Meet the Maker: Sow Song

Can you provide a short introduction to Sow Song and your jewellery?

Sow Song is a custom jewellery brand launched by Vancouver Island native, Tia Noelle in 2025. Her pieces are rooted in tradition with a modern flair, bringing emotion and poetry to life.

How did the journey to starting Sow Song unfold?

Tia has always been creative and felt called to work with her hands. Before diving into jewellery, she was working as a florist, creating bridal bouquets and arrangements for weddings. Her approach was always thoughtful toward the planet, working with local farmers and bringing in seasonal florals whenever possible. However, the waste within the industry was something that nagged at her subconscious. Playing with other mediums is something she’s always been open too, and there was a silversmithing course that caught her eye. There were no thoughts in her mind that this could be a career path further down the line. But during that course, Tia fell in love with the idea of keepsakes. The beauty of jewellery, the timelessness of it, how it holds stories, the romance and the history.

She spent years apprenticing after that. She found a variety of mentors on Vancouver Island who helped her learn the basics of the craft, learning how to make custom pieces, and the business side of this highly specialized trade that’s slowly disappearing. Many goldsmiths are men in their 70’s.

“I love romance, I love history, I love love stories. I love love letters, all these things that are so me, that's just the way I’ve always been and then I just pursued playing around with jewelry”.

What made you choose the name Sow Song?

It took a lot of time and introspection for Tia to come to choose the name Sow Song for her newly fledged business. One of the most impactful relationships in her life so far has been her grandfather. Though he passed away when she was still young, the time they had together has left a lasting impression. He was a wild and interesting banjo playing man who lived on a homestead in Metchosin. Visits to grandpa’s always included an element of music and he used to play this one song over and over, called Sow Song. Before he passed, he made a CD with a recording of it as well. It was a silly tune that always stuck with Tia. Hence this tribute to her grandfather. Though Tia did made one changed and it’s pronounced like the sowing of seeds.

Who is the team behind Sow Song?

It’s a strong one-woman show! Tia is designing, creating, and delivering each and every one of her pieces from scratch. Volume and a large production line isn’t the goal, right now the vision is all about being small and intentional with her offerings.

Where is your workshop and what tools do you use in the jewellery making process?

Tia might have one of the coolest workshops! It’s a complete embodiment of her soul and her passions. Her grandpa was heavily influenced by Western culture and Tia has embraced that as well. She’s converted a Travelux (the Canadian version of an Airstream) into her personal studio with a country flair. The space needed to promote creativity, and Tia settled on cozy, warm, and desert-y. The inside is painted the iconic light tan of the banana Frye boot and there’s photos of the desert and of her grandpa all over the walls. A medium once told her to light a candle every time she goes in to work on a piece to bring more of that connection into the space. All of these elements help tie her to her roots and brings her comfort and peace.

On one side of the trailer is her metal working bench, where she does stone setting, soldering, filing and finishing work. And on the other side, is the wax working bench, with injectors, a vacuum caster, and a kiln. It’s important that the metal working and the wax working be kept separate.

Can you walk me through the process of creating a piece from start to finish?

All custom orders start with a conversation. During a consultation Tia will get an idea of the intention behind a piece from the client, shapes, colours, and a rough concept starts to take shape. She then gets to work drawing a few design options on her iPad. Once the final design is settled on, there are two methods Tia uses to create her jewellery. One is wax carving, where specialized wax is first sculpted into the shapes of rings, bracelets, or pendants. That wax shape then gets placed in a vessel and covered in a plaster like material. The vessel is super-heated, melting away the wax and leaving a hollow mould of the design. Molten metal is then poured into the empty space to create the final piece. Once it’s un-moulded, the metal is filed, sanded and polished. The second is the wire or sheet method. With this style, Tia builds pieces from wire or sheet metal to create solid forms. This process involves cutting intricate shapes from sterling silver, bending and folding for shape, adding texture with hammers, and polishing to create the final product.

What’s your favourite part of the process?

Right now, Tia’s favourite part is the collaborative and creative experience of the consultations with her prospective clients.

