Caitlin Mociun (pronounced like motion) began her design studies with textiles, which—after a brief, unrealized flirtation with wallpaper—led naturally into apparel. But since launching her clothing line in 2005, she’s shifted her energies from software to hardware, choosing to focus instead on jewelry (and keeping up her material skills with beautiful and graphic by-the-yard fabrics).

“I’m glad that I started with the clothing line—because I couldn’t have gotten here without it,” she says. “But with jewelry, you have the luxury of a much smaller scale. I can make one custom piece as easily as ten or forty of the same design, without losing a lot on experimenting. Or I can add one thing at a time as I come up with new ideas. I guess I finally figured out what work I like best!” That hardly means she’s settling down, though: In March 2012, Caitlin opened 

her own shop in Williamsburg, where she sells her textiles and jewelry—think delicate necklaces strung with tiny gold-and-turquoise triangles and mismatched stud earrings that mimic a topographical map—alongside a carefully curated mix of home goods and pieces by like-minded designers. “I’ll always happily go off to hunt down cool stuff, and I hope to make the store a kind of destination place in the neighborhood,” she explains. So far, the diverse mix of clients who’ve entered her newest fold are seriously digging her vision—no surprise given her proven ability to shift gears. —mireille hyde

mociun.com