A Woman Entrepreneur With Jewelry In Her Blood Gets a Spotlight Moment at Jo Malone London’s Store In The Woodlands

Generations of goldsmiths, jewelers and watchmakers are in jewelry designer Susana Vega’s blood, starting with her grandfather who opened the first jewelry store in Tovar, Venezuela. Vega began her own line of jewelry in Venezuela in 2008 before moving to Houston.

A Houstonian since 2018, Vega uses glass beads, gold and pearls to create wearable, lightweight art in earrings and necklaces. A Vega trunk show at the Jo Malone London’s boutique in The Woodlands’ Market Street development continued the store’s series spotlighting some of the greater Houston region’s notable female entrepreneurs.

“We are always looking to support entrepreneurial woman with handcrafting skill sets,” Jo Malone store manager Nadia Gill says. “That is actually what Jo Malone is about. We handcraft everything. That’s how she (Malone) started, really. She started her business in her kitchen.”

Vega’s artistic expressions have always stood out.

“I was always interested in creating very unique styles,” Vega tells PaperCity The Woodlands. “I was the kind of kid putting their pants inside out. I was always trying to be uncommon.”

Vega’s grandfather was a watchmaker and jeweler, and her parents were jewelers as well.

“My father was interested in the goldsmithing part, and he started to study goldsmithing,” Vega says. “After he and my mom married, he founded his own jewelry workshop.”

Vega’s father died when she was 9, and she grew up watching several uncles and her mother continue to learn from her grandfather.

The Susana Vega Two Step

Vega’s jewelry pieces are created in two steps.

“We use a technique with beads that covers a frame that we also create,” she says. “We use 3D printing or wood for the base. It makes the pieces very lightweight.”

Lightweight is very important to Vega, as it allows wearers to stack ear cuffs, and wear longer styles without discomfort.

“You can stack a lot of these ones,” Vega says. “That’s what makes the look I think. If you stack a bunch. I also use the color in a way that you can pick any color and it will go very nicely with any others.”

Spotlighting female entrepreneurs like Susana Vega is a way for Jo Malone to give The Woodlands something different than just the usual shopping experience.

“I think for people in The Woodlands, it’s exciting,” shopper Maria Jose Dorman says. “It’s something new, something different. It’s a local entrepreneur to know more about.”

Look for the next Jo Malone London event in store’s entrepreneurial series in the spring. Susana Vega’s earrings are available online and in select boutiques.