Over the holiday weekend, I swapped my studio apron for a carry-on bag and headed east for a new kind of adventure: my first trunk show at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, Massachusetts. I had the pleasure of meeting delightful guests staying at the resort, sharing stories about stones and design, and watching people light up when they found a piece that resonated. The food was excellent (think nourishing and indulgent all at once), and winding down at the spa in the evenings was truly the icing on the cake.
I’d never flown into Boston before, and after landing, I decided to give myself a little creative field trip before the jewelry show hustle began. Naturally, that meant one thing: museum time. First stop? The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston — specifically, their permanent jewelry collection.
And because I can’t resist a little sparkle scouting, I also popped into a few jewelry shops along my road trip to Lenox — part inspiration hunt, part research on potential retail partners.
Art You Can Wear: The MFA’s Hidden Gem
The MFA is one of the oldest and most respected museums in the U.S., but their jewelry holdings are what really had my lapidary-loving heart skipping. Did you know they have over 20,000 pieces of jewelry in their archives? Yep — everything from ancient Egyptian broad collars to Art Nouveau brooches that look like they were plucked from a dream.
Their permanent jewelry collection isn’t just tucked away either. It's part of their “Jewels, Gems, and Treasures” galleries — a curated space that celebrates the artistry of adornment across cultures and centuries and rotates annually.
Here’s a little nugget I dug up: while many museums own jewelry collections, very few in the U.S. have them on permanent display. We're talking less than 10 major fine art museums where jewelry has a consistent spotlight. Most collections live behind the scenes in storage — which, for jewelry lovers and makers like me, feels like hiding poetry in a drawer.
But the Real Rock Star Moment?
The biggest highlight of my trip across Massachusetts wasn’t a museum or a trunk show — it was a glorious, two-hour nerd-fest at Highland Park Lapidary in Whitinsville.
I’ve been purchasing equipment and rough from them for years, but this was the first time I got to visit in person. And let me tell you: I came prepared. I had a shopping list and a deeply specific kind of excitement only rock people understand.
The team welcomed me like a fellow rock-nerd cohorts, and we jumped right in. I got the full warehouse tour, hand-selected some juicy rough material, and got to see their machine lineup in person. After pining over an Intarsia machine for a year, I finally took the plunge and got one! I’ve got several new design ideas buzzing in my sketchbook, and this beauty is going to help me bring them all to fruition.
They also have a super informative YouTube channel — perfect if you’re the kind of person who deep-dives into lapidary research like it’s a second job. Guilty. I'm also mildly (okay, wildly) addicted to their live sales events, which my husband finds equal parts entertaining and concerning. I left totally recharged, stocked with new material (all shipped back home, thank goodness), and maybe just a little envious of their daily rhythm of unboxing fresh rock like it’s Christmas morning.
If you’re curious about the stones I work with or want to see how they transform into finished pieces, head over to my Materials page and explore more at Karin Luvaas Jewelry. And in case you’re wondering — yes, those are my two rock-nerd cohorts, Zeke and Jordan, in the photo above.