According to Pennyroyal Silver founder and jewelry designer and ex-music industry professional, Tim Foster, it all started with one little penny stamped with his birthday. What made it even more special for his then-girlfriend (now wife) that it was imperfect.
"It was very flawed. It had tool marks. It had obviously a hand-made look."
From a neglected penny he found on the ground then hammered a hole in it and turned into pendant, rough-hewn but hand-crafted jewelry line sprouted into Pennyroyal Silver.
As the aesthetic of the brand, it does have imperfections. Mr. Foster did this on purpose for that real hand-crafted appearance and feel.
He made sure the consistency of being real, being authentic, and being meaningful is passed onto each every pendant or piece he makes by hand in the back of his workshop.
At first, his rock n' roll background and songs set the designs for his pendants.
He was more than happy to let fellow musicians to jump on board two years ago and design their own insignias for Mr. Foster's Signature Line. With further refined brainstorming, they both agree why not align their jewelry piece with their favorite charity cause.
MusiCares were the first beneficiaries from Mr. Foster's inital Signature Line collaboration with Jack Black. Since then, Jewel designed a rain drop pendant for Project Clean Water. Miranda Lambert designed one for a pet rescue society she started.
The biggest and recently retired piece were actually two pendants that Adam Lambert designed for both MusiCares and DonorChoose. They used Mr. Lambert's tattoo as one of the insignias. For DonorChoose, a donor can pick a school project in any city of her or his choice, buy a pendant then Pennyroyal Silver's Signature Line will donate a profit to fund that school project. They raised $32,000 for MusiCares and $100,000 for DonorChoose.
As of now, Mr. Foster doesn't have an artist on roster for the Signature Line but it is still in continuation. He plans to attract two or three musican-collaborations every year, "Keeping that as the cause as a reason for doing anything."
The reason there is not a musican lined up is that he is expanding on his next line...
One influenced by his current travels and expansion beyond the necklace pendants, specifically Paris.
Mr. Foster does not go for the obvious or the most apparent or the cliches.
This deep thinker goes to the more subtle, the more significant things in a locale.
Above, is his keyhole ring, meaty enough for the man in a person's life, was inspired by 19th-century door at a boutique hotel on a little side street worn bare by the history of humanity.
"So now, I'm taking inspiration from travel and different places; and I'm designing a whole new collection. A bunch of new stuff that's stepping beyond music..."
"You feel the history of a product," this is why, regardless of inspiration, Mr. Foster wants to keep the rough-hewn texture of his pieces intact. This is his version of Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese style concept of taking something is intrinsicaly flawed or left imperfect by nature, leaving it as is then cherishing and appreciating that imperfection that makes that object unique, personal, and one of a kind.
Plus, keeping his piece rough-hewn means he wants to feel the experience imbedded into the piece. Keeping it "historically flawed," means for him, keeping the memory of those who had touched and passed it on, is a way to keep connection intact.
"It's rough but you appreciate the flaws...I try not to have finishing anxiety over the pieces. They look very, very imperfect when I start craving them down to where you get to the point of you have to stop. You kinda know when it is. You don't want to take out too many wrinkles out."
As for Valentine's Day and heart strings, Tim Foster's gift to his wife, now hangs in his office out back, reminding him of its sweet, intimate, and humble origins.
For your Valentine's Day, he does bespoken designs and pieces too. He told me women have emailed him, at custom@pennyroyalsilver.com, photos of their tattoos then asked him to turn them into insignias onto pendants so they give them to their significant others, a meaning that only couples know among themselves.
It went from individual love to love of charity and concepts bigger than self.
"The romantic idea behind the penny is so much more my style than what Valentine's Day is.
I actually don't buy chocolate and flowers for my wife. What I do for my wife has a lot more thought behind it."
Laughing, Mr. Foster joked, "In fact, after personally hammering a penny into a necklace, if I went out and bought her chocolate and flowers, she would be insulted-"What? You're too busy? You don't have to make me jewelry anymore?"
He simply reminded it is all about the thought and effort you put in it that makes special.
Speaking of keeping the history of human connection intact, Mr. Foster just happened to bring along a heart-shaped pendant with a keyhole then decided to pass it onto this scribe as a form of good luck for Valentine's Day.
Apparently content with where he and his company is heading,...whether it evolves into a big company or a small outfit doing special, little things, he doesn't care. As long as he is happy
with it, he will continue regardless how it grows, as long it is real and organic.
You can pick up something real and authentic at Ron Robinson Menswear on Melrose and Crescent Heights in West Hollywood.
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