Meet John Eason

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Eason.

Hi John, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m just a tiny town Father, Veteran, and Gypsy brought up on gospel and country music. I took some detours on my way to my music dreams, though, and pursued another passion of mine as a chef. I attended culinary school and worked in the food industry, and then I lost a bakery during Hurricane Katrina. Shortly after that, I joined the Military, where I spent 8 years with the Air Force and completed 5 deployments overseas. While I truly loved my time in the service and the brothers and sisters I met there, I developed PTSD while still on active duty.

I am a full-time musician now based out of Nashville, but I have also taken up creating a line of handcrafted jewelry. My music helps me share my story and raise awareness for PTSD, and jewelry making keeps my mind and hands occupied to get me through it. I never imagined it would be as therapeutic as it turned out to be, but I’ve enjoyed digging in and creating some cool pieces that my fans, and even people I don’t know, enjoy wearing.

I started creating earrings using guitar picks with my logo and selling them at shows with my other merch. Demand for them picked up, and I started getting requests to create custom pieces for fans and fellow musicians, and it took off from there.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I never intended my jewelry making to become a part-time business or even a business. What started as a way to calm some of the effects of my PTSD turned into suddenly needing to come up with more designs to keep up with custom requests to keep inventory in stock. Theoretically, it’s a good problem, but it does take its toll, especially on days where the creative aspects don’t seem to flow as well as I’d like them to. There’s also the internal self-doubt that lingers in my mind wondering if my new stuff is good enough to warrant selling it. Overall, I’d say it has been more enjoyable than not.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Like mine, I design handcrafted jewelry for the Gypsy Hearts & Creative Souls. The inspiration for all of my pieces comes from my love of travel and the outdoors. As a traveling musician, I get to experience the best things from all the small towns across America, and I do my best to incorporate them into my collection. For instance, my “Home Is The Highway” collection, which comes from my song of the same name, utilizes pressed pennies from some of the cities I’ve performed in. While I can replicate a few designs with similar elements, the coins are different based on my tour schedule that season. The names for my other collections all incorporate the four elements of nature.

Because music is a big part of who I am and my main passion, I have partnered with other musicians as brand ambassadors for this new venture. Currently, I’m working with local Nashville artists Lauren Freebird, Audra McLaughlin, and Amber Watts, and I have plans to work with others in the future. The goal is to use my growing platform to highlight other incredible musicians while providing them with some custom pieces they can take with them on the road, use in music videos, and other projects where they want their individuality to shine through.

Plans to grow the jewelry line are currently underway, and, with the help of my publicist and business partner, Diana Darr, we are expanding into new markets in the coming months. The transition will come complete with a name change and new product selections.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
After I take a good look at where I want any of my projects to go, I try to surround myself with others who have the same drive and passion for them as I do. When I finally decided I wanted to take this jewelry line farther than just merch for my music career, I started networking with other artists looking for custom pieces and familiarized myself with what they were looking for in good quality jewelry. This helped in kickstarting the design process outside of my current offerings. After designing several dozen pieces and knowing I could sustain this as a business, I looked within my current team. I enlisted the help of my publicist-turned-business-partner, Diana Darr. Growing a business requires constant collaboration, and having the right people behind you can help turn those good ideas into great ones.

Pricing:

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Contact Info:

• Website: https://johneasonmusic.com/jewelry
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/johneasonjewelry/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/johneasonjewelry

Image Credits
Courtesy of: John Eason Jewelry