About the Artist - Cheri Phillips

I create unique handmade jewelry and accessories using color and texture in ways that stimulate the senses.

In 1998, in Mountain View, CA, one day I walked into Global Beads, a small beadshop two doors down from my office. I immediately fell in love! So many colors, textures, shapes, sizes and possibilities. I started taking jewelry design classes and my passion was born!

In 1999, I was a proud finalist in in the Gleaming Treasures competition at the Embellishment show in Portland, OR. Also in 1999, I had requests from admirers and I realized that I should start selling my creations. 

Over the years I have expanded from my original varied jewelry to include themed lines - Ocean Inspirations and Horse Fancies to highlight my love of the sea and the equine world. My latest theme, Unique Chapeaux, is creating wonderful beaded hat necklaces for a variety of hat styles.

I get such a great pleasure out of designing a piece of jewelry that makes someone else's eyes light up. I want each piece to be special and unusual. I spend hours at bead shows collecting materials, seeking out talented glass, metal and stone artists and then I often incorporate their artistry into my designs.

I've recently received training on doing stone inlay for jewelry, intarsia and basic metalsmithing. My goal is to create many of my own components. To this end, during COVID's lockdown, my husband and I built a 12' x 32' studio!

The loves of my life are my husband, Greg, of 45 years, my two children, Justin and Deanna, my two grandchildren, Tanya and Rain, and all of our animals - 2 dogs, 1 cat, 3 horses, and two Crested Geckos! 

I retired from a 35 year career in various aspects of software development in June of 2019. When not creating jewelry, I like to spend time with family, hike, horseback ride, photograph nature, and read.