Made in West Hartford: LMNT Jewelry by Lauren Mullaney
Written by Tracey Weiss
Photography by Tracey Weiss and submitted
Looking for that perfect gift for a friend or family member? A piece of art that moves you?
You don’t have to go far to find something you’ll love. There are so many talented people right here in West Hartford that may have just what you’re looking for. Here, we bring you one of those folks.
Lauren Mullaney has a love for mixing metals. She does it with the jewelry she makes under the name LMNT Jewelry.
Mullaney’s style is a complementary mix of several hues of gray, brown, gold and silver that leans into the dramatic—something that is reflected in her home, which she has just remodeled. It’s a stunning combination, one that is large and dramatic and pleasing to the eye.
She creates earrings, bracelets, necklaces and rings in her second floor attached studio, formerly, unfinished storage space that she also just remodeled, and is excited about the prospect of having people come to see her work there.
She describes her own jewelry as “modern, clean, with simple lines. Very geometric and in mixed metals. It’s very lightweight for the sizes,” she said. “I start with a very thin gauge, file and clean up, solder, then throw it in the tumbler.”
Her pieces have a matte finish, “which makes it stronger,” she added, “and I hand polish most of them.”
The matte finish has a protective coat, so it prevents skin reactions, she added.
The name of her business is a double entendre: it describes her jewelry and is a play on her initials.
“My jewelry is elemental, in that it uses the elements like fire, air, and metal.”
While she plans on doing shows this summer and fall, she is also looking forward to spending time on her new career step: interior design. She recently received a certificate from Rhode Island School of Design’s interior design program. “It’s tough,” she said. “I ended up learning a lot.
“I will keep making jewelry, but open up to do interior design,” she said. “It’s different from interior decorating, because it involves borders and architecture and planning and how you create and plan in terms of how you live. Putting in windows and doors. It’s more than just fabrics and space. It means you are learning about your client and providing a soup to nuts approach.”
When she was younger, “I wanted to be an architect,” she said. “Now, I’m coming back to love the architectural aspect. It’s reflected in the jewelry.”
It’s also been key in redecorating her own home, which is where she grew up. “It’s really been a wonderful opportunity to take my parent’s house and make it my own. With aspects I kept, to honor them.”
Mullaney didn’t start out life as an artist. After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University in Durham, NC, she spent four years in television production, first at WFSB and then for ESPN, before moving to San Francisco.
“I got really interested in sports and the Whalers,” she said. “But I was burned out on television and fell in love with San Francisco after a visit.”
According to her website, during her 11 years in San Francisco, “Lauren rose from staff writer then Managing Editor at Electronic Arts, to Internet Content Manager at Lucasfilm, and Interactive Marketing Manager at 2K Sports, producing and marketing consumer websites for major brands and individual video games.”
When her health sidelined her ability to do her job, she decided it was time to move back to the East Coast; in particular, to New York City, where her brother and sister-in-law were raising a family.
She freelanced there as an interactive producer at various advertising agencies before creating her own line of jewelry in 2014.
“I would go back and forth to get away from New York City to see my parents (in West Hartford),” she said. “In 2017, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. It was her second time. She’d had it in 2001 and it came back in her bones.”
Mullney moved back to Connecticut “to spend time with her. I had a space set up in the family room for my work and took classes at CT School of Jewelry Art in New Hartford.” She honed her skills in metalsmithing there and at the house, set up her own bench in the family room.
“My mother would sit with on the sofa in the family room, and when I would make something new, she would say, ‘I want one of those.’ She always wore a pair of my earrings. She supported me. It was a special time. Having my mom sitting in there—she never complained.”
Then Covid came. Her father had to work from home and set up his office in the living room.
“I made a lot of noise. I was hammering and sawing,” she said. “Most of my work is in 18- and 24-gauge metal. It’s very loud.”
One day, “my father came in and said, ‘what are you doing?’ I told him, and he said ‘okay.’ He was just curious. When he would be on Zoom, he would be asked if there was construction being done in the house. He would just say, ‘it’s my daughter making jewelry.’”
Her mother died in 2018; her father, in 2024. Her remodel of the home maintains the integrity of their lives, with Mullaney’s touch now throughout. She hopes to be able to do that for others now. WHL
Go to lmntjewelry.com for more about Lauren Mullaney and LMNT Jewelry.
Lauren Mullaney will be bringing her jewelry to the following shows this season:
Sept 19-20 - Fruitlands Craft Festival - Harvard, MA
You can find her jewelry at the following retail locations:
Connecticut
Blackkat Leather - 36 N. Main Street, Chester
Farmington Valley Arts Center - 25 Arts Center Lane, Avon
Guilford Art Center - 411 Church Street, Guilford
Mattatuck Museum Gift Shop - 144 West Main Street, Waterbury
Spectrum Gallery - 61 Main St, Centerbrook
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum Shop - 600 Main Street, Hartford
Massachusetts
deCordova Museum Shop - 51 Sandy Pond Road, Lincoln
Evergreen - 291 Main Street, Great Barrington
Fruitlands Museum Shop - 102 Prospect Hill Rd, Harvard
MASS MoCA Store - 1040 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams
New Jersey
Princeton University Art Museum - 45 Elm Street, Princeton
New York
NFP: New Form Perspective - 457 Main Street, Beacon
Pennsylvania
Sweet Mabel - 235 Haverford Ave. Narberth
