At Home With Rachel Pfeffer

Meet my friend, Rachel Pfeffer! She is a jeweler, maker, mama, and all around super chill, fun person to be around. She is the inventor of not just the candle clappers that we stock in the shop (one of my favorite texts I have ever received is from when she was formulating that idea and was like is this weird? I was absolutely all in!) but ALSO the inventor of flower holder jewelry, which is a must have if you live in a neighborhood like hers (Takoma Park, where I also used to live) that is covered in tiny flowers just begging to be worn. She is so creative in work, in her personal style, and in the small peeks I’ve seen of her home on Instagram. So I am so excited to share this At Home With feature of Rachel today. You can also check out her instagram and Tiktok, and read on to get to know her. It’s a good one. :)

Introduce yourself! Who are you, what do you do, and why!?

hi! i'm rachel pfeffer. I'm 36 (i think) and I'm a jeweler and a mom x 2. A mom because I have two little boys, and a jeweler because I had no choice. JK. But I come from a wide line of jewelers- my dad is a jeweler and I grew up in my family's jewelry store. And his brother is a jeweler in Arizona, AND my other uncle on my mom's side is also a jeweler. I majored in sculpture and quickly realized I was meant to make tinier, shinier, wearable art. 

I love your backstory. But for those who don't know, how did you get started in jewelry / making things?

I started selling on Etsy in college, mostly duct tape purses and accessories (I like to think I was a trailblazer in the duct tape fashion field.) That company was called Lucky Duct Designs. I also sold little people I'd make out of empty bullet shells called Bullet Buddies: Empty Shells, Full of Life. Those were fun. After college I was working at the Bostom Museum of Science, and started making jewelry with a soldering iron in my apartment. I remember once smelling such a delicious woodburn smell, thinking someone in the neighborhood was bbq-ing, and eventually realized I turned on a power strip which had my soldering iron plugged into it, so that turned on inside the wooden drawer I was keeping it in, slowly chatting the wood. That still haunts me.

What does home mean to you? What's your favorite ritual at home? What's your favorite spot in your home?

I have big aspirations of having a very cool, artsy, colorful home, and succeed in small parts of the house. A shelf here, a corner there. But mostly it's crumbs and toys. And jewelry. I tend to spread out beyond my basement workshop.

I like buying flowers and putting them in a vase made by my friend Julia of McQueen Ceramics. I keep that on top of a cart that previously held a printer and infinite clutter. But now I try to keep it empty just with a vase and a Handmade Habitat candle. It's in front of my art gallery wall that I'm constantly adding to and changing around. I fantasize about having an empty dining room table, but that doesn't seem possible. 

As a new mom who has watched you in awe as a mom who runs a business, HOW DO YOU DO IT?!? It's a big question lol but how do you do it? You've got to have magic tricks, tell me one. :)

Let's see. I do rely on tablets and tv to occupy my little guys when I need to get something done. I have a babysitter in the mornings that gives me 4 hours every day to work (and do all the other errands I need to do without a kid in tow). I ask my mom and dad for help, a lot, even though they live in Massachusetts. My husband Ben is very good at taking both boys out of the house when I need to get something important done, or have a craft fair. 

I always describe your jewelry to people as fun jewelry, but for grownups. Where do you find your inspiration? Give us a moment of zen.

I’m not a *huge* zen person, but whenever i’m doing something that requires me to be zen, like a facial,  or extremely occasionally, yoga, my mind wanders and i’ll design some new things in my head. I never use a sketchbook (though I own 10,000) and often think of using them to design. Mostly i think of something, and just put it together on the bench. Or i’ll think of something i want to wear, and that turns into a new piece or line. A dream moment of zen would be sitting outside in perfect weather at a coffee shop, drinking the perfect mocha, and people watching. With a sketchbook, i guess. 

Thanks so much, Rachel! Follow her on Instagram and Tiktok and stop by our DC shop and shop her candle clappers and flower holder necklaces irl!