Jane Pope Cooper ’96

When Jane Pope Cooper ’96 couldn’t find an afternoon option at Episcopal that excited her, she set out to create one. A self-proclaimed non-athlete, the budding jewelry designer had an itch for the arts that she was just beginning to scratch and wanted to spend her afternoons exploring her new passion. Enter the Arts Club — built and designed by Cooper and a few other friends.

While Episcopal’s arts program in the nineties was not as robust as it is today, Cooper still began finding her passion while on The Holy Hill. “It was such a transitional time for art,” she reminisced about the mid-nineties. “It hadn’t been made cool yet, and they didn’t have state-of-the-art facilities like they do now.” As a student, she realized she loved photography as an art form, which would ultimately lead to her career of creating beautiful pieces of jewelry. 

Fast forward 27 years after graduation, Cooper has built an impressive legacy as a legendary jewelry designer with her work gracing the pages of Vogue, Elle, and Glamour, to name a few. After Episcopal, Pope graduated from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and moved to Los Angeles soon after to pursue a degree in fine jewelry design from the Gemological Institute of America. She met her husband Tyler through an Episcopal friend, and they began dating long distance as they both pursued their dreams.

In 2001, Cooper and her business partner began a costume jewelry line called BALBOA, which was picked up by Barneys New York within the first four months. The two made the front page of The Charlotte Observer, “which felt like we were in the pages of Vogue,” Cooper remembered of those early days. Only three years later, Marie Claire named Cooper as one of the “10 Best Stylemakers to Watch.” That immediate traction and press propelled Cooper’s career, and it hasn’t slowed down since.

Cooper went on to launch Jane Pope Jewelry (JPJ) in 2007 while living in New York City and studying fabrication, including wax carving, casting, and stone setting. At JPJ, she works with 14k gold, semi-precious, and precious gemstones to make “perfectly imperfect” pieces that have been spotted everywhere from Hollywood red carpets to the cobblestone streets of her home in Charleston, S.C. “I’ve had some very good luck,” she said of her success in business — luck  combined with a lot of hard work, if you ask her Episcopal friends and teachers.

When Cooper moved from NYC to Charleston, she realized she had a new problem to solve. Communicating with the people fulfilling her orders quickly became complicated. While living and working in NYC, she could run over to the Diamond District and handle issues immediately, but the distance only slowed her business once she began making a life in Charleston with her husband and two children. “It was maddening,” according to her, so she decided to take matters into her own hands — a lesson she learned at Episcopal when she started the Arts Club.

In 2019, Cooper launched her third successful business: a woman-owned, women-run jewelry manufacturing business aptly named Conscious Casting. The thoughtful company has long been a dream of Cooper’s after her own issues in the jewelry business. It aims to lessen communication barriers between jewelry designers and jewelry makers and to prioritize environmental awareness within the industry.  

Working in a predominately male business, Cooper has always been adamant about building a women-run team. Thanks to her grit, she is now able to manufacture everything from Jane Pope Jewelry in house. “Launching the casting business and building my team has honestly been the proudest moment of my career,” she said.