In Conversation With Jess Hannah Révész

Álvaro Merino: You’ve said your love of jewelry began after inheriting your grandmother’s heirloom pieces. Have you ever recreated any of them, or did they simply set your standard for craftsmanship and quality?
Jess Hannah: They definitely set the bar for what I value in a piece: thoughtful design, a sense of permanence, and a kind of quiet sentimentality. I did recreate one element in particular — a small bead from one of her necklaces that I cast into the Clara necklace and bracelet, which are named after her. That felt like a way to carry something forward, not just symbolically but physically.

AM: When someone buys a piece from J. Hannah, what’s the one thing you want them to understand about you and the brand?
JH: That it’s not about the flash. Our pieces are meant to live with you, not just sit in a box waiting for a special occasion. There’s a restraint to what we make, but that restraint allows for meaning to come through — whether it’s a personal attachment or a historical reference. I think I design for people who appreciate context and sentimentality.

AM: You’ve shared custom designs shaped like burgers, baby teeth, and other personal forms. Can anyone commission a piece — or are these mostly for friends?
JH: Custom work is very much a part of our practice. We have our Ceremony collection and take on bespoke engagement and other custom projects beyond that. Some are more traditional — repurposing heirloom stones, designing from scratch — while others lean unconventional. We’ve made pieces with customer ashes, dog teeth, a birth control pill, a shell. I’m interested in the emotional charge that objects can hold, and what happens when you translate that into something that can be worn.

That same ethos shows up in our objet pendant and Era locket, which are intentionally designed for the sentimental. The locket in particular was inspired by Victorian mourning jewelry… something discreet and symbolic kept close to the body, like a lock of hair. I’m drawn to that, Jewelry not just as ornament, but as something deeper.

AM: You’ve also shared handmade pieces (by YOU) and glimpses of yourself at the bench. I know you started your career as a metalsmith but leaned more into design and brand over the past several years versus making. Is this something you’re bringing back in a bigger way, or more of a personal practice for fun?
JH: I had been wanting to reconnect with the physicality of making with my own two hands for a while now. Getting back to the bench was a personal impulse, but it may evolve into something else over time. If I do sell this work, I want to be careful to protect the personal studio practice element of the project and be able to retain the freedom of creating without the constraints of production or scalability in mind.

AM: Last year marked 10 years of J. Hannah. You’ve expanded from jewelry to nail polish to lighting. What drew you to lighting — and do you see yourself continuing to explore the home space?
JH: The lamp actually started as a personal project, I wanted something specific for my own home and couldn’t find it, so I made it. I’ve always been drawn to furniture, lighting, and the character of lived-in spaces. Lighting felt like a natural extension of the same instincts that guide the jewelry: proportion, materiality, presence. But where jewelry lives on the body, lighting shapes the atmosphere of a room – it holds space in a different way. I think there’s a lot to explore in that shift of scale and function. This first lamp definitely opened a door to new ideas to come…

AM: Your recent Met collaboration, Subjects of Adornment, was inspired by European portraiture. How did you decide which pieces to reinterpret?
JH: I started by combing through the Met’s European portraiture collection, zooming in on the jewelry nestled within each composition. Some pieces lent themselves to more direct replication — like the twisted gold band from Princesse de Broglie — while others were more iterative, interpreted through the J. Hannah lens. For instance, I reimagined certain elements to feel more signet-like or wearable in a modern context. The real challenge (and pleasure) was translating these 2D references into dimensional forms — making them feel alive, not costume-y. It became a way of participating in the lineage of ornament, while still making something that feels grounded in the present.

AM: J. Hannah has partnered with institutions like The Met, LACMA, A24, and the JB Blunk Estate to name a few. How did these collaborations come about — and is anything else in the works?
JH: The best collaborations usually start with mutual admiration. Often it’s a cold email, sometimes it’s a friend-of-a-friend – but the common thread is that it feels like a genuine creative exchange. We’re pretty selective; we try to avoid anything that reads as pure marketing. The goal is always to make something thoughtful, and ideally a little unexpected.

AM: What’s a material you return to, even when it’s not in fashion?
JH: Yellow gold. It feels timeless and soft, like something that already has a past. Even when silver is having its moment (I do wear both!), I find myself drawn back to gold. It behaves differently…warmer.

AM: What does restraint make room for?
JH: Context. Intimacy. Details that become louder when you don’t over-explain.

AM: Is there a piece of jewelry you wish you had never let go of?
JH: Not exactly, but there are a few I think about years later. Usually the ones I made very early on, before I knew what I was doing. They had a kind of looseness that’s hard to recreate when you know better.

AM: What’s a pastime or habit you return to when you’re not working?
JH: Perusing Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, eBay, 1stDibs, or LiveAuctioneers has sort of replaced the mindless scrolling I used to do on Instagram. It’s a form of visual stimming — but one that feels more productive, or at least generative. I like the process of looking: pattern recognition, sharpening the eye, training the muscle to find beauty even in the most chaotic or poorly lit listings. Even if I don’t buy anything, it scratches a design itch.