The most recent stop on Lockie Duggins’s timeline is jewelry design and despite a 30-year detour, she has arrived. Lockard Jewelry is less than two years old and already her designs have been shown at two juried shows and will be at Richmond’s Bizarre Bazaar in December.

 

Each of her one-of-a-kind designs began as parts from different times, meant for different uses. Vintage brooches, buttons, earrings and more mix with contemporary pearls and semi-precious stones in a seamless, timeless way that elevates it to art.

 

Duggins displays both confidence and wide-eyed enthusiasm as she dips into the palette of pieces she finds through her travels and industry network. “Nothing has any kind of rhyme or reason when I get it. I buy something because I think it’s neat. I like motion and fluidity.” In her creatively organized studio (she uses cloth-lined cake pans for her active projects—saying her ideas are “baking”), Duggins picks up a brooch with tassels and tilts it at an unexpected angle, “I’ll set it like this and it’s going to be fabulous!”

 

Her confidence comes from her academic background (a BFA from VCU) coupled with real-world experience. She’s already well known in Richmond’s creative community as one of the founders of Main Street Productions, a leader in Richmond’s advertising and broadcast production industry for many years. After selling the business 10 years ago, Duggins continued to explore creative outlets. She took classes in ceramics, photography, watercolor and knitting. “Checked them off the list.” But each time, she said, “This isn’t it.”

 

Then, 2 1/2 years ago, Duggins’s quest took her to a friend’s boutique jewelry store. “She had a collection of things that were broken or whatever. She gave them to me and I started thinking…hmm this is interesting…it just hit me!”

 

Some of her inspiration comes from costume jewelry designers of the 20^th century—the ones who had “fabulous imagination and women had the confidence to wear them.” In their 21^st century debut, the jewels reenter the spotlight as the focal points in statement necklaces with names such as, Liz Taylor Eyes and Two-Tone Convertible. For events that demand classic, Duggins mixes Victorian silver filigree with carnelian beads to create Falling Filigree. Downton Abbey matriarch Violet Crawley would applaud the adaptation.

 

“I try to be very responsible and not destroy the piece.” She picks up a necklace and flips it over. “If you get tired of it you can take it off and it’s still a brooch. “

 

See more of Duggins’s designs on her website and at the upcoming Bizarre Bazaar, December 5-8.