If a picture is worth a thousand words, Allyssa Woodford Hughes has done a lot of listening.

She’s the mind behind Locket Sisters, a jewelry company based out of north Minneapolis.

“We’ve made thousands and thousands and thousands of lockets,” she said.

It all started as a solution to a problem. Allyssa’s sister Amy — a traveling model at the time — wanted to keep home close. She wanted a locket but couldn’t find a company that both had beautiful necklaces — and did the work of sizing and placing the photo in the pendant. So, the sisters started the small business the kitchen table of their childhood home.

“I think when you can touch and feel it, it’s different than when it’s just a digital photo on your phone,” Allyssa said. “Whatever the photo is, there’s something about holding it or keeping it close to your heart or carrying it with you wherever you go. That makes the experience you had in that image come alive.”

Since the start of Locket Sisters, Amy has left to pursue other passions. Allyssa and her team make about 40 to 50 lockets a week during the slow season, but nearly double the count when Christmas and Mother’s Day roll around.

“We have a spot in the ordering online where you can tell us about the photo,” Allyssa said. “And the people do, they tell us so much.”

Each locket made holds a memory, a moment or milestone — some heartbreaking, others inspiring.

“We see the spectrum of humanity in people’s orders,” Allyssa said. “So, anything from really devastating loss of your somebody’s child, somebody’s partner, their parents, their friends, to celebration like a wedding photo, or a birthday, or somebody’s graduating, or they’re taking off with a Peace Corps, and they want to carry their parents — want them to carry a piece of home with them. And then everything in between, too.”

Allyssa and her team get to facilitate that connection, much like the vintage piece itself, that never goes out of style.

“A photo could pop up and I would still know the story,” Allyssa said. “It just puts a lot of meaning into the work. In a way that’s important to me.”

Most lockets ship four-to-seven days from its order date. Locket Sisters also sells permanent jewelry and resin earrings.