More Than Permanent Jewelry: Why I Opened My Minnetonka Studio
- Leanne Kampfe
- Jul 2
- 4 min read
When I add permanent jewelry to All That Glitters, I thought I was expanding my side hustle with a new product that people would be interested in buying.
I was wrong. Not about the jewelry part. About the business part.
Here's what I've actually figured out over the last year: people aren't really buying jewelry. They're celebrating birthdays. Marking milestones. Connecting with friends. Creating memories. Trying something new. Taking a break from the logistics of everyday life for twenty minutes.
The jewelry is just the thing they take home afterward. The receipt for something that already happened in the room.
I've watched this play out over and over, in completely different settings, and it's the reason I made the leap a year ago into a physical space, and now again into the spot at Haven Beauty Collective in Minnetonka.
The Birthday Party That Changed My Perspective
Before the renovations at Haven had even fully been completed, we hosted the first birthday party in the new space. Paint barely settled, layout still half figured out.
What I expected: a party.
What I got: a masterclass in how slow other people's joy can be when you give it room.
Friends huddled over the permanent jewelry counter for what felt like ten minutes per person, holding chains up to each other's wrists, asking for opinions they'd already made up their minds about. Someone would pick a chain, ask the group if it was "too much," and the they would unanimously say no, it's not enough, get the bigger one.
Nobody was in a rush. Nobody was checking their phone for the next thing. The energy in that room was the kind you can't manufacture. Laughter that builds on itself. The specific kind of smile people get when they're choosing something just for themselves while their best friend cheers them on.
What I Learned at a Permanent Jewelry Pop-Up
Last night I was at West End Wednesday, setting up at my table, doing what I always do. Welding chains, helping people pick charms. And a few feet away, I watched a group of friends celebrate one of their own getting her first permanent bracelet.
They were dancing in the street. Taking photos of their wrists together, lined up like they'd rehearsed it. One friend was more excited about the bracelet going onto her friend's wrist than I think I was, and I was the one who made it.
Nobody in that group needed a bracelet. They have hands, they have wrists, they could have walked into any store and bought one. What they wanted was a reason to stand together on a sidewalk on a Wednesday night and make a small thing feel like an occasion. In a world that is increasingly tech-based and isolating, we all just want to connect with another human and share a moment.
A Permanent Jewelry Studio Is About More Than Jewelry
Tonight was our first official night of appointments at Haven. Four permanent jewelry appointments and one piercing, on the books, in the actual room.
It was the same energy as the party and the market, just quieter. People sitting in a space I built with intentionality, choosing chains and charms without anyone rushing them through it. Watching it happen in real time, in a room with my name on the lease, made the whole thing feel real in a way that no amount of planning had managed to.
Why This Space Feels Different
Here's the belief I want to hand you, because I think a lot of people walk past permanent jewelry at a market, or even when they are at Haven for a different reason and think: what exactly is this place?
It's not a jewelry store. It's not a kiosk you visit once and forget. It's somewhere built so that women have a reason to gather, create something, and celebrate each other without needing an excuse bigger than "we wanted to."
People want to connect, form memories, and my experiences offer an opportunity to do that. That's not a tagline. That's what I watched happen at a party, at a market table, and on our very first night of appointments, three completely different settings, with people who all wanted the exact same thing.
A stack of bracelets isn't just a stack of bracelets. You can build it over time, with each one representing a different moment, memory, or person. The party becomes one link. The market night becomes another. That first night of appointments becomes a third. The studio just gives those moments somewhere to happen.
I used to think my job was attaching jewelry to wrists. Now I know my job is building the room where the good part happens, and letting the jewelry be what's left over when everyone goes home.
If you've been curious about the new space, appointments are officially open and I'd love to show you around.
Come see what you've helped me create.
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