I, Oana Teodorescu, and my mother, Ioana Teodorescu, are self-taught artists with a deep love for jewelry. I had never thought that one could create jewelry in one's home until I visited, one winter, the Christmas Market in Union Square, New York City. I bought then a pair of pearl earrings for my mother and, after spending a few minutes staring at their workmanship, decided: I can make this, too! That marked the beginning of a passion that has transformed into an all-consuming fire to which I am a "slave." 
    I started small, making sterling silver jewelry for me, my sister, and my mom. The first pair of earrings I made caught the attention of many of my colleagues and even of some of my students. One day, a colleague asked me why I did not make jewelry for sale. The idea took a year to germinate and take roots into my mind and has led to The Goddess's Chest Collection. 
    As I began to work on the items for my website, my mother, a thousand miles away, started to create her own pieces. Her jewelry is luxuriant and sophisticated, and her gemstone combinations are fresh and surprising. 
    As far as our technique, both my mom and I just let the stones "speak" to us. There are days when we cannot come up with anything and days when we can barely keep up with the "voices." I also doodle a lot on my ideas notebook during my subway trips to and from work. And there are also those nights when, as I turn off the reading light, my brain's power button goes on and I just have to get up and spend most of the night creating. That is when my spirit really soars! 
    My mother is in the kitchen and ideas just pop into her mind, and she has to stop everything she is doing and go to the working table and at least sketch the design, if not start the piece of jewelry so she can continue it later. Her muse is also working her hard into the wee hours of the morning sometimes. She does not complain, though. The creative fire is so all-encompassing and soul-nurturing, she forgets to smoke. Nothing has ever had that effect on her before! 
    My favorite stone is quartz. No other stone on Earth has more colors and degrees of translucency. There is also a strange attraction that I have for quartz that goes beyond words. Sometimes a carry quartz pebbles in my pocket, and I just love to stick my hand in the pocket and play with them. I wear around my neck a clear quartz crystal that NEVER comes off and my personal jewelry always has quartz in it. 
    My mother loves pearls, especially the white ones. You can NEVER catch her without wearing pearls.