Creativity flows at BNOX Jewelry Studio in Pepin

Lori Kaye Lodes

Contributor

April 28, 2025

PEPIN – Rebecca Paquette Johnson said her career as a jewelry studio owner and artist has evolved over the decades.

In some regards, she said, her jewelry-making has mirrored life’s ebbs and flows and sources of inspiration.

In 1993, Paquette Johnson and her husband, Ted, established a metal smithing business called BNOX Gold & Iron. 

But as life changed, she said so did the name – ultimately becoming BNOX Jewelry Studio. 

Today, Paquette Johnson said the jewelry studio and gallery at 108 Cedar St. in Pepin is known for its one-of-a-kind, limited-edition, artisan-made jewelry. 

BNOX’s origins

The term BNOX, Paquette Johnson said, is a nod to her husband’s family –  a term of endearment found on many of Ted’s grandparents’ love letters to each other starting in the 1920s.

She said Ted’s roots in Pepin run deep.

In the late 1800s, she said his great-great-grandfather, William Boyd Newcomb, deeded the land in Pepin and settled to make a life here.

Paquette Johnson said after Ted graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and got married, they chose to build a life in Pepin.

“We knew it was an area rich in beauty and opportunity, and there were other artists in the area,” she said. 

After a few years working for others, Paquette Johnson said they opened BNOX Gold & Iron – two doors down from the well-known and -appreciated Harbor View Cafe.

In the early years, she said she designed and created jewelry, as well as featured jewelry by 12 other artists.

Paquette Johnson said people from Eau Claire, as well as Rochester, Minnesota, and the Twin Cities, regularly drove to Pepin to dine at the cafe and visit nearby businesses, which she said she credits with playing a significant part in growing her business.

“Here I had, by sheer luck, landed two doors down from the cafe at age 24, and that’s how I built my business,” she said. “People sought an artful meal followed by an art experience. I had some of the best customers coming through my doors, and we built some amazing relationships over the years.”

At the business’s height in 2008, Paquette Johnson said she represented 140 artists and a variety of media.

Today, she said she represents her own work and that of five other artists and is open for tours and by appointment.

What draws customers, Paquette Johnson said, is her beautiful and unique work.

On average, she said each piece of jewelry represents anywhere from 10-14 hours of work.

Paquette Johnson said she works with silver and gold and draws from an extensive selection of gems.

“When you’ve been a jeweler for as long as I have been, you collect gems,” she said. “I don’t need to go to any more gem shows, but I will buy more. When it comes to picking a stone, these days, I do so because I’m designing for my own design preferences and select what appeals to me.”

Paquette Johnson said the same can be said for how she takes the silver or gold and gemstones and embarks on the creative process to draw her vision before sitting down with the tools of her trade to create it. 

“I like to draw out what I am working on even though it changes 100% of the time,” she said. “It gives me a path and a destination.”

These days, Paquette Johnson said she’s drawn to casting little buds, branches and seed pods – a nod to her childhood and the greenhouse her family acquired when she was four years old. She said the greenhouse is among her earliest memories, and she thoroughly enjoyed spring when the gardens came to life and flowers began to bloom.

Paquette Johnson said when she had her own property, she was able to appreciate what was possible.

“Everything changed when I had my own earth,” she said. “I’m a pretty extensive gardener these days, and I recall studying the flower, the pistil and stamen and the whole other world that resides within it.”

Paquette Johnson said she credits having her own earth and studying a bleeding heart plant for inspiring her to figure out how it would look cast from metal.

It took some time – since, for a long period, managing the business entailed managing a lot of artists and their work, and creating custom jewelry designed with customers – but Paquette Johnson said her thoughts of fauna and flowers were never far from her mind. 

“For many years, that (was on the back burner) as I did so much conceptualizing, designing and drawing for other people, asking them what they like, what they don’t like, what design or symmetry they like, what polish or texture they prefer,” she said.

During that time, Paquette Johnson said she worked one-on-one with customers to design jewelry that often celebrated significant milestones or events in their lives.  

A design evolution

It was in 2013, Paquette Johnson said, that she and Ted renamed the business BNOX Jewelry Studio. 

As the couple’s children got a bit older and Ted developed his career elsewhere, she said they closed the retail business that had thrived overlooking the marina.

Paquette Johnson said they opted to add a studio onto their home in 2018, shifting their business model from showcasing artists across media – paintings, prints, iron work and pottery – to focus on jewelry. 

And though it was the right change at the right time, Paquette Johnson said that didn’t mean it was an easy change.

“Like everything in life, that was a paradox of components, because it meant I got to see customers less, and I still really miss that,” she said. “I don’t have employees and miss those relationships, too. But I do really love sitting down and creating from beginning to end. There is such deep reward in going from start to finish.”

Paquette Johnson said she recognizes that “being in the zone” of creating art is one of the most fulfilling things she can do. 

