JETTRA HEINE

Hometown: Luling, Louisiana

Artistry: Handcrafted jewelry; owner, The Back Room

Online: @thebackroomofbr on Instagram

Tucked behind Circa 1857 off Government Street, the first things one notices about The Back Room aren’t the verdant crowds of philodendrons and hoyas for sale on the patio or even the bohemian-inspired pendant necklaces hanging like drapes from the horns of a cattle skull. It’s that everything is in its right place. Including jewelry artist Jettra Heine herself.

“People say to me, ‘You’re retired. Why do all that work?’ But to me, being home all day would be work,” Heine says. “Creating, I get pure joy from this. This shop is exactly where I want to be.”

Customers who make their way through the century-old shotgun house to the back may find Heine dismantling and reassembling pieces with her armory of pliers. For the 67-year-old who worked in the insurance business for 40 years, details still matter. The balance of colors and textures is important to her.

“I like that old hippie era kind of stuff, you know?” says the artist who works under the brand Jett’s Gems. “I like color, and I like things that look like they have a history.”

Heine’s daughter Dara Brady helps manage stock and runs the front of the house and social media. Her other daughter, Jade Brady, is a renowned local artist who keeps the shop walls adorned with her latest available paintings—a mirage of energetically expressionist florals, owls and jellyfish.

It was Dara’s crystal collection that first inspired Heine, a longtime wreathmaker and flower arranger, to explore wire-wrapped jewelry using gemstones. Then Jade’s success with arts markets showed Heine she could do something similar with her creations.

Now they all work together to make The Back Room something special.

“The push came from them,” the proud mother says. “I’ve just never had that self-confidence, I guess. I just created because I liked it, and mostly for me, but then I realized other people liked it, too, and my daughters encouraged me.”

Heine became so prolific that she worked her way into trigger finger and had to have her tendon operated on to release the pulley. “Good as new,” the artist says, testing it out as if she just took aim with a hunting rifle.

She has certainly trained her eye on a specific goal with The Back Room, finally sharing her jewelry with the community. And when she thinks of the other creatives she welcomes into her shop, her advice to them is clear and hits the mark.

“Do something you love while you still can,” Heine says. “Do it sooner than me. Find wherever you’re supposed to be, where you’re really happy with what you do every day, and it won’t ever seem like a job.”