Ashé Handmade Designs founder and lead designer Tamira Nicole was raised and educated in central New Jersey where she learned at an early age from her mother Boochi (a self-taught designer) to never sit on her God-given gifts. In her teenage years, she began designing jewelry for herself which lead to making pieces for family and friends. Tamira supplied her mother’s art gallery and boutique in Trenton, New Jersey with an entire line of centric-inspired jewelry including earrings, necklaces and bracelets all before her sixteenth birthday. She took her show on the road to Washington, D.C. where she attended Howard University. While at The Mecca, word quickly spread about the jewelry making freshman and Tamira realized that her hobby could be a viable means of revenue while in school, so she started selling items out of her off-campus dorm room. She later struck an agreement with one of the mobile stores parked on campus to sell her line daily on a consignment basis.

After school, Tamira relocated back to New Jersey with her high-school sweetheart — now husband of 20 years. She did not fully rekindle her love for the art of jewelry making until 2019 during a life changing trip to Cuba with her husband and two daughters to visit family. While collecting shells on the beaches of Cuba, Tamira was reminded of her design gift and love for jewelry making which quickly sprung herself into action once back in the states.

Her designs are heavily inspired by her trip to Cuba, love for shells and natural materials from all over the world including her ancestral Philippines, visits to the Shinnecock Reservation in South Hampton and, most importantly, her ongoing obsession to learn about and use raw goods from all over the continent of Africa.

We conceive the power to make things happen and produce change, Ashé!,