“I really need to work with my hands, and when I do, it’s a full-body experience,” she said. “It’s very engaging for my mind… making art is a meditation. I’m in a flow state, and when I’m not, I feel unfulfilled. I don’t feel like myself unless I’m working on a project.”

These days, Paquette Johnson said that includes welcoming the inspiration nature provides – the same inspiration that took root years ago and has patiently waited for her to draw upon it. 

She said she feeds her creative processes and finds inspiration in neighborhood foliage along the Mississippi River, creating recent colleges she said evoke the power and mutability of nature and water.

Paquette Johnson said she studies pods, buds, branches and other facets of nature until she finds the right thing to cast, such as a tiger lily seed pod.

“That’s hard to recall because it hides in the leaf where the leaf meets the stem, and unless you’re looking at the fine detail, you might not notice it,” she said.

Paquette Johnson said she was called to consider it when the pods were literally falling on the sidewalk outside her home and she wondered how she might cast them.

Initially, she said she tried three different sizes that produced three completely different results. 

“I worked hard not to touch them, which is very difficult, but it’s the nodules and texture and veins that often make the beautiful little elements in design,” she said.

Though she takes her creative inspiration where it comes, Paquette Johnson said she is mindful of what customers favor when creating her jewelry.

“People here don’t like heavy jewelry – visually heavy or literally heavy – so I look at little things to add to my designs,” she said. “I think part of that is living in the Midwest, which isn’t a ‘showy’ part of the world, but part of it may be my inclination not to work on larger pieces, because then I would be considered a blacksmith, and I don’t find that interesting.”

Having the opportunity to “return to her roots” of designing and making jewelry that resonates with her creative side, rather than custom orders that consumed her work for many years, Paquette Johnson said has been a great shift.

“I really just love designing whatever inspires me,” she said. “It’s not about creating earrings that need to meet ‘these’ parameters. Instead, if I go and go and go (working) on pieces until they’re done, those are the ones that receive the greatest appreciation from art enthusiasts at a fair or art tour.”

Making rounds on the art circuit

These days, Paquette Johnson said many of her opportunities to interface with customers and prospective customers occur at a variety of art tours, fairs and other events.

Among those, she said, the Outdoor Christmas Market at nearby Villa Bellezza Vineyard & Winery for six weekends leading up to Christmas, a match made in heaven when it comes to art as far as she’s concerned.

“The winery’s Italian architecture is a beautiful backdrop to show my jewelry alongside amazing, award-winning wine,” Paquette Johnson said. “The whole place is just artistry in action.”

From June 6-8, she said she is participating in the Fresh Art Spring Tour that features a road trip with key art stops along a scenic route in Pepin, Pierce and Buffalo counties. 

The trek, Paquette Johnson said, follows Wisconsin’s Great River Road – providing stunning views for attendees whether they’re traveling between art stops or visiting their destinations.

During the tour, she said she will welcome guests into her home studio, as well as into the garden – complete with water views and a bonfire in the evening. 

“This year, there are 20-some artists on the tour, so whether you’re in a car full of people and one person is interested in jewelry, another in pottery and the last one just really wants to see the river, you can fit it all in and have a great meal along the way,” Paquette Johnson said. “The Driftless Region is just beautiful, whether it’s the bluffs, prairies, farmland or rivers.”

She said she is very proud of the area of the state she calls home, whether it’s Plum City’s trout pond, the pelicans and other birds or the gorgeous jewelry she and Lori Braun, one of her artists, will showcase in the studio during the tour.

“People can see my studio and enjoy sitting on one of the many benches I made from limestone in the garden,” Paquette Johnson said. “There’s no rush – it’s a meandering tour meant to meander the riverside and the roadside.” 

Then, in July, she said she will join 90 other artists participating in the 51st annual Stockholm Art Fair.

No matter which art-focused events she participates in, Paquette Johnson said you’ll hear her promoting them far and wide. 

“It’s like the saying: ‘A rising tide lifts all ships,’” she said. “I know that if I mention these and someone visits me, they will also find other treasures, and we all win.”

Embracing the ‘spice of life’

Paquette Johnson said she is the first to acknowledge the jewelry she creates isn’t something someone needs but rather something they want – which is a great example of embracing what Ted said is the “spice of life.”

“Whether it’s having artistry or music or an artful meal, you choose your artistry,” she said. “Sometimes, my work fits into someone’s spice of life. Let the artists of the world help you with the spice of life. We are hidden in nooks and crannies throughout the state to help us remember that we should enjoy living here on this planet.”

Paquette Johnson said she and her artists – Braun, Judy Knose, Laura Stamper, Mary Opatz Herges and Wendy Thurlow – create one-of-a-kind pieces that stand out in a world often consumed by fast fashion.

“I’m acutely aware of what makes a long-lasting and well-designed piece of jewelry, a piece worthy of being a heritage piece that’s handed down,” she said.

For more on BNOX Jewelry Studio, visit bnoxpepin.com.