By Bria Jenkins
The sweet aroma of candles mixed with metal fills the air at La Contessa Jewelry. Metal racks and two workstations are located just past the front door, all of which are covered with unfinished jewelry pieces.
La Contessa is located in LaTerra Gift Gallery in Baltimore, where it is among other unique art shops. Owner Mary DeMarco has made her mark in the world of jewelry-making since first launching her business in the late 1980s.
DeMarco was not always the creative jewelry maker she is today. She began as a waitress at Phillips in the Inner Harbor after graduating college in 1982. She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in paint and with a minor in Italian from Towson University. After traveling a little in Europe, she began repurposing antique jewelry she found at various shops around town.
She began to sell these pieces to other waitresses at her job, when one day she was hired by a Baltimore belt maker looking for a jewelry designer.
“It literally fell right in my lap,” DeMarco said.
She worked at the store for two years until 1986, when her husband encouraged her to begin her own business.
“I was very scared,” DeMarco said.
Her business took off quickly within a year and the two began to build a client list at their Hampton location.
The company met with a minor setback in 1995, when DeMarco realized that one of her business partners was stealing money from the company.
“Never let one partner have more of an input than the other,” she said. “Make sure it is always 50-50.”
This was not the only setback the company experienced. La Contessa went through several recessions in 2005 and 2009 in addition to DeMarco trying to balance her work and home lives.
DeMarco and her husband decided after the last recession that the store would have to downsize if it was going to stay in business.
DeMarco cut her staff from 30 to 10 employees. The store relocated from its Hampton location where it had resided for over 20 years to its new location on Clipper Park Road in Baltimore in 2011.
“Times have definitely changed, but less is always more,” DeMarco said.
DeMarco said the company’s new home has a special place in her heart.
This location was built in the 1800s and some of the original archways, made out of brick, are still part of the studio today.
DeMarco said she built her company on being local with good quality and handmade products.
“We stress very heavily longevity of the pieces, customer satisfaction and urgency,” Demarco said.
In an age where online shopping has replaced going to malls, DeMarco said she and her friend Mary Carol, who also works for the company, make sure online orders are filled as soon as possible.
DeMarco and her staff are now preparing for the Sugarloaf Festival that will take place from April 24 to 26 at the Timonium Fairgrounds. She recalls other festivals she has been featured in, such as Artscape, which occurs during the summer in Baltimore.
“I think my favorite part is designing the showcases at festivals even though it’s a lot of work,” DeMarco said.
She said one of the major struggles of having her own jewelry company is marketing her pieces to wholesale vendors.
“You never know if they’re going to like your work or not, but it’s worth it,” DeMarco said.
While there is the challenge of marketing the pieces, the more intricate part of the process is making each individual piece. Many of her pieces are nature inspired, but Demarco also channels inspiration for her lines from Pinterest.
Each piece starts out as a model that is sculpted out into the desired shape. A production model is made that finalizes the design.
Next, the model is transformed into a mold that can be later used to replicate pieces. The pieces are then soldered in house and then sent to the plating company in Rhode Island, which DeMarco said is the “jewelry capital in the U.S.” The jewelry then returns to the shop where the stones are set and enameled.
DeMarco does not only sell jewelry, even though that is her specialty. She has other items that range from salt and pepper shakers to jeweled bottle corks.
Her pieces range from $30 to $300.
DeMarco said she would have never guessed that she would have come this far in her journey, but the lessons she has learned over the years have allowed her to carry out her dream to the fullest potential.