By Jennifer Quam

Margaret Graine has opened a classy, upscale jewellery studio has been opened in McBride.

Graine and her husband moved to McBride last summer after spending the night in the community.

“After we had made the decision to leave Calgary, we drove around until we found somewhere we liked,” she said. “We spent the night in McBride and when I woke up the next morning, I had such inspiration that I started making jewellery pieces right in the hotel room while my husband looked for a house to buy.”

Graine creates unique necklaces, earrings, and bracelets with silver wire and semi-precious stones from all over the world. She explained that most of her opals come from Peru; she uses American and Chinese turquoise, and gold and silver from the United States.

“I do not duplicate any piece, so people are guaranteed a one-of-a-kind piece,” said Graine. “All of my designs come straight from my heart and usually come to me in the middle of the night. So I will get out of bed and start working on a piece right then.”

Graine has her studio located on the ground level of her home. She designed and renovated the studio herself. “I want people to come and feel like it is a special place, a getaway for women,” said Graine. “I don’t want it to be a place where people feel they have to buy something; they can just come and appreciate beautiful things.”

Graine said that her pieces range from the very affordable to more extravagant but guarantees that there is something for everyone.

“I find the more I create, the more unique the pieces get,” she said.

In addition to her own studio, Graine’s jewellery can be found at the Whistlestop Gallery in McBride, a gallery in Vancouver, and also through a distributor in Poland.

Graine is also a financial planner, and a business and personal planner. She has dived head first into the community and is already a director with the Whistlestop Gallery, a member of the McBride Chamber of Commerce, and is working on the 75th Anniversary Committee.

Margaret Graine’s studio at 141 Dominion Street will be open Friday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and also by appointment.