Women Who Rock with Success- Women of Color

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At a relatively young age,
Maressa Tosto
Merwarth discovered her
passion for metal-smithing
while studying in Italy. What
she brought back from
Florence was a vision of a
collection that would meld
jewelry with sculpture,
works that would push the
boundaries between
wearable vs. non-wearable,
precious vs. non-precious
and even craft vs. fine art.
After completing her BFA at
Syracuse University,
Merwarth began working at
a small fine jewelry
manufacturer and later
earned her MFA in metals
from the Rochester Institute
of Technology. In these
formative years, she
explored her creative
abilities, fine tuned her
technical skills and began
pushing boundaries in
design. Drawn to
commonplace shapes and
materials and inspired by
nature and architecture, the
designer stretched her
creativity to imagine hidden
stories in her designs. After
several years in the
industry, Merwarth formed
her own company, Mari
Tome, to focus on custom,
unique design and her
art-based jewelry line.
Today, Maressa Tosto
Merwarth draws inspiration
for her jewelry designs from
the nature and the
situations that surround her
at Hermann J. Wiemer
Vineyard, where she and her
family live and work.