Tracy Bennett of Scout Vintage

Who: Tracy Bennett of Scout Vintage breathes new life into the castoff jewelry pieces we might have thought chic in, oh, 1940. A visit to her Edina home finds strands of beads, pearls, loose brooches, fabric, and fur accents overcoming her dining room. The table is covered in sparkling piles of in-progress designs; the finished necklaces and bracelets, draped over velvet display mannequins, are polished and irresistible in the afternoon light. Magazine clippings of celebrities iced in inspiring neckwear are tucked neatly into the corner of a wall mirror. Here’s where, over the course of the past year, this Edina mother of three boys has become a top-notch jewelry designer, selling her wares to some of the Twin Cities’ hottest boutiques.

Setting Sale: “My first sale was to Sasha, the owner of Bluebird. I had made a necklace and it was a bunch of chains with at least 11 crosses on it. I went in to look at her vintage jewelry one day and she bought it [off my neck]. She was like, ‘Are you going to sell that?’ I said, ‘No!’ But then she said, ‘You can’t just hang on to stuff, you’ve got to sell it.’ Now my pieces are for sale at Ladyslipper, June, Belle Reve, and Che Bella.”

Vintage Vogue: “I get different pieces from antique stores, occasionally flea markets, and then I restring everything. Instead of just incorporating a vintage piece here and there, everything in my pieces is vintage."

Not Your Grandma's Necklace: “I also do custom work. If you have old pieces of Grandma’s jewelry sitting in a drawer, I love to do that—but I need some free reign.”

Interior Inspiration: “Inspiration comes from some of the design magazines. I used to get the greatest design magazines that are sadly no longer, like Domino. I would make a cup of coffee, look at those, and think, ‘OK, I’m ready to go!’ ”

Future Finds: “I would love for this to be more of a full-time thing. I would love to be able to travel with it. I would love to be able to go to each coast, and Europe would be amazing. Can you imagine some of the stuff you could find?”

Scout Vintage, 612-205-7498, scoutvintage.com