During Amanda Levison’s time at UF, she struggled to find gifts for her friends on a tight budget.
She found her solution in jewelry.
Levison, a 28-year-old psychotherapist from Fort Lauderdale, expanded her creativity with jewelry in 2006 to start AJ Designs, through which she makes and sells more than 90 pieces, ranging from bracelets to dog accessories.
Levison traced her passion for handcrafted jewelry to a very early age.
“I was about 7 or 8, and everyone was doing simple knotted bracelets, but I was doing really crazy designs,” she said.
When Levison worked as a camp counselor during her summer break from college, she learned how to create a bracelet using beads and soon became a craft store regular.
These days, she gets inspiration for her pieces by browsing through magazines to see what’s in style, but she said her personal style has a heavy influence on what she creates.
“I’m not going to make something that I wouldn’t want to keep, and I’m very much a jeans and flip-flops person, so I like to make things that are fit for work and play,” she said.
She often uses semiprecious stones in her designs, the most popular being pearls and crystal.
The stones she works with can range from $35 to $200, she said.
But Levison said it’s important to her to keep her pieces affordable.
Her least expensive designs, beaded key chains, cost $12.
She is working to get her creations into more stores and she someday hopes to have her own practice in psychotherapy so she can devote more time to developing her designs.
“I enjoy every aspect of what I do, especially the fact that I have been able to keep doing it, even though it started as a hobby,” she said.
“I enjoy other people appreciating my art.”
