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Anne Vaughan, owner of Anne Vaughan Designs in Floyd

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Jewelry designer operates business from home

by Wanda Combs
Editor

Creativity is spontaneous, explains Anne Vaughan as she talks about her work. Surrounded by a multitude of colorful beads, the jewelry designer says it’s a feeling of energy that starts the process and helps her create the one-of-a-kind necklaces, earrings and bracelets.
The Floyd woman began her home business 1 ½ years ago, and it has literally taken off. Operating from the family’s basement and advertised by friends and the internet, Anne Vaughan Designs is well established and growing.
The designer describes her style as “chunky, earthy, but also very simple and elegant. It’s all over the spectrum.”
Vaughan has a passion for turquoise, and it has a prominent place among her jewelry. She says she continues to be amazed at the variations in color of the stones. She orders some of the stones she uses for her jewelry, but others, turquoise in particular, she likes to hand select. Her jewelry also features fresh water pearls, precious metals, such as copper, and a variety of other gemstones. They are often conversation pieces. One necklace she designed is made from palm nuts and bone with wood. Another necklace features red coral and turquoise. 
Owning a home business is allowing Vaughan to spend time with her children, Autumn, age 3, and Gabriel, 16 months. She had taught school at Floyd Elementary, just a short distance from her house, but she says it was hard to balance being a teacher and a mom, both with their demands on time and energy. Her husband, Aaron, actually motivated her to start the home business.
The couple met in Maine, her home state. They married and moved to Richmond. After coming to Floyd one New Year’s Eve, they connected with the area, decided to downsize, and move here. Aaron, who is a native of nearby Blue Ridge, found a job with Dreaming Creek Timber Frame Homes in Floyd. She initially taught fifth grade. When she left teaching, the home business seemed to be the answer for this family that had gone from two full-time incomes to one.
“We love it here,” Vaughan comments, and adds, “To stay in the country, you’ve got to be creative.”
Vaughan actually made jewelry in her high school years. “I always painted or did something creative.”
The home business has been a “positive experience” for Vaughan. “I feel grateful to have ‘found’ it,” she comments.
Spending time with the children is the greatest benefit, but Vaughan says she also enjoys her customers – “they’re happy people.”
Business growth is necessitating the hiring of an assistant. Vaughan is looking for someone to help with record keeping, communications with customers, and other duties.
Vaughan keeps up the website – annevaughandesigns.com, and she says she has sharpened her marketing and digital photography skills for the business. Her mini-photo studio, just a small cube, gives her plenty of light to get good images of her jewelry to go on the internet.
“Everything I make is one of a kind,” she remarks. She uses a variety of techniques to fashion the jewelry, and she is always learning and exploring.
The price range is wide – from $8 to $200. As she says, “there is something for every pocketbook.”
Vaughan sells from her home. She attends nine festivals a year, mostly in Virginia. Once a month, she also goes to the Roanoke City Market, which, she notes, is “a great venue.”
On two Thursday nights a month she does home parties. Customers invite her to their homes, everyone brings a friend, and Vaughan decorates the house with jewelry. “There are no speeches, and from 3 to 30 people come.” Vaughan says she goes to homes as far away as Roanoke, Blacksburg and Christiansburg, as well as in the county.
Vaughan also does wholesale and has jewelry at Hotel Roanoke. She will also be displaying her jewelry locally at Under the Sun in the Wildfire studio. Customers should be able to see some pieces exhibited before Valentine’s Day. Her work will also be on exhibit in the Chamber of Commerce window during the month of February.
When Vaughan went into business, she made a decision to pick a non-profit cause to which to donate some proceeds every year. “I feel called to contribute,” she says. “It is one thing to give money, but to embrace a cause….” Past donations have gone to samefight.org, a website helping local children with cancer and their families. This year, she plans to give 10 percent in profits to the Virginia Land Trust. She has a personal interest in efforts such as the Trust, with a mission to encourage landowners to limit development while keeping the land open for forestry, farming, and recreation. Vaughan got her undergraduate degree in environmental science/studies at Prescott College in Arizona. She received her graduate degree in education from the University of Maine.
In her spare time, Vaughan also does stained glass work. Two of her favorite activities are hiking and being outdoors with the family, she remarks. Living in town gives her the opportunity to walk with the children and family dog, Sadie. “We love the small community, the friendliness of everyone, and the…Parkway.”
It’s a lifestyle Vaughn is embracing.
“I always knew I wanted to run my own business, but I just didn’t know what I’d be,” Vaughan says. “I really feel guided to be doing what I’ve been doing.”

(Editor’s Note: The jewelry designer can be reached through email – – or by phone at 745-7947.)