Local Business

Peapod Jewelry holds business after hours

CHARLOTTE BOYNTON, Staff Reporter
Tue, 11/06/2012 - 8:30am
Owner of the Peapod Jewelry Ronna Lugosch prepares for her guests at the Business After Hours event November 1. CHARLOTTE BOYNTON/Wiscasset Newspaper
Owner of the Peapod Jewelry Ronna Lugosch prepares for her guests at the Business After Hours event November 1. CHARLOTTE BOYNTON/Wiscasset Newspaper. Below: this 14k gold pendent of a dove holding a peapod in his mouth is a sample of the jewelry designed by Lugosch. Courtesy of Peapod Jewelry
This 14k gold pendent of a dove holding a peapod in his mouth is a sample of the jewelry designed by Lugosch. Courtesy of Peapod Jewelry
This 14k gold pendent of a dove holding a peapod in his mouth is a sample of the jewelry designed by Lugosch. Courtesy of Peapod Jewelry

Ronna Lugosch, owner of Peapod Jewelry in Edgecomb, hosted a Business after Hours event with about 60 people in attendance November 1. Damariscotta River Grill catered the event; the food was described as “mouthwatering.”

Lugosch opened her shop in Edgecomb in July 2011. She has five employees and is thrilled with the success of her business. Before opening her shop in Edgecomb, she had a shop in Round Pond for 11 years.

“Business has been wonderful; I am thrilled. I think everyone is thrilled,” she said. “I am especially, people have been wonderful.”

Lugosch’s interest in art began when she was 4 years old. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin, earned a master's degree in fine arts from Temple University's Tyler School of Art, and immediately began her career designing and making jewelry.

To earn money during those early years, she worked part-time restoring artifacts at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute Science Museum. That's where she met her husband, Emile.

In 1982, the couple was offered an opportunity to house-sit for the winter in South Bristol. They thought that if they could survive one Maine winter, they could live there year-round.

That spring they bought a circa-1880s house in a country setting near Round Pond Village. They added a studio and gallery, where Lugosch made and sold her designs until she opened her Edgecomb location.

The peapod design started in 1980 when a colleague suggested pearls to fill the hollow in her sculptural design. The peapod design was a just small part of her early collection until she found that customers treasured her peapod as a symbol for the family and encouraged her to expand the design.

Her shop is filled with beautifully design peapod-shaped jewelry with custom dyed pearls in the center. The assortment of peapod jewelry include: Podster the Peapod; Lobster: the Bumble Pea; Pine Tree Pod; Eye Pod; and even a Peapod Lighthouse.

Anyone looking for something elegant and beautiful should stop by the Peapod Jewelry. The store hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Most Popular