Being the elephant in the room is typically negative, but wearing the elephant in the room is an entirely different story.
Jewelry designer Lurtisha Simon lives by this, as she creates what she calls “wearable art” for her online store Doll Face Jewelry.
However, designing jewelry isn’t a full-time job for Simon. She mentors low-income and first generation college students with the Upward Bound program at Baton Rouge Community College.
Simon said it was her love of fashion and need to spread her creative wings that led her to jewelry making during her free time.
“After I finished my master’s [degree], I just started making jewelry,” Simon said. “I got tired of going to the store and buying the cookie-cutter trendy stuff.”
At first, Simon said she wasn’t looking to sell her creations. Then after people saw her wearing the items, they advised her to sell them. She made an official website and sold her pieces online, and now making jewelry is more than a hobby.
Simon’s jewelry is mostly made of wood and baking clay, which she uses to cut and mold the items. She describes her creations as bold, colorful and cutesy, full of tribal prints and bright neon.
Simon said she credits her mother for influencing her creativity. She said her mom was less about fitting in and more about standing out.
“In elementary school is where it started,” Simon said. “My mom used to sew clothes, and we would cry and say we want uniforms to fit in, and she’d teach us fashion.”
Simon said her mother would make her school uniform fashionable by making chain belts and suspenders for her to wear. While attending Southern University, Simon said she finally embraced all her mother taught her about being original and bold.
Simon’s sister Enika Wade said she provides the encouragement Simon needs to continue being bold.
“I am really her supportive team,” Wade said. “I go to all of her events, and she’ll send me pictures of her work and ask what I think.”
Wade said she is the person Simon goes through to make final decisions and make sure she’s on the right track.
She and her sister don’t always see eye to eye when it comes to style, but she’s proud of Doll Face Jewelry, Wade said.
“Lurtisha is very out of the box, and we’re very different,” Wade said. “But she’s expressing herself through her jewelry line, and it’s been very successful for her.”
Simon said people who don’t understand her jewelry, or think it’s too colorful and big to wear, don’t phase her. She said personal art and creativity aren’t for everyone else to understand.
Simon said the best way to wear her jewelry is to dress down a bit and add the pieces for a pop. She said she calls her jewelry conversation starters.
Though she does personalized and customized jewelry, Simon primarily makes earrings and necklaces, and now, she’s looking to branch out.
She said she plans on making more LSU-themed jewelry, as purple and gold pieces sell like hot cakes. It turns out bold LSU-themed jewelry is just what Tiger fans are looking for on game day.
“Someone just had an LSU-themed family reunion for the first home game, and I made about 20 pairs of different-styled earrings for it,” Simon said.
Now, Simon said she preaches originality, especially to combat the many children in high school who are bullied for being different.
“So many people are born original but die a copy,” Simon said. “I tell my students when you get ready to go to college, you will see so many groups of people from everywhere who are original.”

Gallery • 4 Photos

Ari Ross

Lurtisha Simon's jewelry stands out due to its colors and unique designs.