SHOP AND A SHOW

Diana March owns Jeweled Universe, where she uses rare gems, minerals, fossils and meteorites within her jewelry.

Jeweled Universe houses March’s Elegant Geology line of fine art pendants, which incorporate wire designs that are handset in precious metals.

Jeweled Universe features exclusive rare stones handcrafted into one-of-a-kind designs.

SOUTH PASADENA ART BOUTIQUE OFFERS RARE JEWELRY AND MUSICAL PERFORMANCES

BY JORDAN HOUSTON

Since its inception in November 2020, Jeweled Universe has built a reputation as a one-stop shop for live entertainment lovers and fine art aficionados through its unique “shop and a show” concept.

The South Pasadena art boutique, located at 1017 Mission Street, Unit B, offers an eclectic collection of jewelry, gemstones, crystals, fossils, space rocks, ocean elements, birthstones, meteorites, earth drops and fashion. It also features weekly live musical performances to ensure that its guests are entertained throughout their shopping pursuits.

As a seasoned professional in both industries, Jeweled Universe owner Diana March describes her store as a harmonious blend between performance art and the rare stone industry all while giving back to the community.

“Because I’m a jeweler and work with rare gems, minerals, fossils and meteorites, I wanted to combine that with my experience as an entertainer,” says March, who has been performing as an actress, singer and dancer since she was 5.

“I want it to be a really magical place for people to come in and perform and also shop for things that are unique, one of a kind and supports local artists,” the jewelry maker adds. “I like to say, ‘Come for the shopping, and stay for the entertainment.’”

On top of selling merchandise from various artists, March offers her Elegant Geology line of fine art pendants, which incorporate wire designs that are handset in precious metals. Her work evokes essences of drama and whimsy, and has been sold in boutiques in Carmel, Newport Beach and Santa Barbara, as well as her previous successful boutique and artist salon, The Sisters of Bubik.

Jeweled Universe boasts an in-store stage for its weekly live entertainment, which features classical musicians, cabaret acts, opera singers and poets.

It hosts a free open mic from 8 to 10 p.m. on Thursdays and a Broadwaythemed night on Fridays, incorporating a piano for show tunes and sheet music. Saturdays, on the other hand, are reserved for booked acts, March says.

“It’s important right now with the opening of the store during COVID-19 that people are able to allow themselves to be out there in the world again,” March expresses. “It’s an extremely supportive group of people we are attracting in terms of performers and audience members.”

Raised in a creative household in Los Angeles, March attributes her drive toward the performing arts to her father, a former photographer, and her mother, an artist and costume designer. The entertainer says she tapped into her love for artistic expression early on, working as an actress, singer and dancer in theater, film and television.

Her resume includes years spent at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts and the Beverly Hills Playhouse, as well as one of the longest-running gigs at the Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel as a one-woman show.

Five years ago, she stumbled upon a gem and mineral show near a theater rehearsal that unlocked her passion for precious stones.

“My musical theater teacher said we (the students) needed to find a hobby,” March recalls. “I happened to find a gem and mineral show happening next door to a rehearsal, and I met a lady that was doing wire designs and setting these beautiful, rare stones in precious metal settings.

“I started talking to her, and I asked her to teach me. She took me under her wing, and what started out as a hobby I was supposed to have then became another part of my life.”

March quickly developed her own style, designing bold, elegant pendants and earrings with materials from gem shows, hard-to-find shops and private collections. She now showcases her distinctive wire wrap style and pieces at a

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The eclectic collection at Jeweled Univerise features gemstones, crystals, fossils, ocean elements, birhstones, earth drops and fashion.

Jeweled Universe designs are out of this world — literally — while using space rocks and meteorites within the designs.

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plethora of art events and gem shows.

Although March is fully dedicated to operating Jeweled Universe, she hasn’t completely retired from performing. Store visitors can expect to find the jeweler occasionally gracing its stage on Friday nights, singing to the tune of the piano.

“I’ll usually bring my sheet music. I’m very rusty, but it’s a really safe space,” March says. “A lot of us are just getting back to singing and playing instruments.”

However, March’s success journey with the store hasn’t always been smooth sailing, she says. Between beating cancer, the death of her husband, and the economic turmoil brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Jeweled Universe owner says she is proud of how far she has come.

“As far as my jewelry goes, the best part is almost the same as what makes me happy as a performer,” March says. “I’m able to take something I can create, whether it’s a performance or a pendant with a beautiful stone, and I can present that to people, and it can bring happiness or joy.

“A lot of things pointed me into the direction where I could’ve easily said bye to performing or making jewelry. There was a point where I didn’t want to do anything. But then there was something inside of me — this strength that I was given by both of my parents, who were both artists, and they always gave me so much support and encouragement — to just believe in myself and not give up.”

Jeweled Universe 1017 Mission Street, Unit B, South Pasadena 818-421-1993 jeweleduniverse.com

Toban Nichols is the director of education, while Robin Cox serves as executive director, at Remainders Creative Reuse.

