FACES of Nashville: Judith Bright

Judith Bright is getting quite a reputation for nothing but great things. She has a namesake jewelry line sold online, via trunk sales and at her Nashville flagship store at The Mall at Green Hills. Her bauble empire is about to expand to a second store, most likely in Los Angeles. She uses her creative eye to develop jewelry pieces that are often equally at home in the bleachers of a sporting event or out to dinner with friends. We even spot them at black tie affairs, as versatility reigns with this collection. Judith recently won the Ignite Business Builder Competition worth $100,000 in advertising and marketing through the Tennessean Media Group. Whew… Did we mention she is the proud mother of three boys and has an equally busy husband? We love having Judith Bright as a friend to StyleBlueprint and are proud to feature her today as our FACE of Nashville.

Where did you grow up?

Georgetown in Washington, DC.

When and why did you move to Nashville?

2004 from Los Angeles. With 3 boys LA was logistically challenging and we knew it would only get more so with sports and school activities. I went to Vanderbilt, my husband grew up in Nashville, we have family here and we also wanted to start our own businesses. Nashville made sense for us on all levels. It’s a city on the move and a great place for entrepreneurs to do their thing.  We started both The Bright House Design Group & Judith Bright in 2005 and we have been hard at it ever since.

What is the greatest piece of advice you have been given?

From my old boss, Quincy Jones, shared a quote with me that was his mantra. It immediately resonated with me: “If a task has once begun, never leave it ’til it’s done. Be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all.”

Where do you find inspiration for new jewelry designs?

Ideas are literally swirling around in my head 18/7. My collection continues to build on itself and I am inspired by design elements that are already in the line and how they might be used together in different, fresh combinations but still result in something cohesive & complimentary. It’s a never-ending puzzle and design challenge with infinite possibilities. I am most productive creatively when I have some time alone to just clear my mind and “think.”  It’s amazing how hard it is to make that happen in our busy, plugged-in world. (I might have to finally give in and do some yoga!)

How do you keep your jewelry so affordable?

The key is that we make all the jewelry ourselves, cutting out the middleman mark up. Instead of going for that extra profit margin, we take a big picture view and believe we’ll get it back over the long haul if we can give our customers great quality at an affordable price. We’d rather see our jewelry out there on as many women as possible, and we want those women to tell their friends, travel with it and spread the word! We love what we do and we want to keep doing it.  We also constantly review our sources, our materials and our jewelry-making methods to ensure we are operating in the most economical and practical way to keep our costs down.  We are loyal to our sources and we still use the same people we’ve used since the beginning.  We shop small whenever we can and use indies, many of whom we find on etsy. All of this rolls into cost savings we can pass on to our customers.

Finish this sentence: The best thing about designing your own jewelry is…

The best thing about designing your own jewelry is the ability to create exactly what you want to wear anytime you wish and working with gemstones that are so beautiful they’ll take your breath away.  It’s hard to believe such natural beauty is possible.

The smallest Marc Jacobs bag, and I can’t wait for Jason Wu for Target.