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Nashville, TN--Two Southern jewelry brands, Yearly Co. and BR Design Co., are marking Mother's Day by honoring the maternal figures who helped shape their businesses.

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As highlighted in a Garden & Gun feature, Ann Williams, founder of Nashville-based Yearly Co., drew inspiration for her fine jewelry brand from her mother, Janet Simonson. Williams recalls the gold bangles her mother wore while doing chores at home—bracelets that were part of a family tradition where women received a new bangle on every wedding anniversary, a custom passed down from Williams's grandparents, possibly influenced by their time in Puerto Rico.

While pregnant with her second child, Williams enrolled in a metalworking class at Vanderbilt University and began crafting bangles herself. As per the article, this led to the official launch of Yearly Co. in 2016. The company now offers eleven-size variations of bangles, which are customizable with birthstones, initials, and engravings and are particularly popular for Mother's Day gifts.

Garden & Gun also profiled BR Design Co., a Charleston-based clay jewelry brand co-founded by sisters Cassandra Browner Richardson and Carlene Browner. The siblings credit their mother, Queenie Bee Browner, with teaching them the craft and the business fundamentals that sustain their work today.

Growing up in rural Southwest Georgia, the Browner sisters watched their mother make and sell clay earrings and other crafts. Eventually, each daughter launched her own jewelry table beside their mother's at local markets. After diverging into separate careers, the sisters reunited in the late 1990s to form BR Design Co.

One of their signature collections, the English Garden print—originally designed by their mother—was reintroduced around 2010. The design, featuring raised floral motifs and bright hues, is now released three times a year. As reported by Garden & Gun, Queenie Browner endorsed the updated version of her work, remarking that the sisters had refined it beyond her original designs.

In addition to creative direction, Queenie also taught them bookkeeping, customer service, and the value of sisterly collaboration. "She taught us to be businesswomen," Richardson told Garden & Gun. "And you cannot put a price on that."

Learn more in this article on Garden & Gun.