I've always liked that two people can order the exact same name from the Calligraphy Collection and end up with completely different necklaces.

Take Emma. There are a lot of Emmas in the world, and probably a lot of Emma necklaces. But when you order an Emma from Brevity, Crystal sits down and hand-letters it herself.

That's the part I don't want to lose in all the talk about personalized jewelry. Your name may be the same as someone else's, but the lettering won't be.

Crystal has been doing the calligraphy for Brevity for years. She looks at each name - how the letters connect, how long it is, and how it will work once it's made into metal. Some names are easy. Some are a tricky combination of letters that she has to puzzle out. It's different every time.

I've written my own name hundreds of times, and it never looks exactly the same twice. I might make one letter taller or connect two letters differently without even noticing. Handwriting has those little inconsistencies built in, and Crystal's lettering does too.

That's what makes a calligraphy necklace different from a typical nameplate necklace. You're not choosing a font and typing in a name. You're giving Crystal your name, and she decides how to write it.

I think that's also why hand-lettered jewelry has a different feel. You can see the hand in it. The letters have movement. They're not perfectly uniform, and they're not supposed to be - a person sat down with a pen and ink to write it. That's the part that’s one-of-a-kind.