From her mother's studio to a Los Angeles bench

Ilene Joy is a fine jewelry designer and the Los Angeles Atelier that carries her name, founded in 1996 and known for the jewelry she made for the last three seasons of Sex and the City. Before any of that, she grew up in her mother's sculpture studio, among people who made things by hand.

The studio

A childhood spent among makers shows in how Ilene came to jewelry. She did not set out to start a label. She began by making pieces for herself, from stones she found on her travels: Tahitian pearls, opals from Australia, diamonds from Belgium.

For years it stayed a private habit. According to WWD, writing in 2019, she was working in advertising about two decades earlier and made jewelry as a hobby on the side. She sourced her own stones and sold pieces to friends. The work was heavily beaded then, and it was entirely hers.

Three seasons

The habit found its audience on a sidewalk. Sabrina Wright-Gilliar, then the property master of Sex and the City, stopped Ilene on the street and asked what she was wearing. By WWD's account, Ilene was signed by the end of that day to do the jewelry for the show's last three seasons.

It is the part of her life people ask about most, and we have set it down in full, with the sources, in Ilene Joy and Sex and the City. What matters here is what it says about the work: a stranger saw a piece across a street and wanted to know who made it.

Mother and daughter

Then Ilene stepped back to raise her family. When she returned, in February 2019, it was with her daughter, Rae Scheer, as her business partner, and with a party in New York for what WWD called the "2.0 version of her original brand".

The jewelry had changed, and Ilene was frank about it. She described the early pieces to WWD as heavy beading, and the new line as "really wearable and layerable." The new pieces were lighter, meant to be worn every day and layered over time.

The relaunch was covered by Vogue, WWD and Just Jared, and every piece of coverage since, linked to the original page, is gathered in Ilene Joy in the press.

The rings

In November 2021 came a second collection, made with the stylist Elizabeth Sulcer: 16 pieces built around signet and statement rings. It was shown at a pop-up at the Faena Hotel in Miami Beach during Art Basel, and WWD noted that Ilene had recently moved to Los Angeles. WWD, Grazia, Fashion Week Daily and National Jeweler all wrote about it.

Rings are a long way from the beaded strands of the early years, and a long way, too, from the charms we make most of now. The constant is the hand: a designer who still decides what gets made, and a bench that makes it.

The bench today

Today the Atelier is known for charms. We make 73 charms and medallions, each in 14K or 18K gold and set with diamonds and gemstones, and six solid gold chains to hang them on: oval, paperclip, circle, ball, rolo and box. In Design your own you choose a chain, place the charms, and see the piece on a model as a guide before you order. A finished design starts at $1,485, as of 19 October 2026.

Every piece is made to order at our Los Angeles bench by Ilene's master jeweler and a small team of artisans, typically in two to four weeks. Our craftsmanship page sets out the materials, and how made to order works follows a piece from the order to your door.

Where to find it

The whole collection is online at ilenejoy.com. In New York, Broken English carries the work at 42 Crosby Street, and in Santa Monica at the Brentwood Country Mart. FWRD and THREADS Styling sell it online. Our stockists page keeps the list current.

If you would rather begin with meaning than with metal, the symbols on the charms each have a long history of their own, and the hamsa is a good place to start.

Ilene Joy was founded in 1996 and relaunched in 2019 by Ilene and her daughter, Rae Scheer. Every piece is made to order in solid 14K or 18K gold at our Los Angeles bench.