Bermudian Alexandra Outerbridge had been working as an entertainment agent for several years when she woke up one morning and was inspired to make a career change.The 28-year-old had always enjoyed painting and sketching, but got sick of just drawing as a hobby.She decided to start her own jewellery line three months ago and create fun rings, bracelets and necklaces inspired by the youth culture in Los Angeles.“I woke up one morning after working in the entertainment industry for five years and I thought I am tired of being in the booking world because I am always coordinating everyone else’s creating and I need to create something myself,” she said.“I decided on jewellery because it’s tactile and something that is a keepsake. I always felt jewellery was something that would make someone’s outfit.“The person could wear a plain, black dress and wear a necklace and it would transform that outfit. People always keep their jewellery, they don’t ever discard it like they would that season’s hot pair of shoes or dress.”The LA resident got busy trying to launch her line called Outerbridge Jewelry. She went down to the jewellery district there, and started asking around and doing some investigating.She then went online and read as many books as she could get her hands on about contemporary jewellery design and the foundations of the business. A friend of hers with a flourishing new jewellery line also gave her advice and put her in contact with people on the production side of things.Her first collection includes 20 different styles of emoticons in white, yellow and rose gold. She wanted the pieces to be able to express someone’s mood be it happy, sad, in love or confused.She said: “So many young people have iPhones and other technologies and they use emoticons to express how they feel rather than writing it out.“There is an encyclopedia of different smiley faces that youth use now to express what they are feeling, everything is becoming more condensed to imagery. Even in text culture you want to say one word to express how you are feeling. If you are sad you are going to send a sad face.“They have kind of become staples of youth culture in 2012 and I figure why not put it on our jewellery as well? Why not use what people use to communicate through technology with jewellery?”Some of the bracelets have quotes on them like ‘what goes around comes around’; some of the rings and necklaces are jazzed up with rubies and other jewels.Pieces in the collection range from $60 to $380.She believes young people in this generation will use accessories to speak for their personality, rather than just their fashion.Ms Outerbridge grew up interested in drawing and languages.“I went to the University of Miami because I decided to be a businesswoman,” she said. “My father [Hamilton Mayor Graeme Outerbridge] is a photographer so I always wanted to do the opposite. I decided not to go to art school because I wanted to go a more traditional route.”At university she majored in business and minored in French literature. For several years she worked in the entertainment industry; first as an agent at International Creative Management, then with a DJ management company and then Model 1, an agency that represents many international models.For now Ms Outerbridge plans to do whatever possible to get her new business off the ground. “It’s what I want to do and it’s going to work,” she said. “I have no plan B.“I see my line as being high-end contemporary jewellery, but my vision is to keep it youth-based and play off of youth culture in LA that I picked up and have seen around through travelling and through my direct environment.”She has decided to keep the production and manufacturing aspects of her business in LA, but said many of her designs going forward would be influenced by Bermuda.“It’s very important to me that this line comes to Bermuda and has a presence here because I am Bermudian before I am anything else.“There will be a lot of tropical influence in my line going forward because of my background and being Bermudian. I will also mix that with the edginess of my experiences in London and LA.”She described Los Angeles as a mix of city and beaches with a strong skateboard culture.“It’s a very youth-driven sub-culture and a lot of culturally relevant stuff comes out of LA and I definitely would draw a lot of influence from that,” she explained.For now she is inspired by little things she sees — from fashion to art work. She carries a sketchbook wherever she goes, then once she has the idea together it is taken to someone who translates the sketch into a wax mould.Through her designs, she is trying “to push the boundaries of classic jewellery to keep it fun but still have [it be] good quality”.She said: “I just love the process from start to finish from a sketch on paper, turning it into a hard piece of metal and the satisfaction of that.“And [I love] when I wear jewellery and seeing how people react to it. It’s not everyone’s style, but it’s so gratifying to see other people appreciate something you have created.“It’s nice when you have a vision and make it real that other people can enjoy it. Whenever they go somewhere with their ring or necklace there is always a story that goes along with how they received the piece of jewellery.”Useful website: www.outerbridgejewelry.com. For more information e-mail info@outerbridgejewelry.com.