Vintage items reborn
Connie Cusick owner of Notting Hill Jewelry in Fairfield has built two companies by staying positive and not allowing her aspirations to shrink.
One company is about jewelry, the other is about inner strength and both are open for business.
“My ultimate plan is to eventually move to the south of France,” said Cusick
Cusick moved to Fairfield in 1999 from Chicago. She had once been part of the communications industry; that changed when she and her husband Jade had their children Jack, now 8, and Alex, 10.
“I was going crazy,” said Cusick. “I needed to do something; I began selling antiques out of my house. I had always loved antiquing and I”™m just not somebody who can just sit at home. It worked.”
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Cusick”™s house-run antique business began to blossom, pushing her to attend gift shows and craft events.
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Six years ago, Cusick began to develop her aptitude for crafts by weaving jewelry and sewing into her products and even incorporating her love for antiquing back into her developing abilities. Cusick said she began to comb Europe and the U.S. for items from the late 1800s and turn-of-the-century to create her vintage jewelry.
She said she eventually developed a style and formula of her own.
Some of Cusick”™s most popular pieces were once wedding day shoe buckles from the 1920”™s that have been repurposed as necklaces and brooches.
“Most of them come from France and England,” said Cusick. “A lot of people would wear them on their wedding days and then keep them but not know what to do with them. I like to consider them heirlooms, they have history, most are often over 100 years old. I make them out of vintage shoe buckles circa 1800s and 1900s, English fobs, Victorian lockets and antique brooches.”
Cusick was selected at the Henri Bendel Open See show on Fifth Avenue, opening Bendel showcases to her products.
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“I got into their trunk show program,” said Cusick of Bendel. “This is America, where you can do anything. People have so much talent, they’re just afraid to bring it out.”
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From nottinghilljewelry.com, Cusick now sells her products to boutiques around the country.?Notting Hill is carried in Fairfield County at Dovecote in Wesport, Capri in Fairfield, Plimico in New Canaan and Good Food-Good Things in Darien as well as at Henri Bendel in New York City.
The Notting Hill jewelry pieces sell for a couple hundred dollars to around $1,000.
Cusick said when in the midst of growing Notting Hill, she found that other women were voicing their admiration for her ability to take a simple interest to a higher level.
“I always tried my best to inspire other women,” said Cusick. “It was then I signed up at NYU”™s program to become a life coach.”
Cusick has recently launched the Define Yourself Coaching based in Southport.
“It”™s based on positive psychology, taking your strengths and going with them, instead of taking all your bad things and trying to fix them,” said Cusick. “You’re responsible for where you are; if you’re complaining about your job or the situations you’re in, well, do something about it. My favorite thing to do is inspire women to get a business going or find creativity. My true passion, my true focus, is inspiring and helping women all the time. Anything is possible; maybe you couldn”™t be a brain surgeon, but maybe you could be a nurse in the OR with a brain surgeon. I love to motivate people.”
In addition to running Notting Hill Jewlery, Cusick has started teaching classes and coaching clients. She said one of her goals for the future is to write an inspirational life coaching book.