By Danielle Montgomery
Photograph by Frank Di Piazza
Seven years ago, Courtney Hennessey was sitting in her parents’ dining room, working her fingers numb until 3 a.m. while her friends partied downtown so she could repay a debt to her father. “All I’d wanted to do was make myself a few simple crystal bracelets, but once I got to the local bead shop I went a little crazy with my dad’s credit card,” she says. “I started making jewelry to sell to friends and repay the bill, but then the orders began pouring in. Each customer was a walking advertisement to attract the next, and my hobby became my career.”
Over the next five years, she and her husband Mike Hopson traveled across the country, hosting jewelry parties and selling her artisan-bead jewelry to local boutiques. When they came back to St. Louis, the couple maintained the business from their home, stacking tray upon tray of turquoise, peridot, onyx, amethyst, citrine, carnelian, moonstone, iolite, Bali beads, Swarovski crystals and freshwater pearls. When their daughter, born in 2005, began taking an active interest in Mommy’s beads and entertaining her customers, the Hopsons realized that a retail shop might be necessary. And when the Melanie’s Jewelry space in the ClayPrice Center became available, they knew they’d found the perfect location.
Open since July, Codi, The Boutique now operates as the physical realization of the concept that got Hennessey [now Hopson] started: jewelry parties. “I want our customers to relax and feel as if they are sitting comfortably in their own living rooms,” she says. “That’s what our company is all about.”
Codi, The Boutique | 9218 Clayton | 314-692-2634 | www.codijewelry.com
