S9 Ep73: Old Gems, New Stories: Turning Heirlooms into Sustainable, Modern Treasures with Ashley Berman
“Sustainability, where you can, is always an important resource to go to first… This earth gives us such precious resources, and it's nice to maintain and take care of the earth as well for your children and children to come.” —Ashley Berman
The most meaningful jewelry isn’t bought, it’s reborn. It carries stories, fingerprints, and memories that outshine anything new. In a world chasing trends, there’s power in slowing down, honoring what already exists, and turning what once sat in a drawer into something extraordinary.
For jewelry designer Ashley Berman, the pandemic reshaped everything. When store shelves closed, she opened a new chapter, helping clients transform heirlooms into modern pieces that carry legacy and beauty in equal measure. Today, through Ashley Morgan Designs, she champions beauty built on story, craftsmanship, and sustainability.
In this episode, Justine and Ashley unpack how to build a sustainable jewelry collection, what to ask before buying or recycling gold and stones, and the truth behind lab-grown versus mined diamonds, plus a look into her Holiday Market that celebrates local makers and meaningful design.
Connect with Ashley:
Ashley Morgan Designs is a Bay Area-based jewelry design company. Ashley Berman, the creative brilliance behind the growing studio, uses her ability to evoke emotion from jewelry to craft pieces of art that are both reflective of individual style as well as the embodiment of personal histories.
Ashley’s custom designs are intended for individuals who wish to express their own unique spirit and beauty. As opposed to fleeting trends, Ashley draws her inspiration from her clients’ stories, traditions, and cultures, as well as the natural world, to create her personalized designs.
As a trained goldsmith in San Francisco, Ashley challenges the status quo. She leverages traditional techniques to ensure that all of her unique jewelry designs reflect the beauty and confidence of the people they adorn.
Episode Highlights:
01:31 Meet Ashley: Ashley Morgan Designs
04:58 Sustainable Jewelry Practices and Client Experiences
08:52 Transparency and Certification in Jewelry
12:49 Lab-Grown Diamonds vs Natural Diamonds
18:08 Timeless Pieces
21:20 The Future of Sustainable Jewelry
26:19 Holiday Market and Community Engagement
29:24 Ashley’s Custom Jewelry Services
Tweets:
True luxury tells a story. Redesign heirlooms into modern keepsakes without wasting a single gem! Hear how sustainability and sentiment can shine together as @justine.reichman sits with @ashleymorgandesigns Owner, Ashley Berman. #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #sustainablejewelry #ConsciousLiving #JewelryWithMeaning #SustainableDesign #ModernHeirloom #customjewelry #gemology #bespokedesigns
Inspirational Quotes:
03:43 “It's so interesting how life takes you down a path that you think is closed.” —Ashley Berman
09:13 “Sustainability, where you can, is always an important resource to go to first… This earth gives us such precious resources, and it's nice to maintain and take care of the earth as well for your children and children to come.” —Ashley Berman
12:37 “With fine jewelry, it's really important to have it reported and have certifications throughout the process.” —Ashley Berman
16:03 “Working with someone honest and transparent in helping you make the decision that's right for your family and budget is the number one priority.” —Ashley Berman
17:42 “With sustainability being so integral to our future in so many ways, people are trying to integrate it into their lives, into health, into the planet, into fashion, beauty, and even jewelry.” —Justine Reichman
18:24 “Diamonds will always hold their value in not only the wearer's heart, but they will hold their value within the market as well.” —Ashley Berman
23:18 “We collect things over time that we anticipate we're going to use or wear or give away, and we can lean into those resources before going to get new resources.” —Justine Reichman
Transcription:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. Today, Ashley is with me. Ashley is not just an amazing designer, jewelry designer, but she's also a good friend. I'm super excited to have you here today, Ashley.
Ashley Berman: Justine, thank you so much for having me on your podcast. I've been such a fan, and it's such an honor to be on your podcast today.
