As my first official Carriebilbo.com news/blog post I’d like to share with you my world… aka my studio!

Carrie Bilbo Jewelry is located in the historic Brooklyn Navy Yard. Although, no longer an active US Navy Yard this 300-acre property is located on NYC’s East River and is now owned by the city of New York. The Brooklyn Navy Yard has a rich history of makers; in it’s hey-day, WWI and WWII, over 70,000 employees worked here around the clock building ships, sewing flags, and everything in between. This was also the first time women were hired and working in such jobs as mechanics and technicians. During the 1960’s and well into the 1990’s there was not much happening in the Navy Yard, as it was in the rest of the United States as well, due to most of the country’s manufacturing jobs being shipped over seas.

With the new millennium came a revitalization of the Navy Yard. Over the past 14 years there have been many upgrades and renovations, which have served to make the Navy Yard a choice location for many companies. Today the Brooklyn Navy Yard is a modern manufacturing center/industrial park, focusing greatly on small businesses and environmentally friendly processes. The Yard is at full capacity for the first time since WWII, half of which are small artisanal businesses. This includes: designers, artists, craftspeople, fashion brands, and the largest movie studio outside of Hollywood (Steiner Studios). All of these individuals have made the Navy Yard a mecca of modern creativity and inspiration. Not to mention the endless amounts of visual inspiration and beauty found in the many old buildings (some even dating all the way back to civil war era) and docks lined with cobblestone walkways.

This creative center rich with history is what brought me as a small business, designer, and maker here five years ago. (The convenient location helped too!)

Take a look inside…