© by Nersel zur Muehlen; all rights reserved
I started my jewelry business in August 2005. My business partner and I are childhood friends and we both were into jewelry and unique designs for the longest time. I have been working in the corporate world for the last eight years doing recruiting. My daytime job pays my mortgage and other expenses but it is not something I am passionate about. I don’t get up every morning excited to go to work. My partner has been running her own information technology consulting company for the past five years; she is also content but not passionate. And content is not the way you should live your life. Last summer when I was visiting my hometown, Istanbul, we went to one of the old historic parts of the city. Walking on the ancient cobble stone streets and looking at arts and crafts we started talking about our love for jewelry as a nation, how Ottoman sultans and concubines wore elegant jewelry decorated with precious stones their warriors brought from distant and exotic lands. They have decorated not only themselves but also their guns, clothes and household objects with jewelry. We ended up in a small silver shop where a seventy year old man was designing and producing silver jewelry by hand. He invited us in a very friendly manner customary to many Turks. We drank tea, looked at his designs and talked about his craftsmanship. My partner ended up buying one of his silver necklaces. On our way back home at the end of the day we talked about how this old man looked happy even though he did not seem to be making a lot of money, he was doing something that he really enjoyed. That day my friend and I decided to start our own jewelry business. We got very excited and started listing things we wanted to do. Going to jewelry stores in the ancient Grand Bazaar, buying jewelry making books, taking jewelry design classes. So we started planning and initiating.
We have established our company in Hoboken, NJ, hometown of Frank Sinatra, where I have been residing since 1999. Hoboken once a gateway to Irish, Italian and German immigrants would be a gateway to this Turkish immigrant’s dreams of starting her own jewelry business. A lot of people suggested that I establish the company in New York but I have decided to stick with Hoboken.
My partner and I started collecting pictures, books, catalogs and jewelry magazines. We are reading every piece of article we can find about jewelry. I mail her boxes and boxes full of magazines from here and she is doing the same from Istanbul.
One day one of my colleagues at my job told me that she hated her worn out, simple, and white gold wedding band. She said she did not think her wedding band reflects her love for her husband and their marriage. She was right! Her ring did look dull and boring. I told her she would probably need something that sparkles, something unique, and handcrafted to reflect the hard work that goes into maintaining a happy marriage. Based on this discussion we created a beautiful 18K yellow gold hand hammered antique looking wedding band for her. Two rings worn together to reflect the unity of two people. She loved it! Her husband loved it! She became our very first customer.
My partner and I have spent all our weekends and free time building a business from our passion. Now that our website is up and running we needed to advertise it and get the word out.  We know the best advertisement is the quality of our products and word of mouth. With very limited advertising budget we have quickly started making sales and have been getting great feedback from our customers. We offer free shipping and gift packaging as a bonus with every item.
There are so many jewelers out there. However we think that most of today’s jewelry looks very similar, white gold with diamonds. We at Nersel & Irene do not think that women want to wear standard jewelry. Some of the other jewelers may have nice designs too, but we know what our competency is. Our competency is our inspiration, our heritage, rich culture and the meaning of each of our products. Women have been wearing jewelry not just for beautification purposes but also for the purposes of protection, and celebration of love and life. When women shop for jewelry now the norm is not diamond studs or pearl earrings but jewelry that stands out. Women want jewelry that reflects their unique personalities and their individuality.  Antique and colorful ethnic jewelry is one way women can express themselves. Lots of colors, combinations of 18K and 24K gold and semiprecious stones are very electrifying and chic. Women want to make statements with their colorful, large and shiny jewelry. Most women don’t just want the rock, they want the design and they want to create their own designs.
There is a shift in emphasis from gems to metal.  We like working with 24K gold because it is pure, natural and has a great twinkle. We use motifs like the pomegranate fruit which has been cultivated as an ornament and for its edible fruit. The fruit has long been a religious and artistic symbol. In the Old Testament, Solomon sang of an “orchard of pomegranates.” Because of its role in the Greek legend of Persephone, the pomegranate came to symbolize fertility, prosperity, and eternity. In Christian art it is a symbol of hope. We love the color combination of a high quality turquoise stone and yellow gold. The turquoise stone has all the shades of a deep blue ocean. For thousands of years this gemstone has been appreciated as a holy stone, a good-luck-charm or a talisman. It is a virtual “people’s gemstone”. The oldest proof for this lies in Egypt, where in tombs from the period around 3000 B.C. artifacts with Turquoise were found. In the ancient Persian Kingdom the sky-blue gemstones were originally worn around the neck or on the hand as protection against evil spirits. Another item we have used as a pendant is the fig tree. The Greeks saw the fig tree as sacred to Dionysus, whose popular worship encouraged an emphasis upon fertility and the efflorescence of the vital force. On a mystical level this indicates the embrace of absolute unity, the intimate experiencing of the heart that beats in every atom in nature as the germ of the tree of knowledge whose fruit yields eternal life. It is this vital force which quickens the seed and helps it to germinate, making the branches bend downward their boughs like the sacred Ashwatha tree. Fig trees are usually associated with cosmic sacrifice and eternal life. Everyone of our designs have a meaning.
We aim to create and give timeless, high quality jewelry that women can wear at various occasions, give to a loved one or pass on to their children. Transforming our heritage, art and culture into unique pieces of jewelry is a great experience. We are inspired by our own lives or the lives of other people. And these other people don’t need to be celebrities. The blueprints of our unique designs are ancient pieces of jewelry created thousands of years ago. The first gold coins were struck in Western Anatolia where the Lydians lived. The first gold jewelry emerged in Mesopotamia during the Early Bronze Age. Gold jewelry has been crafted and worn in Anatolia for thousands of years. These very first jewelers in history used various techniques that are still used by today’s jewelers. Our talented artisans have spent many years to learn and master the art of gold jewelry making in the lands of Istanbul, Byzantium, the Mediterranean and Anatolia. We believe every woman is unique and has a story to tell. Every woman should feel like a goddess. That is why our tag line is for the Goddess inside you. Our logo includes a twin goddess figure (the side-by-side double goddesses), which symbolizes the partnership behind our business and our friendship. The Twin Goddesses embedded in our logo expresses the duality of the feminine archetype, such as opposite seasons (winter and summer, spring and fall); the alternating rhythm of day and night; the integration of death and life; or the female twin deities of Moon and Earth. The Twin Goddesses demonstrate a kinship connection, the relationship of lovers or friendship.
We hope that our customers can create their own history with our jewelry. Please view our unique designs on www.nerselirene.com

Lapis Necklace