The Match Behind the Makers…
Meet Sterling & Tyler
Turquoise State of Mind began with an heirloom, a love of turquoise, and a husband who decided to see what he could do with a little silver.
Sterling and Tyler met in a bar in Stillwater, Oklahoma, eight years ago. Today, life looks a little different. Most of their days are spent ranching, raising their kids, working with their hands, and building a life rooted in faith and family. Their kids are their top priority, and the idea of creating something that could one day be passed down to their sons has been the foundation of the Turquoise State of Mind from the beginning.
The turquoise part of the story belongs to Sterling.
When her grandmother passed away, she left her jewelry to Sterling’s mother, Donne. Her turquoise collection was legendary in the family, and Donne invited each of the granddaughters to choose a piece. Sterling chose hers, and one piece quickly became the beginning of a collection of her own.
Sterling’s love for that collection gave Tyler an idea. He decided to try his hand at silversmithing so he could make something especially for her.
As it turned out, he was pretty damn good at it.
Sterling brings the vision to Turquoise State of Mind. She designs the jewelry, follows the trends she loves and has an eye for what a piece could become sometimes well before Tyler sees it. Tyler brings the craftsmanship and, as they put it, the sweat equity. He has learned to trust Sterling’s ideas, and somewhere along the way he began dreaming up designs of his own.
Their tastes have evolved together, but one rule has remained fairly consistent: the bigger, the better.
They love jewelry that makes a statement. Sterling is a bright-color girl who rarely leaves the house without a pop of turquoise somewhere, making her a self-described walking billboard for the business. Tyler is more interested in what happens at the bench. The craftsmanship, the rarity of a beautiful stone, and making each piece exceptionally well.
What they create is heavily influenced by the life they live…
For Sterling and Tyler, Western isn’t a trend or an aesthetic. It’s a lifestyle built around the ranch, family, tradition, hard work, and keeping your word. It’s the morals, values, and work ethic passed down to them that are the things they hope to pass down in return.
That’s also the woman they have in mind when they make jewelry.
She might get dressed up for dinner one night and have dirt under her fingernails the next morning. She might work behind a desk, with livestock, in a garden, at home raising a family, some combination of all of it. Sterling and Tyler don’t see toughness and femininity as opposites. And they firmly believe there’s no reason a woman can’t wear a great big piece of turquoise while getting the job done.
Some of the best moments in the business have been the simplest ones: messages from customers who are genuinely excited about the jewelry they’ve received. One particularly important customer has already made her expectations clear. After Tyler made a piece for his grandmother Myrna, she took one look and told him, “Looks amazing. Ready for my next piece!”
No pressure.
At its heart, Turquoise State of Mind is still what it was in the beginning: family, craftsmanship and a love for jewelry with a story behind it. Sterling and Tyler strive for excellence in every piece that leaves Tyler’s bench, with the hope that what they make today might become someone else’s heirloom tomorrow.
Their faith is part of that, too. Above all, they hope to show God’s love in the way they treat people, raise their family, do business and move through the world.
Turquoise State of Mind may have started with one piece from a grandmother’s collection, but it’s being built with the next generation in mind.
Colossians 3:23: “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord-”
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