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Jenifer Bellefleur first came on National Jeweler’s radar when she was announced as the recipient of the Female Veteran Scholarship from the Women’s Jewelry Association, a $5,000 scholarship introduced this year and sponsored by Jewelers Mutual Insurance Co.

Upon hearing an abbreviated version of her life’s journey, we knew there was more to learn.

Q: You served in the U.S. Army as an explosive ordnance disposal (E.O.D.) technician. What exactly is that, and what specifically was your role?

A: E.O.D. techs are trained to identify many different types of exploding devices and to neutralize the threats they pose. It’s a much longer training process than people realize, and also involves learning from years of experience. I joined the Army back in the early ‘80s, when the Middle East and improvised explosive devices in that region weren’t “happening,” so we worried a lot more about a different kind of bomb and different areas of the world. Back then, at least during peace time, E.O.D. techs learned by “reverse engineering”—that is, to say, blowing stuff up.

Q: How many years did you serve in the army, and did you travel to any other countries or ever have to dispose of explosives?

A: I spent most of my time at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, where we had a huge, largely unoccupied base to practice setting up explosives and detonating them. Most people don’t know that often times the safest way to dispose of an explosive is to evacuate the area and then blow it up under controlled conditions. In that way, we had a lot of fun.

The primary countries for deployment of U.S. personnel then were Germany and Korea, and I really didn’t want to go to either, so I wasn’t disappointed to remain in the United States.

Less than 5 percent of E.O.D. techs today are women, so I can’t even guess how few women were in that field back then. I was only 17 when I joined, and during peace time, troops primarily engage in training exercises. As such, I can’t say that I saved anyone, but we worked hard and under dangerous conditions, because you can certainly injure or even kill your team during training.

I did get scared, I got scared a couple of times. I never really got frightened of what I was doing myself; I was pretty confident in my ability to follow instructions and absorb training and everything, but I did see another woman on a firing range get shot in the thigh at almost point-blank range by a trainee accidentally, and I remember hearing that sound and looking over at her and seeing the look on her face and she just said, “You shot me,” to this girl. She was fine and everything, but that was really scary.

I remember being on an explosives range one time with someone who was setting up what was supposed to be a specific kind of chain of explosives that would have gone off in a certain order, and as we walked away she stepped on it. That was one of those moments that I realized why I was getting extra pay.

So, times like that I was definitely afraid. It’s certainly not as intense as what people doing that job in the Middle East today are going through, but for me it was intense.

Q: After the army, you earned your bachelor’s degree in law, criminology and deviance. What did you initially want to do with your degree?

A: I’ve always been an artist in the background of whatever I was doing in my life. I was actually pursuing a pre-med degree when I found out I was pregnant with my daughter, and I rearranged my educational plans to something less stressful—I didn’t mind what the degree was, as long as I could feel a real connection to people in whatever I was doing.

When I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a sociology degree in law, criminology and deviance, I went straight to work at Sandstone federal prison in Minnesota.

I quickly discovered that the (Federal) Bureau of Prisons was a lot like being in the army, and I’d had enough of that. I worked in a variety of executive positions over the next decade or so and earned my master’s degree while raising my two great kids with my husband.

Q: How did you get into designing jewelry?

A: I remember I had been experimenting with jewelry when I was out for a long summer walk. I saw a master jeweler at his bench through his studio window. He invited me in, and somehow all this happened. 

I work in a studio (now) with two other artists and most people find us because they search on the Internet for custom jewelry. Because people love the work that we’ve done out of our studio so much, they leave, you know, really great reviews for us on the Internet and unlike other custom jewelry places, we have tons and tons of people posting things like, “I almost peed my pants when I saw my project,” and things like that. People love what we do for them.

I’d like to share a story with you about a recent client project. A mother and daughter came to see us who had lost the father of their family, and both his daughter—now a mother herself—and his widow were working together to adjust to their loss. They had decided to attempt a matching mother-daughter ring project, to commemorate him, and wanted to use the mother’s engagement ring, although they had no idea how. The ring was typical of its time period, featuring a 1-carat marquise-cut diamond with four small accent stones in yellow gold.

As I talked with them, I learned more about their lives, their interests and their shared deep reverence for the man they had lost. They were both active, enjoyed gardening and favored white metals in elegant designs. Purchasing a second marquise diamond was not an option, and neither was selling it. Neither woman was particularly fond of the marquise shape either. 

I proposed a bold design idea that would both keep their diamonds within the family and create matching rings that would please their current tastes. We sent the diamond to expert diamond cutter William Bray, who cleaved their marquise diamond into two modified trillion cuts. We then created rings with a sculptural shape evocative of calla lilies, which they both loved. We used an asymmetrical design that echoed the trillion cuts, and set two of the four original small diamonds in the shank. The clients were having difficulty choosing between a high polished finish and satin, so we left the slim side of the shank very shiny and put a matte finish on the wider side.

The rings are magnificent, and both mother and daughter love them very much. They cried (when they saw the finished rings.) I could not have been more honored to help them honor their loved one in such a personal way.

I spend my days designing custom engagement and wedding rings with my clients, but sometimes I have the opportunity to design other special talismen like these. I’m very lucky to be doing what I love and making people so happy with beautiful objects of permanence and significance.

Q: Which jewelry designers inspire you?

A: The first jewelry that really made me want to make jewelry myself was Alexis Bittar. I loved the intentionally wabi-sabi nature of some of his pieces, and the beautification of what others would call “lesser” materials.

My latest obsession is with the work of Cathy Waterman. She brings together elements of vintage designs and rustic gems as well as organic shapes to create utterly elegant and intentional rings. I just love her. 

Bellefleur has an Etsy shop where she sells her jewelry. It’s called Sweet Tribe.