Ashley Brian’s life changed when she left her goal of becoming a family doctor to pursue her dream of creating and giving back to the community through the power of the earth’s natural gemstones.
Despite a longstanding love for spirituality and creativity, Brian never anticipated her choice not to go to medical school after graduating with her psychology degree from the University of Ottawa in 2016.
“If you told me that I would be where I am today three years ago, I would probably laugh,” Brian said.
“I’ve always loved painting and having fun doing DIY projects, so it’s very much been a part of my life to be creative but never really in jewelry, which is interesting.”
Six months after graduating from university, Brian launched her brand Gemma by Design on Etsy with the inspiration of the spiritual activities she had started taking on.
“I was introduced to yoga and meditation in my last year of university and I feel like that was kind of my transition into Gemma because I had realized how powerful these stones were, how powerful our minds are, and how we can be so impactful in our own lives.”
Soon after her jewelry designs picked up rapid momentum, Brian began travelling and picking up a variety of colourful and rare stones abroad so she could share their special elements with her friends and family.
“I’m very intuitive in the sense that I’m a believer of energy,” said Brian. “So when I found these stones had healing properties, I shared them with a specific family member during a difficult time and it was really helpful to them. That’s when I kept creating and kept sharing and it became almost viral.”
Brian’s travels play a key role in how she designs her jewelry and are the primary source of her inspiration. By looking through her albums and meditating on her trips, the inspiration for her designs comes to her effortlessly.
“I think of how I can turn stones into sceneries I had seen and pull out the feelings I had when I was in that perfect place on the beach or the innumerable other sights I saw to bring back the colours that spoke to me most, and it all just flows and spews out into my jewelry,” Brian said.
“I think of it almost as an abstract painting. When you start painting you don’t really know what it’s going to turn into but then it becomes beautiful. I see my jewelry as kind of the same thing. My beads are my paint.”
With so much success amongst her family and friends, Brian decided to expand her brand beyond her online store and brought her work to the community through local markets, which would soon become Brian’s primary source of revenue and personal fulfilment.
“I was online for about six months before attending my first market and that’s when I realized I was in the right place,” Brian said.
“It opened a whole new set of avenues I didn’t realize were out there. I got to connect with other people who are in the same position as me, meet my customer base, and share little pieces of every place I’d seen with everyone. It was a neat way to connect my travels with my community.”
As Brian’s brand grew, so did her desire to support both the local community and Canadian businesses overall: 90 per cent of her supplies come from Canadian businesses and 10 per cent of all purchases are donated to local charities.
“That was another reason I wanted to make jewelry because I’ve always been one to volunteer and donate to the community, so I thought what better way than to do something I love?” said Brian. “I definitely think the community’s also realizing that there are more people buying local and they’re appreciating the love and effort that goes into something that’s handmade, which is amazing.”
Despite the growing popularity of gemstones, Brian is cautious not to promote any existing misconceptions regarding their properties to her customers.
“A lot of people see the stones and want to know what the properties are so they can try to instill those properties into themselves, but I’m less conventional in my approach,” said Brian.
“I don’t tell people, ‘This is going to make you less stressed and you’ll never have to worry again,’ because I don’t believe in that. I tell them to think of the stones as vessels of energy to be used as tools to manifest what they want in life, as opposed to a means to an end. You should wear it as a reminder to keep that energy with you instead of hoping that stone will give you that energy.
“As much as I believe the stones do have properties, I think we are very powerful in ourselves and we are the reason these stones work.”
Brian believes her journey with stones has changed a lot in her life, from being more positive to connecting with her community; her love for stones has never been stronger.
“I always wanted to wear black and grey growing up but when I started working with stones, I realized there are so many beautiful colours,” said Brian. “I’ve incorporated colour into my life in a way I never have before all because of these stones.”
“I’m happy with where I’m at. There’s so much more room to grow and I think that’s the amazing part — there’s no end. There can always be a new way of continuing the journey or changing the journey. I’m very fortunate to have fallen into creating jewelry and be able to share it with people. I don’t even know what my life would be like if I didn’t have that purpose.”
If you are interested in exploring Brian’s gemstone jewelry, you can check out her Instagram page at @gemmabydesign or her Etsy store by the same name!