How a Fort Worth Contemporary Dancer Found Her Voice in Precious Stones With Jewelry Brand LNULA

From the Flower Girl earrings that bloom from warm, gold-colored gems to the Orbital Galaxy ear pieces set with teal-turquoise stones veined with a natural matrix, each LNULA design feels in balance with itself — a vignette told in precious metal and rare stones. The pieces are hand-crafted by LNULA founder Emily McDaniel, who found a love for jewelry design and metalsmithing after a background in contemporary dance shaped her sense of movement and form.

Her hand-crafted earrings, necklaces, and rings are currently sold at the Kimbell Art Museum’s gift shop in Fort Worth, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, and through pop-up events at Anthropologie stores across the region. With pieces released twice a year through Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter collections, McDaniel says her work doesn’t begin until she knows which stones to feature.

“I have a lapidary artist who cuts all the stones,” she tells PaperCity Fort Worth. “He knows which mines they come from. I think about what collection I am buying for, the colors of the season, and the feelings I associate with that season. I really want each piece to feel artisan and special.”

McDaniel’s Journey from Dance to Handcrafted Jewelry

McDaniel began dancing at age three. After graduating from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in Dallas, she studied contemporary dance at SUNY Purchase in New York. When the pandemic shut down performances in 2020, she returned home to Colleyville, where she took up metalsmithing classes through the Craft Guild of Dallas the following year to continue pursuing her creative interests. She balanced those pursuits with exhibiting her collage-based artworks in juried shows at galleries across North Texas.

“My friends started asking me to create pieces for them,” she recalls. “If my friends are interested in buying my work, I thought maybe the wider public would want to learn about my story. I was building my knowledge around metalwork and beginning to feel confident behind the fire.”

In 2023, she launched LNULA (@lnula.shop) with a focus on making “unique, Earthy, and timeless designs.” The business expanded to include custom woodworks handmade by her father, Kern McDaniel, and collage greeting cards. To further master the craft of jewelry making, she moved to Colorado to take classes at Denver Jewelry Studio. What began as a planned short visit led to two years of studies at the studio, where she learned gold-smithing and other techniques she now brings to her growing business.

Artistry Guided By Intuition and Precious Stones

As we talked through her creative process, she pulled out a sketchbook where many of her pieces began as simple pencil drawings. She recalls sketching dresses and other fashion designs when she was younger. Once she has the stones and designs ready, she spends the next two-and-a-half months working at her studio to prepare the upcoming season’s collection.

“You have to be strategic when you work for yourself,” she says. “You have to get up, drink your coffee, and hit the jewelry bench. Sometimes you can’t pull inspiration out of thin air. I’ve learned to be gentle with myself.”

The fabrication process can take anywhere from a couple of hours to days to produce one ring, a necklace, or a pair of earrings. The techniques she employs include sawing, soldering, sanding, stone setting, and polishing. More recently, she has learned how to use wax carvings to cast silver rings. She recently hired an intern to manage social media posts so she can focus on pop-up events and growing her business.

“I have plans to create a small selection of solid 14-karat gold pieces,” she says. “Although prices for gold have skyrocketed over the years, my clients have asked for a selection of gold offerings. In 2026, I would like to make these wishes a reality while still embodying the same timeless, artisanal essence that the Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter collections emulate.”

The artisan jeweler says she’s now focused on growing her company while maintaining the authenticity of her brand and her one-of-a-kind pieces that are painstakingly forged and crafted by hand. When she took her first metalsmithing class nearly five years ago, she never imagined she would be working full-time as a jeweler in such a short time span.

“I never had a business plan or an end goal of what I want LNULA to become,” she says. “My goals are ever-changing, and I try not to over-anticipate the future. I’m still learning.”