Gucci. Dolce & Gabbana. Louis Vuitton. Many of the most recognizable, global brands for high-end fashion and haute couture span Chicago’s iconic Magnificent Mile with flagship stores on this upscale stretch of Michigan Avenue. And so, as a Chicago native herself, Dana Gordon knew the gravity of making her own fashion statement in this neighborhood when she started Dana Rebecca Designs 17 years ago.

“When I launched Dana Rebecca Designs, one of the most important things I wanted was for there to be an accessible fine jewelry brand that you could buy that was comparable to buying a beautiful new handbag or a pair of shoes or a coat,” explained Dana.

It is not just her rings, necklaces and earrings that are as approachable as they are elegant, Dana herself makes a consistent point of being highly accessible herself on social media by giving her customers a regular, behind-the-scenes, real feel for what it takes to run Dana Rebecca Designs.

“Our social media channels are so important to us. It’s a direct line of communication to our customer,” Dana said referring to the more than 140 thousand Instagram followers of the company’s @danarebecca IG account. “My DMs are overflowing at all times with people wanting to hear where my daughter’s jeans are from, all the way to what length of a necklace that I’m wearing.

“I share the struggles that I have with being a business owner and a mom and a wife. It is all raw and all real, but a lot of behind the scenes that gets you to see what it’s like being at Dana Rebecca Designs.”

While the brand honors the timeless appeal of heirloom jewelry, Dana says it also recognizes the desire of a contemporary woman for versatility and everyday wearability.

“I love the idea of jewelry being passed down, and so I love investing in a piece that you’ll have for a lifetime,” Dana said with a smile. “But I also think that it is really important to be able to wear your jewelry every day.”

A legacy carved in diamonds

The story of Dana Rebecca Designs is deeply rooted in family tradition.

“I grew up in the jewelry industry,” reflected Dana. “I feel like I have diamonds in my DNA, and it is just running through my blood. My family has been in (jewelry) manufacturing for over 50 years. I’m a third-generation jewelry designer, and I take so much pride in what I do, following in the footsteps of the great men before me – my grandfather and my father.”

At an early age, Dana and her two siblings, Jen Wainstein and Noah Levy, both of whom are now partners at Dana Rebecca Designs, all spent their days off from school at their father’s factory in Chicago’s Jewelers Row in The Loop. There, they would learn the trade from their father, Israel Levy, Founder of Levy Creations which is one of the largest manufacturers of engagement and wedding jewelry nationwide. Israel Levy started his manufacturing business in 1972 and has been making jewelry in almost in the same location for more than 50 years.

“I have the fondest memories of growing up in my family’s factory,” Dana lovingly reminisced about going to work with her father as a little girl. “Take your daughter to work day was one of my favorite days. I got to bring a friend, and we would get to spend time creating jewelry and dreaming up beautiful pieces that we would one day hopefully have. Those dreams are what I have now today in Dana Rebecca Designs.”

Dana’s journey to Dana Rebecca Designs was not a straight path. After studying at the University of Texas in Austin with her sights set on law school, her plans took a detour.

“After several years in the jewelry industry making beaded fine jewelry, I got a little bit of encouragement that maybe I should attend the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) where diamonds are graded,” explained Dana.

At the GIA, she studied in their applied jewelry arts program, which solidified her passion for jewelry design. Even before her formal education in gemology, Dana’s entrepreneurial spirit was omnipresent, even as a teenager.

“I launched my first company and collection when I was 16 years old,” Dana said with a palpable sense of pride, albeit laced with the loving humility that is a well-known character trait of hers. “I have always been creative. I’ve always loved to make jewelry with my hands. I started with beaded jewelry, and I slowly transitioned into fine jewelry.”

While Dana cherished her family’s legacy, she also wanted to carve out her own niche in the industry.

“I knew that I wanted to do my own thing, separating myself from my family’s business, which was more classic diamond-heavy fine jewelry,” explained Dana. “I wanted to create the type of jewelry you can take on and off every day, add and layer onto. I wanted to have a little bit more fun and a little bit more personality with the jewelry.”

This vision resulted in the birth of Dana Rebecca Designs in May 2007. The brand embodies Dana’s unique approach to designing jewelry which is luxurious but accessible. While Dana Rebecca Designs brings a fresh perspective to the jewelry industry, it still honors the time-tested techniques that have been the backbone of the family’s craft for decades.

