Susan Domelsmith’s line of recycled vintage pieces, Dirty Librarian Chains, has a sort of classic jewelry-world origin story—in that the unintentional demand for her pieces was what led her to it. “In college in Austin, I was working at a vintage store, so I would rework clothing. But for some reason, my brain doesn’t deal with three-dimensional designs as well,” she explains. “I was in art school at the time, focused on painting and drawing. I decided to start playing around with necklaces—it was like drawing with chain. The draping and tangling felt more natural to me. A friend asked me for some, then another friend, and eventually stores and magazines—it just sort of grew organically.”

And while the early success flowed easily, the metal-loving designer has done a lot to push things forward since then. She uprooted her life, moving from TX to NY and working for Built by Wendy on

the side until she could focus on designing chunky bracelets and sourcing reclaimed beads full-time. She’s collaborated with other sustainability-focused designers like Tara St. James of Study, as well as artists like her photog boyfriend Peter Beste. She’s also fallen back in love with the line’s name after a stint of referring to it as DLC. “I came up with it when I was 23! It has evolved, but here I am seven years later.”

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