Texas native, Vandi Hodges, began her career at age 19 during an exciting time of life when her childhood dreams to travel the world marvelously came true. After a year of studies in Denmark, Vandi set off with her backpack across Europe and soon found herself importing fine silks, tapestries and artifacts from Asia and Central and South America. During her travels, she began to design edgy, bold jewelry with a twist that attracted an international private clientele. At age 25, she started her first jewelry company in Austin, Texas with By George as her first retail customer and, a year later, took her line to Spain where she opened a hip jewelry boutique in the eclectic Baleares Island of Ibiza. While designing new lines in Spain, Vandi found inspiration from the Mediterranean, the Tango, and the sensuous and confident style of the Spanish women. To enhance her development as a designer, she partnered with a London jewelry company that sold her designs throughout the UK and influenced her daring style, attracting a chic crowd. Throughout her travels, Vandi learned to speak Danish, Spanish, and even some Ahuaruna, the language of a remote tribe in the Amazon – a fascinating people whose culture and habitat heavily impacted her life and work.
