Sharing her journey to motherhood through jewelry. Maine Maker Kelsey Champagne-Smith is hoping her products can give back and help others dealing with infertility.
“We had a 1% chance or less of having a family on our own nd with IVF our chance went up to about 60%,” said Champagne-Smith.
She first experimented with art as a form of stress relief while going through in vitro fertilization.
“If you don’t know anybody who has gone through it, it is emotionally, mentally, physically taxing, never mind financially,” said Champagne-Smith.
Her hobby was an outlet and eventually a business. Then in the summer of 2020, her mom had a dream that she’d given her a necklace.
“She said, ‘Kels, I think you need to make jewelry’,” said Champagne-Smith.
So she expanded, while working to expand her family as well.
“I slowly started transitioning to metal work and my first fore was with brass and then I started teaching myself more benchwork skills and now here we are,” said Champagne-Smith.
She now has dozens of designs and, more importantly, two children turning four and one.
“They are the most amazing parts of ourselves and probably the most important and best thing we have ever done in our lives,” said Champagne-Smith.
She wants others to have the same experience and hopes to make a difference during National Infertility Awareness Week, April 21st through the 27th.
“It’s run by RESOLVE, a nonprofit and their main mission is to provide education, access and community to folks who are going through infertility themselves and who are struggling with family building. So, during that week we are going to be giving 15% of all of our proceeds to RESOLVE as a donation,” said Champagne-Smith.
Her products are crafted to share a story, and this effort meant to build a sense of community.
“I really want myself and my brand to be an area where people feel comfortable having that open dialogue and asking the questions and finding a resource in me of somebody who can be supportive and just be there for them if they need it,” said Champagne-Smith.
And to make IVF accessible for all.
“Without that journey we wouldn’t have these beautiful little human beings and they are central to my business, they’re my little acorns,” said Champagne-Smith.
Champagne-Smith is also working on a new collection out of old bottles from the late 1800s that she collected as a child. That will be launching in May. You can find her products at various makers markets and her .