Etsy Mainstay Brooklyn Charm Goes Brick-And-Mortar

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Tracie Howarth—or at least her jewelry—might already be quite familiar to a lot of you. Over the last three years her jewelry collection has been a fixture in Etsy's top 25 sellers list. Offline, she also makes herself known with a booth at Williamsburg's Artists & Fleas. Now, Howarth has jumped into the brick and mortar game with her own Bedford Avenue shop, Brooklyn Charm (entrance on N. 9th Street.)

Four days young, Brooklyn Charm is aiming to become the go-to spot for custom jewelry. The white and wooden space—formerly Triple Five Soul—is stocked with craft trays, lazy Susans and vintage candy dishes overflowing with all the quirky charms, pendants, crystals and beads you need to cobble together the gun-in-a-holster on a brass chain you've been dreaming of. Pick your favorites from the dizzying array of rosette beads, initial charms, whistles, aspen leaves, vintage lockets, gears from antique pocket watches, grizzly bears, tattoo-worthy sparrows—the options are virtually endless and fairly affordable at around $6 a piece. Howarth and friends will then help you select a chain (brass to gold-fill with lots of options in between, starting under $10), add a clasp, and send you home with some new shiny and the chance to say, "Hey, I'm a jewelry designer!"

For those who can already say, "Hey, I'm a jewelry designer," there's also a full line of basic metal-working tools, quantity discounts on the shop's mostly vintage and reproduction stock, and a series of classes on doing it all yourself. (The first class is April 8th, and for $40 you'll learn how to put together a piece and get to take it home).

And for those that would rather leave the jewelry design to the actual jewelry designers, the shop is in the process of rolling out exclusive baubles from a selection of local designers (including Howarth and some of her familiar friends from Artists & Fleas). Howarth wants to focus on items at a variety of price points for women and men; pieces you can't pick up elsewhere in the neighborhood. Look for more stock and a dedicated space for collections by the shop's grand opening party on Friday night.
· Drunk Shopping: A Williamsburg Itinerary For Panini, Jewelry, And Vintage [Racked NY]
· A Tracie Howarth Design [Etsy]