Carol Harmatz crafts the elegance of jewelry with consideration for sustainability

The deeply-felt passion for making hand-crafted creations flourished and became Carol H

Designs.

Written by: Bianca Calderon

From a young age, Carol was intrigued by the ability to piece materials together. She began the practice of making jewelry through knitting first. And with the help and support of her mother, Carol was able to explore the opportunities she had designing and creating with yarn.

She then transitioned into weaving where she would work with leftover fabric and thrifted or recycled clothing to make many designs, like face masks and purses. Carol finds herself enjoying the techniques once again when she has leisure time.

“This past summer I actually warped my loom after 18 or so years,” said Carol. “The process is so labor-intensive and so satisfying at the same time. I realized that I have missed weaving.”

Both crafting techniques take much determination, patience, and care. Knitting and weaving still inform her style and work with beads today. Visiting a beading workshop for the first time opened Carol’s eyes to new horizons within her experience and knowledge of craftsmanship. She explains how gratifying it was to manipulate a variety of textures and pick from so many shades and colors.

“That’s when I hit the thrift stores big time. I cut things up, played around, manipulated wire a bit, and recombined,” said Carol. “I was not afraid to cut up and throw away my mistakes, and eventually, I realized that I didn’t want to stop.”

At the time, Carol used to work as an ESL teacher and tried her best to dedicate as much time as she could to craft shows. Slowly but surely, her crafted jewelry business started to grow from a small rented space. The satisfaction of finishing pieces and sharing them with customers made Carol enjoy working on developing Carol H Designs.

“I kept at it little by little and always loved the creative outlet as well as the customer interaction,” Carol said. “I eventually used a drag-and-drop website builder to recreate the custom-made feeling that I offered at craft shows: choose your style, your colors, your length.”

Carol will be one of the talented artists showcasing their handcrafted pieces at the I Made It! for the Holidays market at The Block Northway on November 19th from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Carol H Designs has been part of many of the I Made It! Markets in the past and is excited to share her jewelry pieces once again.

“I am honored to be surrounded by so many talented and creative professionals at I Made It! for the Holidays,” said Carol. “ I started on this journey such a long time ago, inching along without a role model and not knowing if it would work out. I had no idea where it would take me, and now I am part of this accomplished I Made It! community.”