A dream that was launched a year ago over the Valentine’s Day holiday is taking shape in the community of New Buffalo and when Memorial Day rolls around, the dream will achieve the crowning moment for Sidnee Bancroft of Stevensville. She’s drawing closer by the day to the opening of The Golden Rule Jewelry & Boutique on Whittaker Street in that Harbor Country community.
Let’s let Sidnee tell the story: “It was Valentine’s Day weekend of last year. Drew, my husband, went fishing so I decided to just take myself out to dinner. It was the day after Valentine’s Day and I went to Grand Mere and sat at the bar and I ended up sitting next to one of Drew’s best friend’s parents. They were telling me how they had been in New Buffalo all day and they kept telling me about this cute little store that was for sale. Then we all just kind of realized what a good spot it would be for me to establish my shop, so, I went and checked it out a few days later and then we decided to go for it. But, then COVID came along like two weeks later which kind of made us wonder if we should do this. It took a while to solidify everything, but we thought it was still a good choice despite the circumstances so the rest is history.”
That history is developing rapidly as the perfect little home for the boutique continues to take shape through the renovation process to showcase Sidnee’s custom jewelry alongside a few other unique, custom made items from other local artists.
The Golden Rule Jewelry & Boutique will be anchored at 24 North Whittaker Street in New Buffalo, as Sidnee says, “It’s a pretty small little shop, but it’s the perfect size for what I’m trying to do and it’ll have mostly my jewelry, but we’ll also have some ceramics from my friend Noelle Malevitis Ringer and some macrame from her sister Carlee and then we’ll also have some woodworking creations from our friend Mike Bartels, who will have cutting boards and coasters in the shop and Noelle does vases but she’s also working on large dining sets, which I think will be really awesome.”
Sidnee brings a strong pedigree to her trade. She graduated in May of 2019 from the Kendall College of Art & Design in Grand Rapids at the very top of her class, having earned several distinguished awards for her work. She garnered a scholarship from the Women’s Jewelry Association and several merit-based scholarships for her grades, but the pinnacle for her personally came in her senior year at Kendall when she was awarded a $15,000 fellowship from the Windgate-Lamar Fellowship for her specialization in Jewelry & Metalsmithing. She says that her instructor informed her not only is that fellowship one of the most prestigious awards granted to a college-level art student, she is only the second Kendall student in history to win that high honor. Out of 200 student nominations nationwide, Sidnee was one of just 10 selected for the fellowship.
I asked Sidnee to talk a little bit about the type of jewelry she is personally crafting. She tells us, “Right now it’s mainly sterling silver and I use I use a lot of colorful stones. I don’t really use diamonds yet, although I want to in the future but I use a lot of really vibrant, colorful stones.” She adds that while she likes to use cut stones, she also likes to use stones that are just in their raw natural form. She says, “The essential style I intend to create is a blend between traditional elegance and modern design and aesthetic,” and adds, “I always think of my work as being quite Bohemian and experimental, yet still very sophisticated.”
Sidnee describes many of her creations as “pretty simple in design,” but she also employs a technique called “granulation,” wherein you make tiny little balls of silver and then solder those in place, and says, “I’d say that’s probably one of my more popular design styles.” In fact, she did a workshop with the famous jeweler, Kent Raible in Washington last summer who specializes in 18 karat gold granulation. She says, “One day that’s where I’d like to be, but for now, I’m just practicing with silver and getting that skillset dialed in for when I do invest in the fancier models.”
Sidnee came up with the idea of establishing her own shop when she first graduated, but admits, “I never thought that I’d have a store this soon. I’ve been envisioning this for a long time but didn’t think it would happen quite as fast as it did so that’s all really exciting, but also, very unexpected especially in the middle of a pandemic.”
She was born in Georgia and then her family relocated to Colorado when she was in the third grade and that’s where she grew up. That’s also where she met the man who would become her husband, Drew Bancroft. She moved to Michigan’s Great Southwest in January of 2014, and she and Drew were married in July of 2019.
Sidnee’s mother-in-law, Stevensville’s Joy Bancroft of Red Coach Donuts fame, says, “She has been working in her home studio, making a variety of custom rings, earrings, pendants as well as taking custom orders for several individuals,” and the entire family is excited for her Grand Opening on May 28th in New Buffalo.
Formal operating hours for The Golden Rule Jewelry & Boutique will be established as opening day approaches, but Sidnee plans to close on Mondays and Tuesdays to allow for her jewelry-making to be created uninterrupted, and she will likely be open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from around 10am until somewhere between 6 and 8pm. She has consulted with other boutique owners in the community and will likely follow their leads based on the time of year, and volume of traffic the shop sees.
So, on this Valentine’s weekend, one year removed from the exciting decision to launch her new venture, the excitement is palpable as Memorial Day weekend draws closer with every passing day. In the meantime, you can see more of Sidnee’s work at her website and on Facebook:
https://thegoldenrulejewelry.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/The-Golden-Rule-Jewelry-Boutique-101359551787424
