by Suzanne Daub
For the tenth year running, Cape Cod Life has named Susan Lister Locke the Best Jeweler on Nantucket, a milestone that, even after a decade, still catches her by surprise. “I was astounded,” she says of the moment she learned the news. “I kept thinking it cannot happen again, and then it did… I am astounded, delighted, and humbled. It’s a real honor considering all the other skilled jewelers on the island.”
Susan Lister Locke’s path to jewelry design was anything but conventional. Born in Boston and raised along the Rhode Island coast, she spent 25 years running high-end retail, styling A-list clients and indulging a lifelong love of fashion, before jewelry became her second career. She didn’t begin creating jewelry until age 50 and didn’t touch gemstones until 55. She opened her own gallery on Nantucket’s Easy Street at age 68.
Rather than a disadvantage, she believes the late start was a gift. “There was no pressure on me when I started because I did not know it was going to be a career,” she explains. “So I could do it with joy—not for making a living.” Without formal training, she says, she was free to “color outside of the lines.” She’s drawn more to the ebullience of Italian design than the precision of the German school: “I like whimsy in my world.”
Now, ten years and ten awards later, she reflects on how her sense of the honor has evolved. “I’m an older woman who is trying to stay current without getting trendy,” she says. “To find out that people still feel this way about me and my designs is mindblowing.” She keeps an eye on current styles— layering and charms— but designs for permanence over trendiness. “I don’t want [my jewelry] to be outdated five years from now. I want my designs to be exciting and last a good long time…to be timeless.”
Locke’s design philosophy centers on one unshakable belief: jewelry should be lived in. “I want it to be pretty. And I want it to be worn, not sitting in a box,” she says. It’s a conviction she repeats often and one that shapes how she works with clients, sometimes reworking pieces that have sat unworn to give them new life. “I do that a lot,” she notes.
She primarily works in 18-karat yellow gold with an exclusive alloy that gives the metal an especially rich tone. “I like it best, and also it’s been used since ancient times…[it’s] elemental,” she says. “And it sets off the color of many gemstones really well.” She’ll turn to white gold or platinum, sometimes combining metals, when the design or a client’s preference calls for that.
Susan’s gemstone choices reflect the same instinct for the unexpected paired with the classic. She recently worked with Sphene for the first time, setting it into a pendant alongside Aquamarine and a handcarved Labradorite—a stunning combination. (Sphene is a rare gemstone celebrated for an intense rainbow fire and dispersion that actually exceeds that of a diamond.) She’s also drawn to Morganite (pink Beryl), Kunzite’s pinky-lavender hues, and the glow of Paraiba tourmaline, which she has described as looking like phosphorescence in the ocean, as if lit from within. Aquamarines, Sapphires, Mint Tourmaline, and South Sea and Tahitian pearls round out her signature palette.
Design decisions, she says, are deeply personal: after meeting with a client, she tailors her decisions on a custom piece to a client’s skin tone, hair color, and eye color, along with a touch of je ne sais quoi. “I know about color. I don’t force anything on anyone: they won’t wear it,” she says. But she also likes to nudge clients out of their comfort zones: “I want them to try new things, but they have to be comfortable with the piece…once they try something new they might love it… or they might not.”
Ask Locke where her ideas come from, and the answer is always the island itself. “My inspiration is the ocean and the sky and the gems,” she explained. After more than five decades on Nantucket, that well hasn’t run dry. “I think I get it by osmosis… it’s part of me,” she says. “I look out over the Easy Street basin, seeing the water, the boats, and the sky every day, and every day the scene is different — fierce or mellow, everchanging… And from my home, surrounded by conservation land… it all speaks to my soul. Like stones are magical, the sky is magical, the stars are magical,” she says. “I wish I could capture the clouds… they fascinate me.” Nature’s textures and patterns show up throughout her work — in organic shapes, in gold and silver finishes that echo the shoreline, and in collections like her ocean-inspired Seaquin line, and the Nantucket Sign Collection, which renders beloved island landmarks as wearable charms.
Susan Lister Locke’s Gallery along the waterfront functions as both studio and a showroom, filled with fine, delicate pieces alongside bold, organic designs, all her designs. But the gallery is more than a retail space: it’s a gathering place. “My studio is sometimes like a clubhouse,” she described. “Clients become friends and stop by to say hello. They are comfortable here.” She describes one visit when two of her clients who had never before met both stopped by to see her when she was out of her gallery, and they ended up talking in Susan’s back garden patio for an hour. The gallery also hosts Wonderful Women on Wednesdays, a recurring event that will continue through August— and, she’s quick to add with a smile, men are welcome too. WWOW attendees look forward to these gatherings that host notables such as artist Ellie Gottwald, Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley, Film Producer Annabelle Dunne, and writer Nathaniel Philbrick.
Locke has also opened her gallery to fellow artists, partnering with locals such as preservationist Cindy Pease Roe and photo-realist painter Anne Marie Bratton, both of whom share her devotion to the sea.
Susan’s designs reach well beyond the shores of Nantucket Island. Her work is shown in Palm Beach, Florida, and other venues around the country, and has been worn by celebrities, island residents, and public figures worldwide. She remains humbled by that reach: “I’m so blessed… some of my clients could buy Cartier—not a Cartier, the whole thing. It’s very flattering.”
Even after decades of designing, Locke has no shortage of ideas. Her imagination runs ahead of her hands—there’s always another piece taking shape before the last one is finished. She has pieces already laid out at home, and is mulling over the best design for a gorgeous 35-carat Paraiba Tourmaline, along with a collection of turquoise and pink opals that have yet to find their form.
She’s also quick to credit the community that has sustained her for so long. “I’m very grateful that I have been supported all these years by my clients, and so many have become my friends,” she says—a sentiment that, after ten straight years being named as Nantucket’s Best Jeweler, seems to run in both directions.
Susan Lister Locke Gallery is open daily at 28 Easy St.
SusanListerLocke.com • 508-228-2132
@susanlisterlockejeweler
