Clara LeMoyne is a Durango, CO-based jewelry maker and designer.  Her jewelry draws on many inspirations---the colors of Miami, the energy of New York City, the moments of inspiration she’s found while living and traveling in Europe and South America, to name a few.  The strongest influence on her work, however, is the desert of the American Southwest. 

In 2019, Clara made the move from the East Coast to the Sandia Mountains outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico.  She’d felt called to the desert after completing a series of Breathwork training, taught primarily in New Mexico.  While she’d had the opportunity to travel and live extensively abroad, Clara realized that she hadn’t spent any time exploring the American West. So, in between her training, Clara rented cars. She drove, and drove, and then drove some more.

Her travels took her through Northern New Mexico, to the White Sands National Monument, to Carlsbad Caverns, to Tucson, to Sedona, to Flagstaff, to The Painted Desert, to The Four Corners, to Joshua Tree, to Death Valley, to the Mojave National Preserve to The Garden of the Gods and back again.

Being on the road, spending weeks exploring the ever-changing desert landscape- the ancient-looking rock formations, the cacti, the hues of red, orange, tan, and purple, the empty space, the excruciating heat by day, which transitioned into a supportive coolness by night- changed her. The experience opened a new creative space within her and a deep desire to make a home in this magical part of the world.

The literal push into jewelry making came in the form of an accident.  Shortly after moving to New Mexico, Clara was in an accident that required her to keep off of her leg for several months.  Needing something to do with her hands during that time, she decided to listen to the intuitive voice that had been telling her to “make jewelry!”  for over a year.  She drove into Albuquerque, bought supplies, and started teaching herself various techniques.  She worked by day and finished by sunset as a moon rose over the desert mountains behind her. 

There was something enchanting about that moon—it was big and purple and warm, oozing with creative inspiration.  As her work began to gain recognition within her own circle, Clara decided to make her jewelry an official offering, and the name she chose for her line felt obvious:  Desert Moon Jewelry Co.- an homage to the backdrop of the creative leap she took under the desert moon’s light.

In the almost two years since Clara has been making jewelry, her work and her style have continued to change and evolve.  She began working primarily with metal and semi-precious stones and has since expanded her lines to include acrylic, vinyl, and rubber-coated metals. She is now playing with polymer clay and hopes to soon learn silversmithing.

While based in Durango (with her three crazy kittens), Clara continues to travel through the desert, selling her work as she goes.  You can find her work regularly carried by stores in Tucson, Albuquerque, Truth or Consequences, Durango, Pagosa Springs, Ouray, Silverton, Telluride, and Glenwood Springs, CO.

Her hope is that when you wear a piece of her jewelry, you feel a surge of creative inspiration, a connection to the intuitive and creative part of yourself that’s nudging you to leap, explore, travel, and reconnect with yourself.  That’s the magic of the desert moon!

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