Justine Reichman: Oh, thank you. Well, I'm a fan of yours too. Like, can I be a fan girl right now? For those tuning in, I've taken every diamond that I've had from a family member, and turned them into things that I can wear with Ashley. I really wanted to share with you guys, with the people listening and tuning in today, how to create a sustainable jewelry collection. Not everything, of course. But for me, it was more meaningful to tap into some of those pieces that came from family members, and then create something that I wanted to wear. So I talked to Ashley, and this is the core of her business. She really creates beautiful heirloom pieces. And not only does it allow you to have beautiful jewelry, it allows you to do this with stones that you already have, or keeping in mind where you're getting these students to think sustainably. So Ashley, if you could just tell us a little bit about you and a little bit about Ashley Morgan Designs,
Ashley Berman: Sure. So I moved to San Francisco 25 years ago and attended the Revere Academy. And at that Academy, I got my master's in goldsmithing. I also did gemology and diamond grading courses, and really had such a wonderful career over the last 25 years within this industry. So from working with retailers like Bloomingdale's, Neiman Marcus, to then transferring most of my bulk of business to private clients. We have a store in ROSS as you know, and that store not only highlights jewelry and working with custom pieces, but we also try to highlight different local businesses and creators. So we have a really great collection of ceramics and perfumes, makeup, paintings, and photography. It's a really beautiful space.
Justine Reichman: It is. I've been there myself. I can agree with that, because I've been there. And the space also allows to bring people together, and to focus and highlight those local artisans. I'm not sure about the ethos of each one of them. I know I've met a bunch of them, and they're all wonderful and so talented. What a community builder you are for bringing everyone together. I love that, and I've been so grateful to be part of that.
Ashley Berman: To have a group of women who are just creating and starting businesses, and doing these wonderful things in our community, it's a great space to hold.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. And I think the other part of this is with the Holiday Market that you have coming up, and knowing a little bit about your business, it was an opportunity for us to go a little bit deeper with you and with some of the people in the community around how they're building out more sustainable businesses more thoughtfully. I'd love for you to talk a little bit about how you built your business, and how you went from making things for Neiman Marcus, and Barneys and Nordstrom, and the litany of other places. How that transitioned to what you're doing today, and the role that sustainability plays in it.
Ashley Berman: Well, it's so interesting how life takes you down a path that you think is closed. And with me, we had our jewelry in retailers during the pandemic. And one of the sad things for most designers is you had a bulk of inventory locked up in a mall that no one was visiting, and that became a problem because we had all of our inventory out, and I didn't have anything to work with. So out of just having time, I, of course, started looking through all my gemstones in my closet and old jewelry, and for myself, I started recreating pieces. And then we became clever six months into the pandemic. We're like, I bet a lot of people are cleaning out their closets, and a lot of people are wanting to be connected with people. Or have heirlooms that have been passed down that they're just sitting there.
So we started doing these campaigns in our client database saying, if you guys have any time to clean out your closet and send us your gold and stones, we can figure out how to work together. And that grew into quite a big business. That really sustained me during that time. I just fell in love with getting to know people, to hearing their stories about their family members who had gifted them their gemstones and diamonds, or gold, and it's such a beautiful practice for people. There's a lot of alchemy in storytelling. I love writing, and so I find the sentiment in these pieces being passed down and recreated to be just such a wonderful experience with clients, like what we did with your ring. Your ruby and diamond ring. I can tell everyone about that story. Justine has an impeccable eye, incredible taste. Of course, just had a few heirloom kinds of style, antique pieces that she liked. She brought me this ruby and diamonds, and we went through a whole process. We had a lot of coffee together and talked about how she wants to wear it, and what it would look like. And we really made a bespoke piece for her, specifically around her family's diamonds. That was such a wonderful project. It usually starts with a sketch, and then we go into CAD, and then you get a wax sample. I really get to know people through this process, and that's why I met a dear friend, which was wonderful.
