Who is Blue Jean Baby?

 I'm Mandy and I am Blue Jean Baby.

I’m an American living in England, a dreamer and wanderer, avid reader, writer of poetry and prose, award-winning interior designer, and the person behind every piece in the Blue Jean Baby collection.

It was my relationship with my grandmother that inspired both the name and the grounding principles of this business.  She, forever trying to tempt me into frilly dresses and patent shoes. Me, ever present in well-worn jeans, a cotton T-shirt and my old sneakers.  But, she never judged.  She simply smiled with her deep blue eyes and loved.

As an adult, I came to understand one of her defining qualities: she found joy and beauty in the simplicity of everyday life.  And somewhere along the way, without either of us realising it, she passed this on to me and for this, I am eternally grateful.  It influences every aspect of how I live my life.  I was her Blue Jean Baby and she was my strong, funny, ever-loving guide.  

When I first moved to England in 2013, I used every spare moment to travel the countryside far and wide, exploring little stone cottages with chimneys smoking with coal and stately homes brimming with fine fabrics and furniture in unabashed splendour.  I wandered through gardens and rolling, blooming hills, listened to the birds and walked my dogs endlessly through fields and alongside rivers, relishing every moment of discovery.

With each step, I learned about England, its architecture, culture and history and, all the while, about myself.  My interior design work eventually took me across Europe, sourcing one-of-a-kind objects for clients who, like me, care deeply about what surrounds them.  It was through that work, in auction rooms, at brocantes and in the cramped back rooms of dealers, that antique jewellery found me.  I understood immediately that the qualities I look for in an exceptional decorative objects are exactly the same ones that draw me to a Victorian brooch or shimmering Art Deco necklace: craftsmanship, character, rarity, patina, presence. Because, for me, it's never been about the things themselves; it's about how I feel that moves me.  It's the feeling of opening a box and choosing a magnificent ring to wear on a regular day with an old pair of jeans or a golden Georgian cuff to wear on a fancy night out with my husband.  Whether I'm putting together a home or selecting rare and unusual pieces for this collection, every decision begins with a feeling.

And then there's music!  The vitality and energy it brings to life. The elation of hearing a favourite song, driving down a country road with the windows down.  That instantaneous shift in emotion, mood and energy.  To me, that's pure magic.

In creating Blue Jean Baby, I've brought these two inspirations together: the history, craftsmanship and nuance of antique jewellery and the power, freedom and passion of music.  Every piece in the collection is antique or vintage, chosen individually by me, and named after a song as a little inspiration for its next chapter.

Blue Jean Baby is for people who want the things they wear to help tell their story.  For those who aren't interested in having the same as what everyone else has.  For those who understand that the right object, chosen carefully, lives with you for a lifetime.  And for those who know that life is, ultimately, about feeling alive, every day.

I hope you find something here that's unmistakably yours.

Mandy
Blue Jean Baby