Alice Vol. 4 No. 1

By Cassie Kuhn
For many women, traveling alone
at night poses serious safety concerns.
Evening jogs, being separated from
friends during a night out, and walking
from the library to the on-campus
parking lot are everyday situations
where women look over their shoulders
and grip their keys a little tighter.
When Lauren Gwin was a freshman
at The University of Alabama, she
became concerned for her safety due to
emails she received from the campus
police department and student stories
about crime. This concern inspired her
to create a fashion-meets-function selfdefense
jewelry company called The
Artemis Company, named after the
Greek goddess known as the protector
of young women.
“Self-defense jewelry is designed to
combine beauty and security to not only
dress for success, but dress to protect,”
Gwin said.
Although more old-fashioned means
of self-defense like pepper-spray and
pocket knives have their place, selfdefense
jewelry is easier for women to use
and access in case of an emergency.
“Even if you own pepper spray or a
taser, mostly these things just end up
in the bottom of your purse or latched
onto your keys – not the optimal place
for quick and effective use,” Gwin said.
“So, I realized that women needed
something that they could wear all of
the time that would be easily available
to use if they needed to.”
The Artemis Company offers a
variety of rings, bracelets and necklaces
with various functions. There are
three collections with different styles
and items which can be customized
depending on a woman’s color and style
preferences.
Gwin’s design process varies from
piece to piece, but it starts with an idea,
usually inspired from her experience
doing martial arts growing up.
“The first step is rough sketches on
paper,” Gwin said. “When I have an
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