Today's featured indie designer is Melanie Hazen, a high school librarian by day, jewelry designer by night based in Cumberland City, Tennessee. Melanie creates beautiful handmade mixed metal and lampwork glass jewelry.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work. I am a high school librarian by profession and have been making jewelry for the last eight years. I am an avid reader, a cyclist, a lover of the garden and birds and a sucker for paranormal shows on TV. I have two amazing pups -- Belle and Sofie -- who are a great joy to me and two amazing nephews that keep me young. I am 36 and live in rural middle Tennessee.

How did you get started as a designer? I wanted to make a gift for a dear friend, something that would represent the great stages of womanhood, and couldn't find what I wanted anywhere. A student of mine worked in the local bead store, and so I got the idea to see if I could design my own piece. I choose three Swarovski crystal cube beads in clear, red, and black -- the symbolism and the pendant were perfect and I was hooked. Since then it's become a great seller for me. Every time someone complimented her necklace, she'd explain the meaning and that I'd made it. That's kind of where it all began! From there I have branched out into lampworking glass and metalsmithing ... and it all started with three little crystal cubes!

What inspires your work? I'm outdoorsy, so nature -- flowers, leaves, bark, birds -- are all sources of design for me. I love books, and so I am always getting ideas from great quotes or beautiful descriptions.

Who are your favorite designers? I don't know that I have many favorite designers, per se. I like lots of styles of work, even if they are completely unlike my own. I think that Vera Wang wedding gowns would be my favorite. I always imagine that any woman in one of those dresses would look like a dream.

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves? Well, it goes without saying that jewelry is a fashion must have! Good jewelry can transform a plain look into something lovely, ironic, romantic, quirky. Also, I love jackets. I have a blue million of them. And I am a shoe addict, so any shoe with a crazy high heel and some detail orientation -- a pattern, a texture, a huge buckle -- will have me swooning. Beauty wise -- one must have good lipstick. I can live without many other things, but even in the summer when my face is mostly bare, I have on my shiny lips!

Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? Be fearless and do what you love. When you do that, it shines through in your work. I am always learning and growing. Never think you're done changing. Read everything -- especially fiction! Some of my great inspirations have come from a line in a good novel!

Where can people find your work? You can find my work at my Etsy shop:
www.melaniehazen.etsy.com, and a more limited line at 1000markets:
www.melaniehazen.1000markets.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.