"I've been making jewelry since grade school ... When I came to Dimensions and saw that [Dartmouth] had a studio, I knew I was definitely coming," Toothman said.
To both women, spending time in the basement studio made sense -- to Toothman who taught herself wire work in high school after realizing that she could make herself similar versions of many of the pieces she saw in stores, and to Lopez, whose passion for accessories and clothing design led her, fresh off the heels of an Anna Sui internship, to apply for a job at Claflin.
"I thought fashion would be my direct route at Dartmouth," Lopez said, but during the employee training period at the studio she became enamored of the art of jewelry making and has since continued to pursue that interest.
"Working with student users has been a great way to learn techniques. We all have a tendency to stick to a certain style, and helping others develop their ideas has lent me more experience," Lopez explained.
The constructive aspect of jewelry making appeals to Lopez, who stressed the necessity of being both a designer and a producer: "Everything is problem-solving -- figuring out how a piece can function structurally, mechanically, aesthetically. Only if you can produce your designs can you understand them, their fabrication and construction."
This lesson was reinforced, if not learned, in the pattern making studio of Anna Sui, where Lopez interned in the summer of 2004, and as an employee at Biba Schutz, a Manhattan jewelry design studio, in 2005.
Toothman, similarly, "likes figuring out how to do it," and carries a small sketchbook when shopping so that she can try to recreate pieces she particularly likes. Toothman considers jewelry "a creative outlet" more than anything else.
"I don't like feeling forced," she said, and cannot conceive of ever being a career jewelry designer, "although it will continue to be a strong part of my life."
Instead, Toothman hopes to be involved in "industrial design or product design, fields which require similar skills but in what would be a more interesting, dynamic environment where I'd very rarely make two of the same thing." With that goal in mind she is interning this summer for designer J. Maskery, of bedazzled cashmere and "skin jewelry" fame, in Paris.
"After I spent the winter in Leon, I knew I wanted to work abroad," Toothman said. "I'm excited for the exposure to a successful international designer and how she runs her business."
Lopez, who falls on a different end of the spectrum, is interested in pursuing a career in the industry, and in producing and marketing her designs. This past fall she designed and built a one-woman show in the Hopkins Center called "Two Tone" featuring 16 original pieces. Lopez described the experience as "the culmination of everything I had accomplished up to that point."
Now, after spending a winter in Brazil "searching for beads, stones and fashion," Lopez is in the planning stages of a senior show.
"I don't believe in repeating my work. If I'm going to do something, it's going to be bigger, grander, to the tenth degree," she said.
Her next show, "Royalty to Reality: A Modern Interpretation of Jewelry," will consist of 30 to 40 pieces worn by live models at an opening reception and ultimately displayed in a gallery setting.
Inspired by her newly Brazilian-influenced aesthetic, and her constant perusal of jewelry catalogs in the Sherman Art Library, Lopez plans to use coins and stones to "incorporate the idea of grandeur into the every day, to make the large jewelry that I love utilitarian and wearable."
"With a goal set in mind, I can make it a reality," Lopez said. "I need to make my jewelry talk and dance, in a stagnant case." With the aid of Studio Director Jeffery Georgantes and the material support of Claflin itself, it seems that Lopez is on track to realize her bigger, grander goal.
