from this glass artist Cedric Mitchell, and he said, "When you take the leap, the parachute will follow."

I've always loved that saying, because I used to be so scared of taking the leap, but it really is the only thing that kind of pushed me to have no plan B and just figure it out.

In 2021, I was like, you know what, I'm just, I'm gonna take the leap and it's definitely been hard financially at times just because, you know, it's so unpredictable.

You don't know when an order's coming.

You don't know if you're gonna make money at a craft show and it can be really a rollercoaster of up and downs, but I can't imagine doing anything else.

And I've kind of just become comfortable in the space of being uncomfortable.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] Making is made possible with support from the Coal Yard Cafe in Ithaca, New York, From beer properties, and from viewers like you.