How I Adorn Thee was established in 2003 by Kendra Kennedy-Sutherland, a year after she graduated from Ryerson University where she learned to create costume jewellery as part of her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre Technical Production.
Focusing on wire and bead art jewellery, mixed media jewellery, and custom pieces, How I Adorn Thee gained some local attention and Kendra was requested to participate as a vendor in a number of shows in the GTA, including “The Art of Fashion” (Toronto, 2004)– a breast cancer awareness project– and “The Vagina Monologues” (Oakville, 2006) – a V-Day fundraiser for a local women’s shelter – at which she was the featured jewellery designer.
How I Adorn Thee went on hiatus from 2008 – 2015 while Kendra worked on developing her full-time career. After the birth of her first child in 2015, Kendra became inspired by the baby-safe jewellery people were calling “teething jewellery.” As a costume jewellery lover who could suddenly no longer safely wear regular jewellery, Kendra started to create her own designs.
This quickly evolved into a re-launch of How I Adorn Thee, serving a market of local moms who want teething jewellery that “actually looks like jewellery.” From there, the ‘Mama Collection‘ was born, the design of each piece being carefully tailored to the unique styles of many different mamas. More recently, Kendra has launched the ‘Kiddo Collection‘, inspired by pieces made for their mamas, but sized for little ones who love to dress up too!