Welcome!
to Jewelry One of a KIND Journal — Notes from Miami Beach
It is pouring rain in Miami, and all of a sudden it went from 90 and sunny to 70 and chilly with lightning everywhere.
It’s fabulous, my favorite part of the summer months in Miami Beach. I call it rainbow season.
I’m sitting here updating my Substack, having way too much fun doing it, and apparently Jewelry One of a KIND is now one of the rising fashion and jewelry voices on here, which means a lot of new people have suddenly found their way over recently.
So first:
welcome.
Tell me:
— where you’re from
— what kind of objects you collect
— what you’re reading
— and what brought you here
Honestly, that’s basically how The KIND Council started in the first place.
I’m still learning what half these buttons do myself, but I thought I would introduce myself a little more now that I’ve been writing more regularly over here.
I have one Substack under Amanda Nicol personally, and this one here for the brand.
Over here, we talk much more about what it actually looks like reinventing yourself as a jewelry designer after being in the industry for more than 20 years, stepping away from it, and then finding your way back while building things very differently this time around.
More intentionally.
More slowly.
More honestly.
Some posts will be longer essays. Some will be studio notes. Some will probably begin with a Miami situation and end somewhere completely different.
That seems to be how my brain works.
A lot of the longer reflections end up inside Studio Notes, which is probably the closest thing this publication has to a sketchbook — process, references, objects, archives, craftsmanship, and all the strange things that happen while making work.
And then there’s Building Slowly, where I talk much more honestly about the actual mechanics of rebuilding a jewelry house — structure, reinvention, wholesale, pricing, systems, creative labor, and doing things differently the second time around.
But also:
books I’m reading because I am always reading,
fresh bread coming out of the oven,
possibly recipes at some point,
downtown observations,
Miami and Miami Beach recommendations,
what I do and don’t do,
beautiful weird objects,
travel,
conversations,
events,
people I meet during my days and on public transportation — yes, in Miami — and the fascinating things they tell me,
and all the strange and wonderful moments in between that somehow end up connected back to creativity, objects, and building a life.
Do you like objects with stories, beautiful odd details, creative reinvention, and the lives people build around what they make?
You’ll probably feel very at home here.
I meet eccentric and intriguing people constantly, and I will tell you about all of them.
And because this is Substack, we actually get to have those conversations here instead of shouting into the void somewhere else online. The KIND Council is where a lot of those conversations continue — in between making, writing, cooking, rebuilding, wandering around Miami Beach, talking to fascinating people, and figuring out in real time what it actually means to reinvent both jewelry and the way we talk about it.
Franklin is here beside me while I write this.
Franklin is the beast.
He appears often and occasionally interrupts…everything.
He has unofficially become part of the publication already.
And I am the connectress as well as the designer, as well as the writer, as well as the person bringing you along for this ride.
So if you want to follow what it actually looks like to build a jewelry house over time — with all the stories, observations, beauty, reinvention, and all the whacky turns that come with it — I’m really happy you found your way here.
— Amanda
And if you’d like to continue the conversation — through jewelry, a future jewelry experience, a custom piece, or simply being in the room next time — I’d love that.