Silicon Valley may be known as a hotbed for high-tech innovation, but three Stanford graduates have shown that successful entrepreneurship can take many forms. RedStart, founded by Sara Shaughnessy, Kim Hoffmann and Amanda Knox, is a company that relies as much on technical prowess as artistic sensibility and beauty.

The Beginning

After finishing jewelry metals training in Italy, Amanda decided to pursue her Masters in Fine Arts at Stanford University. While acting as a teaching assistant for Stanford's Product Realization Lab, known on campus as The Shop or the PRL, Amanda met Sara and Kim, two Mechanical Engineering and Design students who were doing coursework in the PRL.

It was while working in The Shop in her first year of grad school that Amanda developed the concept for the Subtle Safety ring, a stylish ring that unfolds into three pointed metal tips designed to dissuade would-be attackers. Several months later, the ring was selected to be a part of New York MoMA’s exhibit, SAFE: Design Takes on Risk.

Buoyed by positive press for the Subtle Safety ring and united by a shared passion for jewelry making, the three women launched RedStart, a jewelry company devoted as much to problem solving and design as aesthetic beauty. Amanda’s brother, an avid birdwatcher, came up with the name RedStart, which is a small songbird from the Midwest noted for the bright orange detailing under its wings.

The Heart

Today, all of RedStart’s jewelry is designed and made in San Francisco, with the majority of the pieces fabricated by the founders themselves. The company employs local jewelers and stonesetters who have a reputation for quality and attention to detail, hallmarks of the RedStart brand. This "go local" approach minimizes shipping and freight costs while feeding the local economy and supporting local artisans.

In general, RedStart’s designs take the focus off gemstones, as the questionable practices of the gemstone industry remain a concern. Instead, the designers prefer to work with the sculptural quality of gold and silver, whose inherent beauty needs no embellishment.

RedStart participates in local fairs such as FeriaUrbana, Shop Local First and Shop for the Cure and collaborates with other young independent artists, like Mission-based clothing company Distilled Spirit and San Francisco singer/songwriter Nya Jade. The company also donates 15% of sales of its rose gold pendant to the UCSF chapter of the Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer research.

The Highlights

The founders of RedStart are as invested in making beautifully designed jewelry as they are committed to fostering the local and international design community. Sara and Amanda teach a jewelry design course at Stanford and in Italy, and Kim is an associate professor at Northwestern, where she is helping develop a design program. Indeed, one of their students, Lisa Asari, just won the prestigious national honor of being a finalist in the student category for the 2008 Niche Awards!

RedStart is relatively young but already successful. RedStart has been featured in Metropolis and Jane magazines, among others, and the designers have helped create jewelry lines for such fashion icons as Emporio Armani and Burberry. And RedStart jewelry has been chosen for four upcoming movies, namely The Rebound with Catherine Zeta-Jone, Cold Souls with Paul Giamatti and Emily Watson, Farlanders directed by Sam Mendes and Untitled (yes, that's the title), starring Mary Shelton and Adam Goldberg—showing RedStart's true star quality.

We congratulate Sara, Kim and Amanda for their extraordinary designs and exquisite quality as well as their commitment to cancer research! We particularly fell in love with their creative and fresh design of the lovely infinity symbol and are honored to carry both the Rose-Gold Infinity Loop Necklace and Sterling-Silver Infinity Loop Cuff Links.

Gifts with style and relevance from a socially responsible small business . . .