About this girl

Amanda Cargill Austin is simply a 30 year old California girl, born and raised in the Valley; a true Valley Girl, currently living on the Oregon Coast, just skipping through life the best way she knows how.

Amanda is passionate about making borosilicate glass lampwork beads, collecting beads in general and designing jewelry. As a little girl one of her favorite things to do was to sit with her Nana and explore the treasures within her jewelry boxes, every piece of jewelry had a story, and she was intrigued by every bit of it, it was then that she fell in love with all things that sparkle and shine.  

Amanda's obsession with making jewelry started in high school with hemp macramé necklaces that she made with her friends. It didn't take long before she started finding herself at Michaels just grazing the bead section; once she started spending more money at Michaels than Old Navy she knew she had an addiction on her hands. She quickly expanded her horizons and started making all types of jewelry, not just macramé necklaces and bracelets with beads from Michaels. She soon made it her mission to conquer every bead store within driving distance, no matter where she was. She made gifts for her family and friends which they all loved, and started selling her designs at a local beauty salon, and eventually made her way to local farmers markets on the weekends. 

During June of 2009 Amanda and her husband both lost their jobs within 3 days of each other, what seemed to be a curse turned out to be a blessing in disguise...being the entrepreneur that she is Amanda decided that it was time to push herself into following her dream of building an empire. Figuring out just exactly what she wanted to do didn't take long either, she wanted to make jewelry, freelance photography and real estate marketing, and that's exactly what she does.

 

A few weeks after Amanda lost her job she was searching craigslist for a photography lead or two when she came across an ad listed in the 'creative service' section advertising a full lampwork studio set-up for sale which sparked her interest. She Googled 'lampworking', watched a few YouTube videos and fell in love with the idea of playing with fire in her garage. Two days later she emptied out her savings account and turned her garage into a lampwork studio.

Amanda is a self-taught artist who pays credit of her success to her extremely supportive family and friends. She loves incorporating artisan made components in her designs, and enjoys seeing her own lampwork beads blossom into life in the designs of other artists’ creations. She recently taught her first class on embossing metal at Beads on Main in her hometown of Vacaville, CA and looks forward to the opportunity to teach more classes in the near future.

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