An eye for design: East Wind Silver Co. of Chatham creates attractive jewelry for women and men

(Editor’s note: This is the first installment in our series on Cape Cod Life General Store vendors.)

Whether it’s a $6 pair of earrings or a $500 ring, each piece of jewelry at East Wind Silver Company in Chatham is designed with exceptional craftsmanship. For shop co-owners, John and Joan Taylor, each and every piece must not only have aesthetic appeal but also value. “There are a lot of stores that sell jewelry on the Cape,” John Taylor says. “This is a different kind of a shop. There’s a real curated nature to what we’re doing.”

The husband-and-wife team got their start in the jewelry business in Albany, New York in 1985 as a passion project outside of their “real” careers. Joan was (and still is) a social worker, and John worked for the New York State Education Department. In 1999, they brought their wholesale business—originally called Sierra Designs Silver—to Main Street in Chatham, changed the name, and built East Wind Silver Co. into a thriving retail store. The company designs its own silver pieces and has studios in Taxco, Mexico where the pieces are crafted.

“The craftsmen in Mexico are like part of our family,” John says. “When you watch these guys work, it’s just incredible. I can be standing there talking, and one of our master silversmiths is shaping a piece—and every one of the 25 pieces that he’s making by hand, by eye, is exactly the same.”

The company’s signature offerings include the sterling silver Chatham Hook Bracelet^tm, a portion of sales from which are donated to the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance. Additional items that are popular with customers include the Chatham Fish Cuff, a sterling silver bracelet featuring a brass eye; and a mermaid cuff featuring a sterling silver design of an 18th-century mermaid the Taylors once saw at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem.

In addition to their own designs, East Wind Silver sells a variety of other jewelry lines, including SSD Jewelry, whose pieces, such as their Atlantic cuff, are made of patinated copper, as well as authentic Cape Cod Jewelry^tm made by LeStage of Attleboro.

“You can categorize our jewelry as both trendy and traditional,” Joan says. “Our pieces appeal to women and men of all ages.” Some of the company’s popular items for men include a Mariner’s Cross necklace, cufflinks and money clips. East Wind Silver also sells home décor items such as Asian lamps, Cape Cod maps hand-drawn by New York artist James McDonald, and oil paintings by Chatham artist Maryalice Eizenberg.

East Wind Silver Co. • 878 Main Street, Chatham • 508-945-2470 • eastwindsilver.com

Check out more products from East Wind Silver Co. in the Cape Cod Life General Store