Downtown San Jose jewelry makers open new store in Campbell
Sisters’ designs influenced by their childhood in Venezuela.
Growing up in an area of Venezuela known as the Isle of Pearls may have influenced Michelle McClain and Conchita Noemi to open a fine jewelry store.
The sisters own Boho Moon Art on North San Pedro Street in downtown San Jose and recently opened a second location on Winchester Boulevard in Campbell. A grand opening celebration is set for Jan. 12 -14, featuring complimentary champagne and chocolates and a 20% discount on everything in the store.
Almost all of the jewelry at Boho Moon Art is handmade and designed by McClain and Noemi and their family.
“I love working [with] freshwater pearls,” said McClain. “They’re very connected to the jewelry I grew up seeing.”
McClain and Noemi are originally from Margarita Island, a 414-square-mile island in the state of Nueva Esparta in northeastern Venezuela.
The island “is warm the whole year,” said McClain. “It’s more arid, not tropical, and it doesn’t rain as much as Hawaii. You don’t go to the beach wearing a sweater at all. We eat a lot of coconuts, papayas and mangoes.”
“I was always fascinated by the jewelry makers as a child, watching them weld gold pieces,” said Neomi. “I always felt a connection to the art of making jewelry.”
The sisters learned jewelry making from their family. Their mother and an aunt had a jewelry store in Venezuela called Joyería Copp that specialized specializing in handcrafted jewelry. Now their mother lives in the United States and their aunt is based in Venezuela but travels “all over,” said McClain.
The sisters’ parents are originally from Italy and immigrated to Venezuela, so both daughters grew up speaking Spanish and Italian. Their mom is originally from Napoli and now lives in the United States near her daughters.
“My best memory is that all the family was involved with jewelry, even cousins,” said McClain. “My older cousin used to make earrings and I would take them to school to sell.”
McClain studied hospitality in Venezuela and got a postgraduate degree in same in Leysin, Switzerland. She then came to the United States for an internship. She worked at the Rosewood Sand Hill Hotel, where she met Patrick McClain, now her husband.
“Patrick is from San Jose,” she said, “so we settled here to be close to his family.”
McClain and her sister have been sharing their creations all around the Bay Area at various craft markets and pop-ups since 2016. They have had a physical location in downtown San Jose since March 2022.
“We are really grateful and proud of everything,” said Michelle McClain. “We’re going from a small place, and now we’re growing into a bigger one in two years, from something I was kind of exploring.”
McClain works fulltime at Boho Moon Art while her sister and husband are part-time employees. Patrick McClain works as a sales manager with a wine and spirit supplier, and also bartends occasionally at the Taplands brewery in Santa Clara.
“She has always had this passion,” he said of his wife. “She started doing pop-up jewelry markets first at Whole Foods on The Alameda with San Jose Made, and she’s been growing ever since.”
In addition to or jewelry, Boho Moon Art sells gemstones, candles and gifts from other craft artisans. The store often hosts theme events like “Breakfast at Boho,” which was inspired by Audrey Hepburn and “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,”and “Escape to Milano,” inspired by the fashion and culture of Milano, Italy.
“We always work [on] different jewelry collections,” said Michelle McClain. “One upcoming idea of mine may be marine life, like fish and sea horses.”
Previous jewelry designs include catrinas for Día de los Muertos, but their home country looms large in many of the sisters’ jewelry designs as many of the floral earrings are inspired by Venezuela.
“Certain orchids are more Venezuelan,” said Michelle McClain. “The cattleya orchid is the national flower of Venezuela.”
Boho Moon Art is located at 2160 S. Winchester Blvd. in Campbell, and 60 N. San Pedro St. in San Jose. Hours for both locations are Wednesday– Sunday, noon-6 p.m.