Justine Reichman: Wonderful for me too. I made a dear friend, and I also got to make this beautiful piece, which was a ring that my mom had given me because she felt that she was too grown up for it because it was too little. And when she bought it, it was bought at an estate jewelry store in upstate New York, so it originally was estate jewelry, and then it became part of my mom's. So for me, that was really meaningful. It allowed me to maintain something my mom had, carry it with me, wear it in my own way, and still have a piece of her with me. And she loved it when I showed it to her in the end. She thought it was just beautiful, and it's more meaningful. Not more meaningful. I mean, I always find meaning behind jewelry with what it's given to me. I'm very sentimental like that. But this was meaningful, because I repurposed her diamonds. I repurposed the ring, I repurposed the gold or the platinum, whatever it was. And so as a result, you're not going back to get more diamonds, and you're not going to go get metal, and you're not taking more resources to make something necessarily. So I'm curious, because this started during covid. I love the innovation behind that, and it actually is very sustainable. What was your thought about that as you were doing it? Was that intentional? Was that a bonus? And as you built it, did you realize the impact you were having, both sustainably and the impact you were having by doing it this way?
“Sustainability, where you can, is always an important resource to go to first… This earth gives us such precious resources, and it's nice to maintain and take care of the earth as well for your children and children to come.” —Ashley Berman
Ashley Berman: My mind is very practical, and also a little bit in the dream world. And so I think it's a good marriage of both with gold at $4,300 an ounce, and people have old chains that are just sitting in their closets that are out of style and out of date. It just seems really practical for us to bring them to a refinery. Have them refined into 24 karat gold, and then alloy them ourselves so that you have the beautiful ingot of gold that we can cast with the new design. So that, I think, is just a practical way of resourcing valuable goods that have and fold, and sustain their value with gemstones and sapphires. We've taken beautiful 10 Carat sapphires that have maybe a scratch or tip a chip on them, and you can recut them and repurpose them, and then their value will go up incredibly just as far as the resource of having these exactly. So I think with fine jewelry, it does hold their value, and it's really nice to make pieces as beautiful as you can with the stones that we have. We also, of course, can source stones and gemstones from vendors for clients. Usually, it's a hybrid of both an heirloom and the recycled gold, and then we will also source different stones to create a piece together. So I think sustainability where you can is always an important resource to go to first. And then, of course, within our vendors and within our industry, you can buy recycled gold that has already been on the market that you buy, so we can do it that way. But yes, of course, I think sustainability and this earth gives us such precious resources. And it's nice to maintain and take care of the earth as well for your children and children to come, so I agree.
Justine Reichman: You mentioned a variety of things that piqued my interest. And one of them, as you're sitting there, you were talking about repurposing or buying antique stones to use that were already used. So if I was the customer, or the customer was listening to us, or somebody that just decided this is the way they want to go with their jewelry, what are some of the questions that they could ask to make sure that they better understand what kind of stones they're getting? What kind of gold they're getting? Because I've gone to a million stores, like a little estate store, and a lot of these people are not gemologists. They're curating a variety of estate jewelry pieces. So what are some of the things that people can ask so that they can know what they're getting, and what should they look for?
Ashley Berman: I'll kind of back into how we work. When a client comes to us and they have a pile of gold, or they have gemstones, we have a lap that we take in and we measure. We give them a spreadsheet of exact material that they've been given, that we have taken in, what the diamonds look like, what the gemstones look like, what we advise, and the costs that go for it. So I think full transparency with any person that you're working with fine jewelry and gold is so important. So if you were to recycle your gold, I would say, make sure you see how many ounces you're giving them. Make sure you have it tested. If it's $4,400 an ounce today and you give them 18 karat gold, and you're giving them 10 ounces, that can be a really significant paycheck that you're giving somebody. Our full disclosure, they get the lab report, I think that's really important to work with a trusted advisor in that circumstance.
And then when you're going to purchase stones, you can have, again, back into the science of it, we can figure out, if it's an emerald, we can say the exact mine it's from just from going and testing the stones. When we buy from a stone, we always, usually have a certification. Or at least we have a certified report that we give you that can verify what it is that you're buying, and where it came from. So I would say that the most important thing is the W's. Like who, what, when, where, all of those questions are really important. When you're going to invest in a gemstone, or in gold, or in a diamond, most of the stones that we sell to clients will have a certification to them so they're backed through a third party. And then once we finish the project, we always have a third party appraisal done so that they can verify the report of what they were given, what we made together, and what they have, and the value of it. So with fine jewelry, it's really important to have it reported, and have certifications throughout the process.
