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On her own time, in her own way

Culture | December 10th, 2015

Designer Cari Ann Golden’s brand expands into fashion

by Alicia Underlee Nelson

“I’ve always made stuff, “ said Cari Ann Golden. “I didn’t realize until about three years ago that people would buy stuff.”

The Fargo jewelry designer and seamstress began selling striking, handmade jewelry under the Wuve label in 2012. And Golden has been expanding her line and growing her business ever since.

A native of Danvers, Minnesota, Golden has always been creative. A high-powered career in Internet business sales and marketing meant that making things started as just a hobby and then evolved into a side business.

Golden’s early success making and selling striking stud earrings, natural gemstones and wood jewelry – and the joy she found in doing it – made working for herself a very real and compelling option. But long hours in the office frequently put her creative work on the back burner. “I had to choose,” Golden remembered. “I ended up quitting my job instead.”

Golden set up a studio in the downtown home she shares with her husband, Jason Gully Renman, and continued to strategically expand Wuve with the same verve and tenacity that made her a successful salesperson. Only now, the business she’s building is her own. And she’s doing it on her own time, in her own way.

“My husband gets out and goes to work every day and I get out and sit down at my sewing machine,” she said. “Some days I don’t hardly work at all. Sometimes I get up at 6 o’clock in the morning and work until twelve o‘clock at night. And it doesn’t seem like work to me. It’s definitely what I want to do.”

Golden still sells her jewelry at craft shows throughout the Midwest, hitting the road every weekend since mid-October to show off her wares at gatherings as far away as Minneapolis and Detroit. But her recent expansion into men’s, women’s, plus size and custom clothing has really struck a chord with customers.

The clothing Golden creates is vividly colorful, featuring heady doses of cobalt and crimson, ochre and jade. Wuve dresses and aprons have a saucy retro silhouette while the men’s shirts are bright and playful. And both the men’s and women’s shirt designs borrow elements from western wear, with patterned yokes and shiny pearl buttons marching up the front and at the cuffs.

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