Wendy, founder of WEND Jewelry, opened her West Seattle studio in 2021 with a simple conviction: jewelry should fit every person, not every gender norm. The shop takes its name from a 13th-century word meaning “to go” or “to move along,” and everything inside reflects that spirit of intentional journey. From handmade rings inspired by the Pacific Northwest wilderness to heirloom makeovers that carry a family’s history forward, WEND is part art gallery, part goldsmith studio, and entirely its own thing.
Can you tell us where the name WEND comes from?
WEND is a 13th-century word that means the journey, or to go, or to move along. It’s the presence of the word “went.” Nowadays we use the word “go” instead of the word “wend,” but it used to be wend and went.
What was the original inspiration behind the business?
The inspiration behind WEND came when I took a hike around Mount Rainier. I was hiking for 93 miles on the Wonderland Trail, and I kept seeing jewelry instead of glaciers, instead of waterfalls. It would be like a necklace. Instead of the ground, it would be a texture on a ring. Instead of moss, it would be the texture on a bracelet. I just kept seeing that and wanting to make it. So when I got back, I was dreaming these pieces but not making them. And finally, when I started to make them, I stopped dreaming about them, which was actually kind of a relief.
What drove you to focus on gender-neutral jewelry?
One big driver behind WEND was the want to make gender-neutral rings because they are not out there. It is very hard to find rings that suit all different human types. I found that myself when getting married in 1999, and it’s still the same case. Wedding rings are gendered in 99% of stores. It’s called bridal, not wedding, and it’s very weird to me. Maybe there isn’t even a bride in the two people, and that’s actually very often the case. So we wanted to bring forward ring sets many people could connect with. The people who do find us really do connect in a deeper way to the meaning behind rings that they can feel at home in. At WEND, we believe that gender shouldn’t define your jewelry, and that your jewelry shouldn’t necessarily define your gender.
What has the reception been like from the West Seattle community?
We are so lucky to be in West Seattle, where people have been incredibly generous with supporting us. We opened in 2021 during the pandemic, and our bridge was also closed, so we were essentially an island. The neighborhood just came out and supported us, and now there are clients who come back over and over. We’re very lucky.
Tell us about the experience of coming into the shop.
When you come into our shop, it’s kind of a showroom, and we hope that you will actually touch and try on the rings. Most of the time you have somewhere standing over you making sure you don’t steal them, and we’re not like that. We’ve created all of our rings in samples, so they’re not actually gold and they don’t actually have diamonds, but they look like they do. They’re all handmade by us, so you can just stand around and try on things that look like red gold, white gold, and yellow gold, or silver, in all different widths and sizes, and get a feel for what you like.
Your collections have a strong nature theme. Can you tell us more about that, and the giving-back component?
About half of our ring collections are inspired by water, things like Lagoon and Tide Pools and Waterfalls. When somebody purchases a ring from those collections, we give 1% of the proceeds to a group based here called Quiet Sound. They work to keep the whales and salmon and everybody happy by quieting the ship traffic on our waters. The other half, about five collections, are earth-based, terrain-based, like Roots and Knots and Basalt. Those collections benefit Washington Trails Association, which is an amazing organization that keeps the mountains open for everyone.
WEND is also known for heirloom makeovers. What does that process look like?
People bring in all of their jewelry that they aren’t wearing anymore, for whatever reason. It could be a divorce, inherited jewelry, a lost earring where they still have the other one. We look at it together, take it all apart, and then design new pieces together. Then we actually cast those new pieces right here in our studio using people’s gold. We like to reuse their gemstones and anything else they’d like to get into their pieces. That is our main fun thing that we do, and I don’t think many other places do it in the entire country.
Why does that service matter so much to you personally?
Oftentimes people will inherit jewelry from people they absolutely love and were so connected to, but the jewelry isn’t suitable for their daily life, or it doesn’t fit, or it’s broken. We’re able to take that apart really carefully and with huge intention. We’re able to show the gems back to them as brand new, except they’re their gems and they’re their gold. Then we design new pieces together, keeping the meaning and the sentimentality, actually moving the energy forward into the new piece. There are always tears when people open their jewelry, or almost always, and just so much good feeling. It’s just the best day when we get to deliver an heirloom makeover.
How do you approach sourcing materials ethically?
We melt down our clients’ gold as often as they want us to, so we’re not really participating in newly mined gold. When we’re sourcing our own gold, we source 100% SCS-certified recycled gold. That means Scientific Certification System, and it goes through a rigorous process to make sure it’s actually post-consumer recycled. For our gemstones, we really lean into Montana sapphires because they’re sourced from the state next door, and they’re absolutely beautiful and watery in color. We also use lab-grown diamonds and antique diamonds. When we are asked to source a gem, we go to great lengths to make sure we know where it was mined, who mined it, and how it was cut, so that you can feel good about the pieces you’re wearing.
Is there anything else WEND offers that people might not expect?
We are an art gallery as well. We host local artists on our walls, which we absolutely love, and about seven or eight makers on our shelves who do things besides jewelry. All of them are from West Seattle or South Seattle or close by. We also do classes in jewelry care and repair, where we teach people how to take care of their collections. Sometimes our artists will teach classes in their own techniques, and in the summer we do some yoga classes in the courtyard behind WEND. We have a really nice little space back there. Super fun to do classes, we love it.
You can find Wendy and WEND Jewelry at 3278-A California Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98116.