Justine Reichman: I think that's a really good tip for a lot of people, because I don't know that people think that through completely. I would not know the first thing about going to how to sell my jewelry, and how to figure out what I have, so that's a great resource. And I also wanted to continue, or further touch on something else you mentioned, buying diamonds. So there's a choice when you're buying new diamonds and you're trying to collaborate with both the existing ones that you have that maybe came from family heirlooms, and then fill in with new diamonds that you have. For cost purposes, many people talk about lab grown diamonds. I know that the way that they mine them is a little bit different. I think that's the correct statement to make. Can you talk a little bit about that and the role of sustainability or lack of sustainability in lab grown diamonds so that people can make a more informed choice?
Ashley Berman: Sure. So when I advise my clients, we can sell lab grown diamonds we have before. Of course, it's all transparency and certification. So with lab grown diamonds versus natural mined diamonds, I look at those two as separate entities, for sure. One is sustainable because the mine diamonds are 3 to 4 billion years old, and they're a natural resource from the earth, and it sustains value. So the value of the diamond has never decreased. It's part of the pure economics of the jewelry business. They can be recut, recertified. You can have them more as an heirloom. Where lab grown diamonds, once you purchase the lab grown diamonds, I tell my client, there is really no resell value after that. So when the lab grown diamond is made, it's made in an incubator, and it pulls from natural resources like cobalt or different minerals from the earth. A lot of electricity and water is used to make a lab grown diamond. So as far as sustainability, it's still pulling off of mined resources in order to make these lab grown diamonds. So it is pure sustainability. I would say going with a mine natural diamond is, for me, what I would choose to do, or I would take an heirloom stone. We can actually help purchase heirloom diamonds for you. There's a market like that as well. Then we can recut, repurpose, recertify. We can take it to GIA and get a full report done on it.
One of my favorite projects that I did was a champagne pink argyle mined diamond, and we bought it, not certified. But then after I made the ring, we had it certified from GIA, and we found out that it came from the Australian Argyle online that erupted 3.6 billion years ago. When it erupted, all these pink diamonds flew into the air. So that was one of the diamonds that we were able to source. It's so fun. I just love the mystery around natural minerals and gemstones from our earth. I think it's so beautiful. There's multiple ways to go. I think just working with someone that's really honest and transparent in helping you make the decision that's right for your family, and maybe budget is the number one priority, and having an overall book. I work with my clients to help source that for them. Or if it's something that they want to pull and have more of a story, like the Argyle mine diamond, and a beautiful piece, this is a gorgeous five carat pink champagne diamond. It was so fun to actually source and get, and that couple is so thrilled with what they found, and just the story behind it as well to have something--
“With sustainability being so integral to our future in so many ways, people are trying to integrate it into their lives, into health, into the planet, into fashion, beauty, and even jewelry.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: Just listening to the story, it's so cool. It's really cool, the history behind it. It's the same thing with a family thing. It's history. Every time I wear one of my rings, I love to tell the story of the ring. The ring started off as somebody else is, my dad's girlfriend of 20 years. She sent it to me on my 50th birthday, and it looked like a princess ring, or looked like an engagement ring with a big sapphire in the middle. And then I brought it to you, and you made the most amazing ring. And I get to tell everybody about the feeling it gives me. Having the ring that my dad gave to somebody, and that she gave it to me, and that I get to wear. To me, that's so amazing. And equally, I could get behind a story where my diamonds came from, something like that. It's amazing to know where you're getting your thing. So when you look forward to the jewelry industry, the diamond industry and with sustainability being so integral to our future in so many ways, I think people are trying to integrate it into their lives, into health, into the planet, into fashion, beauty, you name it. And even jewelry. What do you see for the future of these lab grown diamonds? They've come in, they've made it more affordable, but they're also taking more resources. Do you have an opinion on that? Or an idea?