“If somebody comes up to me and has their heirloom gold from their grandmother or their mother, or someone who’s passed away that's really dear to them. I love the process of being able to work with them and make something that was their parents or grandparents, and turning it into something of their own that is super meaningful.”

Connection is a through line for Sow Song. Her favourite projects are those that bring loved ones closer together. Whether it’s a memorial piece, or an engagement ring, it brings her joy to be able to help in a way.

What is the leading intention and inspiration behind the jewelry you create?

Sow Song is all about honouring who Tia is.

“I think growing up, I was always such a lover. I'm a sensitive person, but that's who I am, and that's what I am so proud of. So I'm gonna just go with that and trust that.”

Tia has learned that her admiration of love and romance is a strength that can be harnessed to bring people together. Through metalsmithing, she can create intentional keepsakes that honour the ceremonies and people in your lives. Some of these consultations could be seen as heavy. One of the classic Sow Song pieces are custom made dog nose print pendants and rings. These are often memorial pieces for long loved pets. But Tia can see that she’s bringing light into these situations. She treats it as an honour to be welcomed into the fold by her clients and having them trust her with their feelings and memories.

What materials do you use in your pieces and why do you choose to create with them?

Tia works most often with sterling silver and solid gold. She suggests pieces get created using 14k yellow or white gold. She tried to bring sustainability and longevity into every piece of jewellery she creates. So, if the clients budget allows, staying away from sterling silver for something like an engagement ring is important so that it doesn’t tarnish or degrade over time. Tia is creating pieces that are timeless.

What she truly desires is to work exclusively with heirloom jewellery. If a client has any gold pieces passed down amongst family members, Tia can melt it down, bringing new life to the material. It’s a way of honouring the past, while making a piece of jewellery that tells your own story. It’s also one additional way she can reduce the environmental footprint of Sow Song.

When it comes to the stone she uses in her pieces, there is great care that goes into sourcing them. She’s made connections over the years to small suppliers, who mine their own gems on small properties of land. These are the families that she reaches out to first when starting on any new projects.  Tia’s stance on lab grown diamonds is a complicated one. While it can be ethical in one sense, there’s also a lot of energy expenditure from these operations. The goal as Sow Song evolves is to work exclusively with antique diamonds. These are pre-existing stones that are re-invented and require no new mining. However, that dream is a little further down the line.

How does your surrounding environment/home influence your brand and products?

Vancouver Island is overflowing with natural beauty, and inspiration comes from all directions. Tia draws a lot of her creative essence from raw textures and organic forms that the earth has brought to life. From the waves of the ocean to the gnarled bark of a old growth tree, she mimics the natural and imperfect moments that the wild creates.

Tell us how you embody the principles of sustainability and put the planet first?

Throughout this interview, Tia has woven in how important sustainability is to Sow Song’s core principles. One of the main reasons she left the floral industry was the production of waste. So, in the fledgling year of Sow Song, Tia is making decisions to be as ethical as possible, within reason. Whether it’s the care that goes into choosing what metals she works with, working with what clients already have, to where and whom she sources the stones from. It’s a balance between real-world honest budgets with her clients, and her expert knowledge of the craft. The foundation of Sow Song is all about quality, not quantity. Each of these decisions is made with the intention that the jewellery she creates lasts for lifetimes, becoming their own heirlooms one day.

What is the life that you dream for your jewelry pieces?

“I think a big thing with jewelry and a lot of special pieces is a lot of my experience, I've felt people don't want to wear it sometimes because it's too special. I know that's so like, my dream is always just wear it and enjoy it and, like, just let it be on the coffee date with you or whatever. Like, I've always just whenever anyone's like, Oh, it's just too nice. I'm like, No, don't let it sit in a box.”

Having somewhere wear their necklace and catch a glimpse in the mirror and feel connected to the person it came from. Or touch the print on a ring and be brought back to a memory. It’s all about connection.

And while we often ask how our makers creations connect people to place, in this case, Tia’s jewellery connects people to each other and to memories.

View our collection of Sow Song jewellery