Metal. Stones. Daughter.

Christie Bogle

Metal. Stones. Daughter

Since she was a young girl, Christie Bogle was always hanging around her father's shop while working with and learning about each of the tools he was using. “I got into metalsmithing at a really young age because my dad taught me how to weld when I was about 12,” she recounted. “My favorite thing would be to hang out in the shop with him. He would teach me the tools and everything and once I got to a point where I was watching him do these projects and I was so fascinated with the outcome, he'd let me weld some things together and experiment and have fun. So I'd just build funny sculptures and things like that.” She said with a smile on her face.

“I grew up collecting vintage sterling silver, turquoise, and mostly stuff from the southwest. A lot of Navajo jewelry highly influences my work because I am constantly going back through my memory and remember digging through treasures and finding things like that.” She laughed and said, “99% of my stones are turquoise.”

It really does come down to my father. Without even knowing what he was doing, I think he was just constantly instilling this pride in me of working with your hands.

Today, Christie is a proud metalsmith and owner of Workman’s Daughter, an online jewelry business for the adventurous types. She strives to create meaningful jewelry with a story and a purpose. Yet, she will always credit working with her dad as the beginning of her passion. “It really does come down to my father. Without even knowing what he was doing, I think he was just constantly instilling this pride in me of working with your hands.”

When asked what her process is like to create her pieces of jewelry, she described it as a mix of chaos and strategy. “Sometimes stones will accidentally bump into each other and I'm like, ‘Oh my gosh! There it is. That is the combo that I needed.’ Other times, I will strategically pick out 10-12 stones that I feel will work well together for a collection.” No matter her process, she’s also trying to find her creative space and a place to sink into for hours.

“I'm always chasing these moments that seem almost transcendent. When I really dip into that creative mode and I let myself go and I don't have an agenda, I lose track of everything. My thought processes are non existent. Time disappears. Sometimes six or seven hours go by and I have no idea that much time has passed because I have sunken into a different space.”

To Christie, this is what it’s all about. This is what she tries to find everyday. “It's just an ebb and flow to try and get into that creative space where you get to say, ‘Nothing matters right now. We'll just see what comes of it.’” She paused for a moment and said, “That's my favorite feeling in the entire world. I'll spend my life chasing that feeling.”