“Diamonds will always hold their value in not only the wearer's heart, but they will hold their value within the market as well.” —Ashley Berman
Ashley Berman: It's interesting. I believe that, like gold, it is a value that will always maintain its value. And when the market is unreliable, people turn towards gold. I think with diamonds, diamonds will always hold their value in not only the wearer's heart, and emotionally, I think that will hold its value within the market as well. You see diamonds always increase, especially the nicer value of a diamond. The more rare a diamond is, the higher the value will maintain and sustain over time. I think lab grown diamonds, because of the pure economics of it, with technology, they're easier to trace that this is a lab grown diamond. We can even tell what type of crystal that they're putting into to mine this piece. Mine means like debate. So I think that they will not maintain a value to them. They'll look great, but you're not buying it, that it will last or that it will be something awesome.
Justine Reichman: Does it remind you at all, and I could be far off base here, but I remember when I was a kid, and when people didn't want to wear their big diamonds, they bought zirconium.
Ashley Berman: I think of the 90s tuber zirconium. But there was something called a moissanite that came onto the market, and it had a higher reflective value, and that was a trend.
Justine Reichman: So you don't think that lab grown is necessarily a trend. It fills a spot in the market, a void in the market for people that maybe are budget conscious, or maybe not necessarily budget content, and have a certain aesthetic that they're after. Because even if you want to spend less, you can get a smaller diamond. But if you want a really big diamond, lab growns are going to be less expensive. That seems like there's still a market for that. Is what I'm hearing?
Ashley Berman: I think there will always be a market for that. It's like fast fashion to me. You can buy and purchase, and keep growing these pieces quickly. So I think that there will always be a market for it. But I certainly think it's a good investment.
Justine Reichman: And I also think the impact it has on the planet is not ideal. And in this day and age where everybody, or a lot of people, are trying to make more informed choices and do things that are better for the planet, we're learning. Whether it's about agriculture, food and fashion. How to integrate waste, or unused, or recycled, or reclaimed into these different areas, so that's where the question came from. I wondered, and I guess maybe we don't know. We'll have to wait and see, because I do think there is a place for fast fashion and these things. I just hate for it to be the bulk of it. I wish things were just a little bit more accessible all around, or there was a way to find something more accessible. And when we're talking about diamonds, it just means you buy smaller, or you use something that you have.
Ashley Berman:I would say, if your number one goal is to make and create a sustainable piece for the environmental friendly piece, what I would do is I would collect all the gold or little findings I have. Then I would then bring it to me and have it recycled. So we're using the metal that came from your family, and we can recycle it, and make it brand new. And then try to make a design that feels sentimental, beautiful, customized and bespoke to your personality, and how you like wearing things. And just make that a really precious piece that you own. Whatever stones you have, we can recut or reuse. Or we can help you find pieces on the market that have been worn and used, and we can make a sustainable piece that way. I do work in other realms of the industry. But if a client came to me and said, sustainability. Like you, this is a sustainable piece that I want to tell a story with my family heirloom. Let's recycle the gold and use these, and we ended up making a stellar piece that was perfectly sustainable and beautiful with all the resources you had. So the alchemy in that is so beautiful. So it's just sustainability storytelling and a gorgeous design, and we nailed that project. It's amazing. I'm so proud of it. So yes, it's definitely something I think people should be excited about, because we do have a lot of heirlooms in either your family's vault, or you can find them in the world.
Justine Reichman: I have an old pinky ring that was like a heart with a tiny diamond in it. I can't wear that anymore. It doesn't fit. My fingers are a little bit, they're not that little, but it's still gold, and it's still a diamond. If I had a little girl, I'd probably give it to her. If I had a goddaughter, I'd probably give it to her. But my godson is not going to wear that little pinky ring. What I'm trying to say is we collect things over time that we anticipate we're going to use, or wear, or give away, and we can lean into those items, for sure, those resources before going to get new resources.
Ashley Berman: Yes. And there's always a marriage of both. If you want the medium path of using the pieces you have, but then maybe wanting to add a little bit to it. But yeah, I'm excited. I think a lot of designers will probably end up doing a little bit of recycling with their collections that have not been sold, because gold's so expensive. You're seeing pieces you made that are retailing at $1,000 that costs like $3,000 in gold. Now, you're going to want to recycle some of the pieces you've made if they haven't sold, and make something new so it can be a clean practice and more sustainable. I've been able to find a way to work with clients and showcase that part of the industry as well.