“A lot of the manufacturing process we’ve been doing the same way for twenty or thirty years,” noted Dana’s brother, Noah who heads up the wedding and engagement division of the company.

“Things have changed, gotten a little bit more technological. How we make the original models has gone from hand carving waxes to now computer-generated design and 3D printing, but some of the other parts of the process are still all done by hand the same way we did them years ago.”

Many of the same artists who delicately assembled jewelry for Dana’s father now hand craft jewelry for Dana Rebecca Designs, often sitting, in fact, at the same workstations in the same factory as they had for decades for Levy Creations.

“It’s a very skilled trade,” added Noah. “The men and women who are helping craft the jewelry, a lot of them have been here working for my dad for 30, 40, 50 years, just hand-making jewelry day in and day out. Styles have changed. Times have change. Methods have changed, but the people have stayed the same.”

A family affair

One of the signatures of a piece from a Dana Rebecca collection is how Dana names her lines after important women in her life, including her grandmother Nana Bernice and her daughters, Poppy Rae and Lulu Jack.

“It’s a beautiful tradition,” said Dana with a loving smile. “I love paying respect and honor to all of the women who have come before me and all the little girls who will be around after me and just the special feeling that every piece is connected to someone and something more than just a piece of jewelry.”

For the team at Dana Rebecca Designs, their work means more than simply selling jewelry.

“To know that someone will be wearing a Dana Rebecca Designs ring for potentially the rest of their life is really something that we do not take lightly,” said Noah. “We want it to be something that they’re gonna love, not just when they receive it as that gift or that proposal, it’s something they’re going to love 10, 15, 50 years down the line.”

From Chicago retailer to jeweler of the stars

These days, Dana Rebecca Designs reaches a customer base far afield from the high-rise view of its headquarters on Chicago’s famed Magnificent Mile. The brand is sold by Nordstrom as its exclusive retailer and can be found in the cases of roughly 50 independent retailers nationwide. There is also a showroom of Dana Rebecca Designs in New York City, which is run by Dana’s sister, Jen Wainstein, who also handles wholesale accounts for the business.

Not a week seems to pass without a Hollywood A-lister or a notable celebrity photographed by the paparazzi wearing bling from Dana Rebecca Designs. That list has included Oprah Winfrey, actresses Halle Berry, Reese Witherspoon and Sofia Vergara, as well as singer-songwriter, Taylor Swift.

“I never dreamed of Dana Rebecca being as big as it is,” expressed Dana. “I’m very proud to be here in Chicago. This is my hometown, and I can never imagine myself being anywhere else. I do love that we are able to be a national brand with footprints in other cities, but Chicago is my home.”

“I love our customers. Our customers make us so proud,” Dana noted during our interview which spanned the course of a day. “We have such an incredible community and being a retailer just gives me such insight directly to the customer. I love that you can make an appointment and get a very personalized experience with someone on our team. I think it paves the way to build a beautiful jewelry collection, because we get to talk about what you may already have. It’s so important that we help you build a thoughtful and curated collection that you’ll love for a lifetime.”

Supporting women

As a strong, successful female-founded business, Dana Gordon works hard to be a vocal advocate for uplifting other female entrepreneurs. In the fall of 2020, Dana launched an initiative she calls “Female Founded Fridays.” This project serves as a way for Dana to spotlight and celebrate other women-led brands which have inspired her throughout her journey.

“I’m incredibly passionate about following and supporting other female founders,” said Dana. “I think it is really important for women to band together.

“I love being able to follow the journey that other women are having,” added Dana. “It feels very inspiring and comforting. I will always be there for other female founders like many were there for me. But, I believe that we need to do a little bit more work to really truly support one another. Female Founded Friday is an awesome opportunity for me to explore other brands, but also to get to share with my community what I’m loving.”

These days, Dana Gordon is very much loving the journey of Dana Rebecca Designs, providing high-end jewelry to women nationwide from her hometown of Chicago.

“Jewelry makes you feel good. It’s such a beautiful thing that gives you butterflies in your stomach. I always get excited when I put my jewelry on in the morning. So, I love that I get to pass that on to other women and that it’s a positive, beautiful thing.”