Rebel Nell repurposes material from street art and Michigan landmarks to center in its jewelry line.
Every piece of jewelry manufactured at Rebel Nell comes with a little piece of history.
Rebel Nell is a Detroit-based jewelry maker that provides employment for women transitioning out of shelter living. The small company helps struggling women learn the skills of employment and how to find suitable housing where they can live independently.
“We provide full-time employment in an uplifting and supportive work environment to help them address certain barriers that have been prohibitive in the past,” said co-founder and CEO Amy Peterson. “And we do that through teaching them the design work behind jewelry.”
The design work at Rebel Nell pays homage to historic landmarks in Detroit and the state of Michigan. Most of the rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets encapsulate a physical piece of local history including graffiti paint chips, theater seats, and wallpaper.
Peterson is an attorney who previously worked as counsel to the Detroit Tigers baseball team with the dream of becoming the first female, Major League Baseball general manager. That achievement, however, went to Kim Ng, who became the GM for the Miami Marlins in 2021.
While working for the Tigers in 2007, Peterson was living in downtown Detroit next door to a well-known women’s shelter. She would come home from a game, walk her dog, and talk to residents of COTS (Coalition On Temporary Shelter) and got to know many of the women.
“This was right in the middle of Detroit’s bankruptcy, which is an important part of the evolution of Rebel Nell,” said Peterson. “I was living right downtown, and I could visibly see the resources disappearing and I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to start a company that is dedicated to uplifting and supporting women and do the best we can.’ That’s when Rebel Nell was born.
“The women that we serve, many times the only difference between me and them is that I had a strong support system to help me when things fell through. Even some of the women we hired had some college education, but things happened. Like their family house caught on fire and they had their whole lives uprooted so every story is different, but the common thing is that they are in a shelter for some reason.
“We don’t do a background check because, to me, that’s not important. It’s where they are going that matters.”
Each of the women who transition from the shelter to independent living through a job at Rebel Nell is initially hired as a jewelry designer. The most prominent materials used in Rebel Nell designs are paint chips from graffiti that have fallen from Detroit’s many old landmark buildings.
And the sourcing of the paint chips is as simple as just picking them off the ground at old manufacturing plants and obsolete structures. Some locations require permission while others are open to all.
“Detroit has so many beautiful people, a lot of culture and history here and I thought that was reflected in a piece of graffiti that had fallen that was made up of so many layers, just like the so many layers of Detroit,” said Peterson. “I would see this material and say, ‘this would look cool as a necklace.’ It’s pretty special what has happened; how our city really truly is the definition of a phoenix, rising from the ashes. We can document those changes with our collections.”
There are no diamonds or precious gemstones at Rebel Nell. All collections feature material from buildings that have been torn down or restored. Pieces are made from silver or gold plating.
In place of precious stones, Rebel Nell uses material like tiles from Detroit’s historic Pewabic ceramic manufacturer, vinyl from the Tigers dugout, fabric from seats at the city’s majestic Fox Theater, records from the Motown Museum and wallpaper from the famous Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. Tiny pieces of the waste material from these places are placed in each piece of jewelry.
“The materials can be so many things, it’s all over the place,” said 43-year-old Western New York native. “We have made collections of material from Joe Louis Arena (torn-down home of the NHL Red Wings), The Palace (torn-down home of the NBA Pistons) and from the long-abandoned Packard automobile plant (designed by legendary architect Albert Kahn).
“We make jewelry from campus rocks, which many colleges have that students paint as a way of preserving their legacy. We will take the remnants of those once they fall on the ground and turn that old paint into collections.”
Peterson is paving the way for underprivileged women offering supportive services on how to operate a small business, housing resources and unexpected life moments. Her gumption is what led to the company name of Rebel Nell.
“We wanted to pay tribute to a woman, a trailblazer, and I have an affinity for Eleanor Roosevelt who was an incredible humanitarian and civil rights activist,” said Peterson. “Her dad called her ‘Little Nell’ and I thought she was deserving of a more badass nickname and that’s how we got Rebel Nell.
“The women that come through our doors are really rebelling against what life has dealt them, and we are dealing with fallen street art, which is a rebellious art form and therein lies the name.”
Rebel Nell currently has 14 employees at its manufacturing shop at Detroit’s Eastern Market, the largest public market district in the United States.
“Detroit is an abundant local resource and so, when due to expansion and contraction of the concrete of all the layers after a solid winter, we will have a good harvest,” said Peterson. “We don’t touch it until it is actually on the ground, and we just pick it up.”
The women of Rebel Nell are getting lift-up as well, remaking their lives one job, one piece of jewelry, and one place to live at a time.
“We know the jewelry industry is not the most transferable skill, but customer service is,” added Peterson. “We make sure there is a focus on customer service and how to act in front of customers. That applies to every job.
“I look at us as a transitional employer to help women in that next step from shelter to sustainability. I love this opportunity to help.”
While a substantial portion of Rebel Nell’s business is through corporate gifting, the company has retail stores at downtown’s Parker’s Alley behind the Shinola location and Detroit’s Metro Airport. Rebel Nell’s retail purchases come mostly from online sales.
To shop for Rebel Nell jewelry, visit www.rebelnell.com