Calico Juno Designs
Dazzling Gemstone Jewelry Made from Scratch
Bonnie Riconda is the creator and designer of Calico Juno Designs. Her design philosophy is based on her love of brilliant, bright colors, and a light feeling of airiness that is expressed through precious and semi-precious gemstones, Austrian crystals, freshwater pearls, and more. Bonnie prides herself on the fact that Calico Juno Designs is completely different from other jewelry designers because everything, including the earwires, clasps, wrapped gemstones, and more is handmade. She does not use pre-made or fabricated parts because she strongly believes that her jewelry should be truly “hand-created” by the artist. She feels that many of her designs are very original and she always pays meticulous attention to the detail and quality since well-made jewelry is also of highest importance. Eva Longoria is an admirer of Calico Juno Designs and wears the Gypsy 13 earrings. Calico Juno has been featured in a number of fashion magazines such as InStyle, Lucky, Marie Claire, Glamour, Modern Bride, and more.
Bonnie earned her Bachelors in Fine Arts from York College of Pennsylvania and Master in Fine Arts from Long Island University. While she 
has always been creative, it was a long journey in figuring out a career that would allow her to be creative and financially successful at the same time while being true to herself. The Victorian collection features a wide selection of dainty and charming pieces that perfectly accessorizes your wardrobe. With so many lovely earrings to choose 
from, narrowing down our picks to two was a task in itself. The Victorian 155 earrings (V155) are hammered gold circles with ruby briolettes hanging freely from the hoops. These hang 1-1/4" long and matches well with maroon tops to bring out the vibrant hue of the rubies. For an edgier and modern look, the Victorian 137 earrings (V137) have a small iron pyrite chunk hanging from a hammered circle. The raw nature and metallic shine of the pyrite gives these earrings a rocker chick glam feel and are sure to be noticed.
She was born creating and considers that a talent she has always had. She was inspired to launch Calico Juno Designs out of her need for creativity and making something with her hands that she could 
make a living out of as well. After obtaining her Master degree, she realized she needed to find something to do besides teaching. As serendipity would have it, she discovered a bead store and fell in love with the beads, and decided she wanted to do something with them. All pieces are available in 14k gold filled or sterling silver. We love her bracelet (BR3) made of medium chain links with a variety of freshwater pearls throughout. The freshwater pearls come in different hues of shimmering white, iridescent copper, and ocean green which dangle gracefully from the multiple gold links.
She has a whole book full of ideas that is continually worked on to keep things fresh twice a year with new spring and fall lines. She writes everything down in her book to keep track of all her designs as they all feed off one another. Bonnie shares, “I always try to ‘push the envelope’ with materials, and what all I can do with them, using them in ways I haven’t seen 
before, doing the unexpected.” Bonnie’s current favorites are her ‘paisleys’ for their great color palette and intricate wire wrapping and shaping of metal (Luxe Bijou 26). One of her selections from the Fall designs is the Nouveau 46 (named after the art period) which uses graceful curves of wires with intricate wire wrapping. Romantic and refined pieces can be found in the Princess collection, featuring earrings with cascades of semi-precious stones and pearls. The Princess 88 earrings (P88) have small faceted oval carnelian stones hugging one another as they cascade down. Hanging 1-3/4" long, the smooth polish of the carnelian stones highlight their fiery color when catching the light.
Bonnie creates all designs and has a wonderful crew of girls with innate skills and talent assist her. She nurtures her work team by allowing them free reign if they have an idea or a better way of creating jewelry, both of which have happened with great success. Her jewelry designing style celebrates the handmade aspects and emphasizes the talented technique of wire-wrapping and metal smithing. She loves incorporating amazing color patterns and schemes along with various geometric and organic shapes. “But bottom line is everything is handmade, giving it a very unique look,” she says. For a more personal touch or for those who know exactly what they want, Calico Juno will also create a necklace of your choice. Simply choose the stone color pendant and choice of necklace chain, and Calico Juno will transform those items into a beautiful single pendant necklace displaying the intricate wire-wrapping around the top of the stone. This opportunity to customize your own necklace is also available for the bangle-cuffs (BR27).
From the Siren collection, we selected these simple but chic earrings (SRN118 Siren 118) for its small gold hammered circles with miniature dark grey diamonds dangling in a cluster from the circles. These 1” long earrings are inconspicuous enough to be worn everyday white the grey diamonds add a touch of casual elegance. Calico Juno Designs features a new spring and fall line annually while keeping their bestsellers in stock. With her strong spirit and enthusiastic outlook, Bonnie cannot ask for more, “Just that I’m doing what I love, which is a great thing in life.” She strives to offer excellent customer service and high quality products and wants all her customers to be completely happy with their jewelry and shopping experience.
Calico Juno also creates matching sets so that necklaces and earrings can be worn together to compliment one another. One of our favorites is from the Venus collection. 
The Venus 35 earrings (VNS35) are French wires with three large links joined together with pink spinel beads and a green amethyst briolette at the bottom. The matching necklace (NK4), features a strand of large round-links with a large green amethyst or citrine teardrop and tiny pink tourmaline beads in the center. The contrast of the soft pastel green from the amethyst against the subtle pink is calming and feminine. With the grand opening of their first retail store on City Island, New York in April 2009, Bonnie hopes to open her next store in Manhattan in the near future. Calico Juno Designs is also sold at Ashblue in Nashville, Tennessee, and at Accents and Moondance in Los Angeles, California. Her pieces are carried by retailers all across the country and internationally as well. With over 750 handmade designs on her website, customers can browse her collection and order directly at calicojunodesigns.com.
