Today's featured indie designer is Pat Dippre of The Jewelry Workroom. Pat has been designing elegant jewelry for the past four years, including her own original take on the classic button necklace.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work. I live in West Chester, Pennsylvania with my husband. My full time job is an administrative assistant to a school nurse and I couldn't be happier there! I design my jewelry in my spare time, after work and on weekends.

My designs are mostly neutral earth tones; I feel one gets more mileage out of a piece if it goes with many articles of your wardrobe. I feel that my designs are chic and updated; I love to create pieces that are over the top, or my line of button necklaces.

Button necklaces have been around for many years. Many that I had seen were very simple and I decided to make mine more elaborate, with layers of buttons, in varying shapes and sizes and weaving beads and/or crystals through them. They're so much fun to design!

How did you get started as a designer? A friend asked me if I wanted to take some beading classes and I was hooked! I did it for fun, but got some serious inquiries about my jewelry and decided to give it a try.

What inspires your work? I'm inspired by beautiful colors, iridescence, and sparkle. There are so many factors to inspiration; sometimes a person inspires me, or a mood, even the weather!

Who are your favorite designers? I have so many favorites, let's see, Donna Karan, Liz Claiborne, Ellie Tahari, Gianni Versace, Nicole Miller, Daniel Espinosa ... so, so many.

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves? The color black -- I wear it almost daily in some form! Plenty of silver jewelry is a must, mostly earrings and rings.

Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? If you love it ... don't give it up! Sometimes we all need to put things on hold for various reasons, but if it makes you happy, don't give it up.

The style you choose to create is your own. If it excites you, it will surely excite others. Success takes time; it's a matter of finding the right market and constantly tweaking your work and improving the various aspects of it. Photography, descriptions, materials, they all need continual monitoring. The world changes and we must be willing to change with it, in order to look current, even if we are selling vintage items!

Where can people find your work? I sell primarily on Etsy at jwlrywrkroom.etsy.com

We love all of the amazing independent designers out there and we wanted to find out more about what makes these creative types tick. If you do too, check out more of our Indie Designer Interviews.