NEELY PHELAN LLC
LITTLE ROCK, AR

NEELY PHELAN, Founder & Design Director “And I thought, ok, I’ll make another one,” she says. “It kind of sparked my interest and I started making more things. I’d say it was probably more of a hobby then. I was making a little bit of money on the side.” At the time, Phelan — who majored in marketing and advertising at Southern Methodist University — was living in Little Rock and working for ad agency Cap Media, but her jewelry making soon launched her into a position at Dillard’s as a product developer and private label jewelry designer. Then, in 2005, Phelan and her husband, Patrick, found out they were expecting their first son, Noah, and she left the workforce to become a full-time mother. Once she got accustomed to motherhood, she began making jewelry again. Friends bought her creations, then one local store started carrying her pieces. In the meantime, she and Patrick had two more sons, Pierce, now 7, and Emerson, 5. After all of her kids were out of toddlerhood, Phelan decided to crank things up a notch and turn her hobby into a real business. Inspired by the past, Phelan says she likes to design pieces that have a history. She often combines vintage elements like Art Deco-style dress clips, buckles and beads with organic pieces like stone and buffalo bone. All of the pieces are handmade by Phelan, sometimes with a little help from her husband, and many are one-of-a-kind. The result is a collection of bold, statement-making pieces like none ever seen.