About me...

the jewelry designer, metalsmith, maker and owner of Betina Roza. I’ve been creating hand-fabricated, one of a kind and limited edition pieces on San Juan Island for over 15 years. Every piece I make is designed with intention and created to bring out the qualities in you that make you feel most like yourself. I believe in originality over perfection, and the real energy that is evident in something truely made by hand.

If you value authenticity, wearability, and small batch items made by humans, not machines, you’re in the right place.

Even if you can't live on San Juan Island full-time, wearing a Betina Roza piece keeps you connected to that slow, intentional island energy we all love.

When you curate your style intentionally, you naturally invest in small-batch, artisan-made pieces over mass-produced jewelry. You know the story behind what you wear matters. You have an eye for independent makers and value supporting small businesses. You're drawn to pieces that have an indescribable uniqueness to them, or even better elicit the best of all compliments “that’s so cool, where did find that?!”.

You also know that trends come and go, but good style and wearability last a lifetime. You're building a collection of pieces that make you feel like you, that you'll wear daily for years, and that carry a meaning or memory. You love items that are made even more distinctive because you know the artist behind the work and feel connected to their story and place.

I came to San Juan Island over 20 years ago to pursue my dream to be a marine biologist. For over 15 years, I got to do just that, researching the endangered Southern Resident killer whales in Washington State. I loved that work, I am beyond grateful for that experience and time in life. It was my dream and I was fortunate enough to live it. But dreams change and we must change along with them or risk living a life that is not true to ourselves.

I had been creating handcrafted jewelry all along, as a hobby and then as a full on side hustle until 2017, when I made the leap to full time jewelry designer. I bought a tiny shed that still serves as my dedicated jewelry studio, went to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico to study metalsmithing and started creating pieces the way I'd always dreamed—by letting the stones and materials speak first.

Now, I design and hand-fabricate most of my jewelry myself, using sterling silver, 14k gold-filled, solid gold, brass and semi precious gemstones. I personally pick out almost all of the stones I use, intentionally sourcing them from vetted vendors. My collections are eclectic and rarely repeat—each one emerges from the stones and materials I have on hand and the magical alchemy of what takes place in the studio.

The way I design my jewelry is best described as organic and of the moment.

I rarely sketch out my designs first, instead I come into my studio, and I wait for a a stone, a piece of metal on my bench, a pile of scraps —to call my attention. The design seems to emerge from there. It's more like the design reveals itself as I'm making rather than me actually designing it. I often don't know exactly how it will turn out until I'm holding the finished piece.

I guess you could say that every piece of handmade jewelry holds the energy of that moment of creation. You're not just wearing jewelry—you're wearing the the specific vibration of the materials, and the unique energy of the time it was created.

I believe there's an alchemical reaction that happens when a piece finds its person. You're drawn to it for a reason. And when you wear it, you somehow feel like it was yours all along.

And what if when you wear that piece, you don't know why, but you seem to feel better? More at ease, more yourself.