Who Are We

Polly Baumgartner

Owner and Artisan
Pronouns: She/Her
Is Most Likely To: Text in all stickers
Favorite Quote: “If you don’t have time to do something right
the first time, you must have time to go back and fix it.”

My journey did not begin with jewelry. I actually didn’t do much with jewelry at first. As a kid, I always loved fiber arts and crafty projects, but jewelry was never on my radar, until my freshman year of college. I was studying fashion design and my roommate took a jewelry class as an elective—she totally hated it. I saw all her projects and listened to her complain about it, but in my head all I could think about was how cool everything looked. I enrolled in the elective thinking I could make some awesome pieces to enhance my fashion designs in a unique way, but I came out of it having fallen in love. I switched to studying jewelry soon after and it was a perfect fit—I don’t know how it took me so long to realize jewelry as my calling, but now I’m here, living my dream. However it has not been without its ups and downs.

Right after college, I had a bit of an existential crisis—is jewelry really my calling? At the time, I was working at a breakfast restaurant in the mornings, and Express at the mall in the evenings. One day I got a message from a friend asking if I wanted to collaborate on a runway project. She was a clothing designer and wanted to split the cost with someone—so we joined forces. After looking through all of her designs, I set out to design an entire jewelry line inspired by her pieces. I fabricated the collection in my parents’ basement, in Michigan, and then I drove out to New York City for the debut show. I came planning to stay for two weeks, though friends, fate and opportunities I have been here since. I worked a retail job and secured a few jewelry internships before finally getting paid to work in the industry. I started Modhemia in late 2017 and launched my first line soon after; I’m excited to finally take the plunge into focusing on my business full-time.