A self-taught jeweler and World War I veteran, Stuart Nelson Nye (1884-1962) founded his business in Asheville, North Carolina, in 1933. He had previously worked as a carpenter and had a hobby of tinkering with homemade tools and silver sheets to create jewelry with designs inspired by the leaves and flowers of his native North Carolina mountains.

This hobby later grew into a thriving business producing handmade silver jewelry. The main designs of his work included maple, oak, willow and galax leaves, dogwood flowers, pansies and lilies. Nye made only his own original designs and refused to speed up production by introducing machines.

In his interview for the Jewelers’ Circular of 1945, he said that they did all the work by hand, without a stamp or mold. Accordingly, no piece produced in his workshop was exactly alike. In the case of jewelry that was part of a set, the craftsmen carefully and frequently compared during the hand-forging process.

Each piece of jewelry was sold on a silver colored card that stated that the jewelry was made in the highlands. The card also featured the brand’s leaf-shaped logo and the three letters Nye.

Noteworthy, Nye himself was surprised by the success of his jewelry and the expansion of the business. He believed that the reason for the success was a new type of jewelry – very simple. Pins, rings, bracelets and other jewelry with delicate dogwood petals became fashionable.

Stuart Nye Nature-Inspired Silver Jewellery

From the very beginning, he created a collection of 13 magnificent Christmas ornaments, some of which decorated the Christmas tree in the White House’s Blue Room. Already in the 1940s, Nye’s jewelry business grew from an enterprise with an annual turnover of $ 500 to a thriving business with an annual payroll exceeding $ 30,000.

Stewart retired in 1960 and sold his business. The new owners of the company continued to create jewelry under the same name and using Stewart Noah’s designs.