REMAINDERS CREATIVE REUSE STARTED IN A GARAGE

ROBIN COX CREATES ARTS AND CRAFTS SUPPLY THRIFT SHOP

BY MATTHEW RODRIGUEZ

While Robin Cox was digging through her East Pasadena garage, she saw it was filled to the brim with her excess supplies. Not wanting to waste any material by simply throwing it in the trash, Cox hoarded her leftover art supplies.

“My garage became kind of crazy, filled with art supplies, sewing supplies and extra sewing machines,” Cox says.

Searching for a way to repurpose her old supplies, she visited Scrap, a thrift shop in a San Francisco warehouse specializing in art materials.

“I looked at it and thought, ‘Wow, this looks like my garage, only a thousand times bigger,” Cox recalls. “There’s no place like this that I know of in Southern California — so maybe I could do this.”

Like many great businesses, Cox’s Remainders Creative Reuse, a thrift shop for arts and crafts supplies, began with a dream and a garage.

While it did not grow to become a giant tech company like Apple or Amazon, Remainders has cemented itself as an affordable and sustainable alternative to traditional arts and crafts stores.

With her dream of creating Remainders, and after researching how to create a nonprofit and attempting to raise money to apply for that status, Cox chipped away at the clutter by having garage sales. She placed her supplies on her driveway and advertised on Craigslist. She raised enough money to earn nonprofit status in 2016 and moved into a storefront in 2018.

Cox prices everything in the building to sell quickly and often gives away materials for free.

“I had already had businesses in my life,” Cox says. “I didn’t want to be a businessperson. I wanted Remainders to be more altruistic.”

Cox sold the materials at such low prices because of the donations from companies and especially from individuals, contributing to 80% of the inventory in Remainders. According to Cox, she can weekly fill a 26foot semi-truck with donations.

“I’m amazed at how much there is out there,” Cox says. “But when people started donating, I didn’t realize how much stuff people have.”

But the overflow of donations eventually caught up with Remainders, making the 1,200-square-foot store just as cluttered as Cox’s garage.

“It was like being in a closet,” Cox says.

The staff at Remainders had to play a game of real-life Tetris to make space for the 15-person classes.

“It was super tiny,” says Toban Nichols, director of education. “You had to move everything off the tables. You had to move everything around it. You had to put it sometimes outside so that people could sit.”

In need of a larger space, in 2020 Cox moved Remainders to its current location, a nearly 6,000-square-foot warehouse split evenly to host the thrift store and create space in different areas.

“Our creative space is amazing,” Nichols says. “There’s all this space that we just didn’t have before.”

Education has always been important to her.

“The materials really wouldn’t have any importance if there was no education attached to them,” Cox says. “People would just be on their own, fending for themselves, trying to figure out how to do stuff.”

Cox, a teacher in the late 1990s and early 2000s, noticed that arts programs were being cut as the focus — and money — turned to math and sciences. Many schools in the early 2000s — especially after the

In 2020, Remainders Creative Reuse moved into a 6,000-square-foot warehouse split evenly to host the thrift store and create additional space.

Great Recession in 2008 — were forced to cut their budgets. Oftentimes, the arts were an expendable program.

“I feel like there are generations who have lost out because of that lack of programming in the arts,” she says. “I just felt like I was trying to make up for it in my small way.”

To help the community rediscover the excitement behind the arts, Remainders hosts classes and workshops for children and adults.

“I think part of the idea of helping the community and using the materials we have in a creative way leads directly to the way we see education,” Nichols says. “It’s something that both children and adults can do. … It’s not overly analytical. It’s very simple and easy to do.”

The workshops use materials that are on hand to alleviate the stress of finding and potentially ruining fabric that artists purchased. The idea came from Cox’s days as a teacher when she saw her students too terrified to cut into the fabric their parents purchased for $70.

“They were terrified to cut into it,” Cox says. “There was so much riding on it and so much pressure because their parents had spent so much money that they were kind of paralyzed by that pressure to be perfect.”

In addition to the workshops held in its 2,700-square-foot creative space and research library, Remainders helps schools by helping teachers find low-cost materials — or in many cases free — for their classrooms. Twice a year, Remainders hosts a teacher and student giveaway, where they can get items like paper, pencils and markers. Teachers can also get a 15% discount on other general classroom items.

“If they have a specific project or need and we have an abundance of it, we’re happy to give it away,” Cox says.

To date, Cox has given away items to more than 200 teachers who visited the stores. Remainders has also donated to many public schools and nonprofits in Pasadena and the Los Angeles area.

This has always been a vision for Cox, as she hopes to one day make enough money to where she could just give away all the materials to the customers who walk in.

“If the grant money were so much that we could pay our staff a fair wage, all our expenses, rent and utilities, I would be happy to give materials as much as possible,” Cox says.