Ashburn Woman Tailors Treasures For Every Woman

One year ago, Ashburn resident Kathy Salamone was a woman with a passion for making jewelry and a house full of her creations. Now, that passion has turned into a family-run business, Tailored Treasure, where customers can purchase handmade jewelry or work with Salamone to design a piece specifically for them.

"The idea is that it is tailored especially for you," John Salamone, Kathy Salamone's husband, said. "If you have a big event coming up, and you have an outfit already but you are looking for that perfect piece of jewelry to go with it. She's willing to make something specifically for you and a certain event or a certain outfit."

Tailored Treasure launched its Web site in November 2007, but the Salamone family has been running the business for Kathy Salmone since August. Last year, Kathy Salamone, who worked as a guidance counselor in Fairfax County schools for 20 years, decided to move to Rome, Italy, for one year to study at the Academia delle Arte Orafe. She is working toward a second masters' degree in gold and silversmithing.

"When she decided to turn her hobbies into a business, she wanted the appropriate training," Elizabeth Venafro, the Salamones' daughter who does marketing for her mother's company, said.

"She's over there working with some of the best," John Salamone, who is in charge of business development, said.

While she has been in Italy Kathy Salamone has also been apprenticing at Bottega Moret, which recently created pieces for high-end jeweler Bulgari. In both her courses and through her apprenticeship, she is learning not only how to make jewelry from scratch, beginning with the melting of the metal, but also techniques such as crocheting, knitting and the centuries-old lost wax process, in which wax is molded and turned into precious metal designs.

"She really views every piece of jewelry as an individual piece of art," her husband said.

During her time in Europe, Kathy Salamone has not stopped designing and shipping her jewelry home to her family to sell. Tailored Treasure has both a ready-to-wear line, known as tt, and the TT couture, which is her line of one-of-a-kind pieces. If there is one signature to Kathy Salamone's jewelry, her family says it is her use of Swarovski Crystals in almost every piece.

"Each piece is made by hand, not machine," John Salamone said. "She's really in a stage where she's exploring different styles. She'll take a piece that she's working on and take it apart and put it back together. It's really a passion for her."

Kathy Salamone's passion for jewelry making means that even her ready-to-wear jewelry and several hundred piece stock are made up of a large variety of pieces, giving customers the chance to wear a rarer design. While the jewelry has been necklaces, bracelets and earrings, Venafro said he mother has recently started to expand into rings. "She's so interested in working in different techniques," Venafro said. "We're the ones that are constantly trying to get her to focus on one design."

Tailored Treasure jewelry is currently only available for purchase through the company's Web site, but the Salamones hope to expand into some of the region's boutique shops once Kathy Salamone returns from Italy.

"We want to stick with boutiques," John Salamone said. "They're more specialized."

Even while his wife is in Italy John Salamone and his family are working to retain that personal feel for Tailored Treasure's customers, including updating the Web site to included Kathy Salamone's personal blog from her experiences, that the company wants to become known for.

"It's the personalization of the jewelry and the process," Venafro said.

"The focus in not just the design, but the designer," John Salamone said.

For more information about Tailored Treasure or to view some of Kathy Salamone's creations, visit www.tailoredtreasure.com.