Zoreena x Zoreena

Founder's Story

Business Description

Zoreena was a name I was keeping the vaults because I was considering legally changing my name for a time. The name means dawn, which made me think of a new beginning and a fresh start. I’m a huge fan of anime and Hunter x Hunter is an awesome show. I wanted to pay to homage to that and also when you see x in between words it tends to either signify a collaboration or a versus. Self Love is a collaborative effort with yourself. Most times while you are on the journey it can really feel like it’s you versus your old self/current self or it can be a partnership of you and your current self/future self. This is why it is Zoreena x Zoreena because it is always the self x self whether for or against, in my opinion.
I jokingly said once that crystal jewelry is pretty much the jewelry in Role Playing games that add perks to your avatar. Adornment of the body is as old as time and has been used as forms of protection, representation of status, symbols of bonds, etc. Jewelry can boost your mood, flare up a nice outfit, be cherished tokens passed down throughout generations, the list goes on and on.

I’ve considered myself an artistic person for most of my life. I loved to draw, paint, and craft things. I would paint on jackets, pants and shoes to customize my looks. Jewelry making was something that I didn’t know I needed in my life until it made its appearance. At first, I considered a hobby. My sisters and I would make jewelry with cute handmade polymer clay pieces and chain. Our dad would always suggest selling them but we always brushed it off. (I just wasn’t confident enough in my work and my self to sell it)

Fast forward to art college, I was initially dead set on becoming a 3D animator because I loved anime and gaming so much. One year I needed to take an elective class because the class needed for my major was not available at the time. I picked a intro to jewelry/metalsmithing class and I fell in LOVE. When I was finally able to take the classes required for my animation major I was dissatisfied and instantly switched my major to Jewelry/metalsmithing. Unfortunately I was unable to finish out my schooling and began the quest of working a “regular job.”

Years later the bug caught me again and I started to try to build up the tools needed to become a jeweler and start up again. Another false start ensued due to not having the funds to accumulate all the things needed to have a functional metalsmithing setup. (or so I thought) Years flew by again. One day I thought to myself “You’re miserable at the job you’re working right now. Why not start something for yourself? Something that has the potential to grow into something more.” When trying to think of something I thought I could start a business with jewelry kept coming to mind but I didn’t have all the metalsmithing tools needed.

As a child I always had a love for shiny things and thought a lot of the rocks I would see at science related events were cool (didn’t know most of them were crystals at the time) Later in life I came to love crystals because they helped me so much with spiritual work. Starting off with them I wore them in my bra so they could stay on my person. One day it clicked when I saw wire wrapped crystals with beautiful ornate designs. I didn’t need all the tools for metalsmithing just the ones I already had and just needed to learn the techniques to get the pieces to look how I wanted them to. Having prior metalsmithing knowledge from my classes in college really helped me to acclimate quickly. I looked through so many Youtube videos and began practicing and that gave me the courage to start listing the pieces for sale. I’ve found that operating this business has lead me to use a culmination of pretty much all the skills I’ve acquired over the years.