The Fun Company, Falkville
The Makers: Brian and Paige Greer
Brian Greer can change change.
The Falkville artist has followed in his father’s footsteps, creating one-of-a-kind jewelry from coins and other items.
His father spent some time in Key West, Florida, making jewelry out of shark teeth. It elicited such a reaction from customers that he decided to keep doing it.
But when Greer’s father returned to north Alabama, there weren’t many shark teeth around. So he turned his attention to working with old coins and other metals.
Eventually, Greer felt the need to try his hand at the craft and soon found he had a talent for it. When his father died, Greer and his wife, Paige, took over and kept the business going.
At first glance, it’s not obvious that the jewelry from The Fun Company is made from coins, silverware or even deer antlers. After a closer look, the art is seen in details such as the eagle earrings are cut out of quarters or that bracelet is made from forks.
The Fun Company is an Alabama Maker turning coins into treasure from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
“We repurpose anything that can be made into something pretty,” Greer said, noting that he works with copper, brass and sterling but no plated metals.
Greer is always looking for inspiration for new pieces.
“I’m a visual artist,” he said. “I can see someone in a crowd wearing something and I get ideas or I just sit and play and one thing leads to another.”
He feels like his father would be proud of where he has taken the business.
“Being an artist, you have to evolve, you really have to change. If you don’t, you get stagnated,” Greer said. “We’ve been blessed. We really have been blessed with new ideas and creativity.”
The Fun Company was most recently at the Market at Pepper Place, one of as many as 30 shows the Greers do a year. They will be traveling up the East Coast as temperatures rise in the South.
“We’re getting ready to go to Maine,” Greer said. “Y’all can have this heat.”
Social media and online commerce sites like Etsy reduce the number of shows The Fun Company travels to each year.
Whether Greer is in his workshop in Falkville or creating pieces while on the road, he said he is always working on a new piece.
“It’s an endless process,” he said. “I can sit down and come up with something new, it seems like. I love it. Creativity is a blessing and it’s just great. It’s endless.”
The Fun Company
The product: Jewelry made from coins and other recycled metals.
Take home: Earrings made of eagles cut out of quarters and bullet casings ($68).
http://www.getcoinjewelry.com/
Purchase online at the company’s Etsy page.
Follow on Facebook and Instagram.
The Fun Company was the Alabama NewsCenter featured Alabama Maker at the Market at Pepper Place on May 19. Watch as Brian Greer demonstrates some of his techniques below.
Brian Greer from The Fun Co. gives a demo at the Market at Pepper Place from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.