Fort Worth Jewelry Wiz Makes the Big Move Into Sundance Square — Cary OKeefe’s Second Career Gains Momentum

After five years of introducing herself to the Fort Worth market at her jewelry showroom inside Fort Works Art on Montgomery Street, designer Cary OKeefe is making the leap to her own space in Sundance Square. You can now find her at 501 Main Street.

OKeefe says she started making jewelry in 1975, after spending the summer on the beaches in Hawaii combing for Puka shells. “I have been in a perpetual state of beachcombing ever since,” she tells PaperCity Fort Worth.

A collection of natural elements like coral, pearls, and gemstones soon became incorporated into OKeefe’s bracelets, earrings and necklaces.

Her consuming hobby was starting to sell, just about the time she began having kids. Roaming around the country at jewelry and art fairs — what OKeefe calls “the life of a gypsy” — just wasn’t feasible anymore. So she put everything she’d collected in storage in her brother’s barn. And there it stayed for about 40 years.

After raising her kids and when her stable career in education ended with her retirement about five years ago, the time seemed right to dust off her cherished finds and get back to more creative pursuits.

“Many of the shells and corals I incorporate into my pieces are 40-plus years old,” OKeefe says. “I continue to look for interesting and unique items to be incorporated into jewelry. Though my style has evolved, I still look to nature for inspiration.”

Some of OKeefe’s favorite new finds are a millennia old or more. “I am designing with antiquities like 1,000-year-old falconry bells, ancient Roman glass and Bactrian spearheads now,” she says.

Her exclusive collection is a wonder. These are inspiring creations you just won’t find anywhere else. Everything is one of a kind, and a true statement piece.

Cary OKeefe Jewelry is now open Tuesdays through Thursdays from 11 am to 1 pm and by appointment, since many of OKeefe’s clients prefer the comfort and security of more private showings, and commissioned design pieces. The new store will be open from 11 am to 8 pm on Fridays and Saturdays when traffic picks up in Sundance Square on the weekends.

“I have traditional styles, but really think of my pieces as wearable artworks,” OKeefe says. “It’s always the material that leads the design, and you simply do the best you can to display the material in its best light.”