Justine Reichman: Yeah. I'm so happy to be able to share that with our listeners. I'm curious, and I want to know if there's other people that are curious about it too, and maybe even give them a new way of thinking about it. Maybe it's not what they thought about, maybe they didn't think about the impact, maybe they didn't think about leveraging what they have or repurposing it instead of just having it sit there. So I think it gives people an opportunity to be curious.
Ashley Berman: Well, that is so important, because the truth is you basically are just recycling pure materials and getting to create whatever you want out of it, so it's not something that's old. You're kind of just putting a band aid on it. You're actually creating your own piece that's custom to you, so it can be beautiful and bespoke, and one of a kind. It's a really fun process.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. So the good thing about Ashley is she doesn't just work in ROSS, she works all over the world. She has clients everywhere. We have an audience that is everywhere, so I just wanted to make sure that people know that because you have your Atelier and Ross, doesn't mean that you're not in Boston, or New York, or LA, or Texas, or Florida at times to meet with clients, to help them go into their jewelry boxes and see what they can create. So Ashley, if they wanted to learn more about how to connect with you, what would be the best way?
Ashley Berman: Our website, it's ashleymorgandesigns.com. You can definitely go onto the website. There's some information about the custom process, or we can do a quick consult. Zoom, phone call, and talk about what it is that you have. We have a form you could submit and show us the pieces you have, and then we can take those. We have an insured shipping company that helps us, and then we send it to the lab, and then you get your full report before we do anything to your pieces. And then we can go through the design process together.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. It's super exciting. I've done it with her, so I feel like I can tell you how exciting and fun it is, and how rewarding it is. And before we log off here, Ashley, this November, like last year, you are doing a Holiday Market. And the Holiday Market was so much fun last year. You had a variety of different vendors that were local, and I think there were mostly women, if I recall.
Ashley Berman: Which I'm so proud of. He's a ceramic artist. He's a good friend of ours who, by day, works on wood floors. But in the evening, he has amazing talent for sculpting pottery. So he's going to join us. The only male creator that we have this year.
Justine Reichman: But there are men that turn up. Not to be worried, the men turn up. It's great for gifts. It's a great place to go support those other people that are working there as well, and to support the community. We bought a lot of great things there last year. It's also a chance to get to even see Ashley and learn about some of the jewelry, if maybe that's part of the gift giving you want to make this year. But some of the highlights photography, maybe you can just name a few.
Ashley Berman: Mika Street, who is an amazing photographer will be there. We have Linda Wegmann who is an oil on canvas artist, sells to multiple galleries, beautiful artists. We have Heather Soicher who is also a ceramic artist. She does these really beautiful wisdom owls with poems inside. They're very sweet, sentimental storytelling pieces. Of course, we have Daniela from Farmhouse Labs. She was a guest on your show. We have Nicolette, it's a store on Magnolia street Larkspur. She's bringing her pieces. Freya is a hat brand of handbags. We have, oh, Kenlin. Do you know Kenlin? She does hand knitted sweaters and dresses. Really incredible artist. We have Saint Jane cosmetics.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. So you're not going to want to miss this. We will make sure to add those links. It will be all encompassing in case she gets new ones, I don't want everybody to think that we're not putting them in. But you can stay tuned to stay up to date on what's going on, because I'll make sure to add them in our stories on Instagram if Ashley lets me know. So for those looks, if you want to follow us on Instagram, it's at justine.reichmann, or at essential.ingredients. And Ashley, thank you so much for joining me today. It was so fun. I got quite an education, and I'm even more inspired now to dig through that box of jewels that I have that I got from my mother, that I had from New York that I haven't gone through yet, so thank you so much.
Ashley Berman: Oh, it's my pleasure.
Justine Reichman: I want to thank our listeners and our viewers that tune in each week. Because without you, we wouldn't have a community. So it's our guests, and it's our listeners and viewers that really make this special, and what makes it worthwhile. Thank you guys again.
