The first ever permanent jewelry and hat bar entered the Athens area on Nov. 17, 2023.
Beautiful Mess is originally based in Gainesville, Georgia, where owner Jenn Robson and her family have lived for four generations. Robson revealed that her inspiration behind the name of the store, Beautiful Mess, stems from her knowledge of mental health gained through her master’s in clinical mental health counseling and work as a high school counselor.
“I know healing can happen,” Robson said. “With that creates a beautiful mess, because we are just a bunch of messes at the end of the day.”
Located at 240 W Clayton St., Beautiful Mess Jewelry is a fully customizable jewelry boutique offering many charms, patches and chains to add to your items. Beautiful Mess offers a wide range of products including not only jewelry, but trucker hats, cowboy hats and jackets that are all able to be mixed and matched with accessories.
Creativity has always been something that is important to Robson. She began creating clay polymer earrings as an outlet. Eventually, she learned how to metalsmith, which led to teaching herself how to create the permanent jewelry that is now sold in her stores.
Each charm carried in the store is meant to be unique. There are a wide range of birthstones, flowers, initials and animals that can be mixed and matched in unlimited ways.
“It’s making people feel seen and heard and that they’re a person that deserves to be celebrated and thought of,” Robson said.
Belts, feathers, beads and spools of thread sit on a table in front of wide-brimmed hats at Beautiful Mess Jewelry in Athens, Georgia, on Thursday, April 4, 2024. In addition to items such as custom hats, handmade necklaces and embroidered patches, Beautiful Mess allows guests to make and purchase permanent jewelry with a variety of styles and charms. (Photo/Felix Scheyer; @felixscheyer)
Store manager Haley Davenport said she enjoys the creative freedom involved with working at Beautiful Mess. She said her ability to reorganize the store as well as offer any advice to customers as they design their jewelry and hats has allowed her to cultivate her creative side.
Davenport feels the customizable aspect of Beautiful Mess allows it to stand out from other stores in the Athens area.
“Everything is kind of up in the air,” Davenport said. “If you want to grab a charm that’s meant for our charm bar and you want it on your hat, you can go ahead and do that.”
Beautiful Mess has been working with other small local businesses to provide a space for pop-ups in their store. Local creators can come in to share their products or teach a class. In the past, they have hosted a cookie decorating workshop, as well as a small clothing boutique that didn’t have its own storefront.
“I love having space for that because that’s how I got started, so I love doing that for other people and small business owners,” Robson said.