BRATTLEBORO, Vt. (WCAX) – In Allison Korn’s small but sun-soaked studio, creativity is in no short supply.

“Earthy, rustic,” she says. “I want my jewelry to be meaningful.”

Down in Brattleboro, Korn turns silver into something special. It’s a totally different place than where she was even 15 years ago, living in Ecuador while working on a graduate degree in anthropology.

“[I] decided that I was done with academia, it was too much thinking in my head,” she says. “And I decided I just wanted to live my creativity.” Living her creativity meant taking a leap of faith.

“I bought a little bit of the material and decided that if I could make a piece of jewelry out of that, then that’s what I was going to do,” Korn explains. She did it and went on to learn what it takes to run a business.

Ten years ago, it was time for a move from the tropics to Vermont’s snowy tundra. It was the perfect time to launch Allison Korn Designs, honing in on her skills and her style.

“We had to reinvent ourselves anyway,” Korn says.

Now, she makes mostly earrings and necklaces. All of her pieces are made in one of two ways — either traditional metalsmithing, or by using precious metal clay.

“It feels like clay, but it’s made out of pure silver particles,” says Korn. “Fire it in a kiln and then it turns into pure silver.”

She does dabble in gold, but for the most part, everything is silver. No matter the material, her goal is to add a little extra to everyday life.

“You know, they put it on in the morning and they feel a little bit happier, or more brave, or a little bit more confident in their day… that’s why I want to do this,” Korn explains.

Despite a big geographical jump, Korn says the community feel in Brattleboro is roughly the same as it was in Ecuador. It’s why she sells at the local farmers market in addition to online. While life looks different than it did, it’s a change that Korn can get behind.

“There’s so much that we have to offer and creativity is one of the ways that I can give back to the world,” she says. That creativity is taking shape in Vermont.

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