If all goes according to plan, the last day of business for Harmony Scott Jewelry in Carbondale will be Sept. 6. But at the rate the well-established jeweler’s products are moving at for-sale prices, that farewell date might come earlier.
“Right now we’re selling jewelry so fast that we’re not even sure we’ll be open Sept. 6,” Scott said Friday.
Scott’s handmade jewelry comes from gemstones, pearls and precious metals, and her story began when she and her partner at the time, Justin Doty, lived in his cabin on Aspen Mountain. After Scott earned a degree in Chinese from the University of Colorado in 1996, the Aspen High School graduate returned to the Roaring Fork Valley and began an apprenticeship under jeweler Elaine Greenspan.
By 1998, she was making jewelry in the cabin. She and Doty did trunk shows and art fairs and farmers markets; their following grew, and in 2000 she opened a store in Carbondale and in 2002 one in Aspen, which had several locations at different times — including in the Hyman Avenue mall, above Pitkin County Dry Goods and in the Mill Street Plaza off restaurant row.
In 2002, the couple visited Bali where Scott worked side-by-side with their production workers and forged a relationship that has continued until this day.
“I worked beside the people and did not go through a middle man,” she said. “And we worked together on everything over the years. And I would go there for two months at a time and it was very hands-on. It was like a collaboration. … I was involved in every step of the process.”
Doty passed away in 2013, and Scott closed the Aspen store in March 2015.
Scott remained active in the Carbondale business community and helped launch the town’s popular First Fridays event. Her Carbondale location on the 100 block of Main Street was converted from a home, where she lived in an above apartment for a time.
Scott, who moved to Spain two years ago and is now married, said she is leaving the jewelry business to focus full-time on a professional endeavor as a love, sexuality and relationship coach.
“My healing journey was for myself, and through that I learned my gift is supporting individuals — men and women — and couples, and the interesting thing is that sexual energy is a life-force energy, and you don’t have to use it just for sex,” she said. “You can use it for your business career and just for vitality.”
She sees a career shift as a natural progression.
“For so many years I was adorning women and helping them connect to their beauty, and helping them support their self love externally,” she said, noting her focus now is inward to help people live with heartbreak and challenges, and grow from and build on their relationships with others.
/https://specials-images.forbesimg.com/imageserve/6123e93cf7d52db32a0e9ba6/0x0.jpg?cropX1=0&cropX2=1625&cropY1=105&cropY2=1018)