Personalize your lid with locally-made hat bands in Vail Village shop

Western hats are very popular right now and although you can choose the hat style, crown shape, brim shape, type of felt and color, the real personality shines through with a hat band. At Kemo Sabe in Vail Village, check out the beautifully designed hat bands from Mountain Gems Hand Crafted.

Mountain Gems Hand Crafted was created by two friends who had a passion for fashion and style. Carolyn Block and Shannon Loup started the company two years ago out of a desire to be creative and to bring something unique to the marketplace.

“I don’t have a background in making jewelry, I just kind of started doing it during the pandemic and the styles have evolved,” Block said.

Loup has an artistic side and used to paint and make jewelry before life got busy, but her creative juices started flowing again when she teamed up with Block during the pandemic and the two were designing pieces together.

“I was just doing it for fun and then Carolyn said, ‘you need to do this. You are way too passionate about it. You need to do this with me,’ and here we are today,” Loup said.

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The two started out in small home studios west of Vail in Wolcott. As Mountain Gems Hand Crafted has grown, so have their studio spaces. The hat bands evolved from the jewelry designs that they originally started with, which were handmade snake vertebrae and gemstone pieces.

“We dye the snake vertebrae with tree root to make it turn black, or we use coffee to turn the bones a light brown color, and each shade is different depending on how the vertebrae takes to the color,” Loup said. “The snake vertebrae is something distinctively different, which is appealing to us. It’s ‘badass meets beautiful’ when we combine the snake vertebrae with diamonds, gemstones and pearls to create our unique jewelry and hat bands.”

The pieces that Loup and Block make by hand are not only beautiful, but they are also versatile. Wear them as a hat band one day, then as a necklace the next day and turn the piece around for a different look at night. The creativity is unmatched and the reactions Loup and Block get from customers are rewarding.

“We feel like what we have is something that is not on the market already. We have unusual and distinctive products and a lot of people come in say ‘Oh, wow, I’ve never seen this before,” Block said. “We both get a sense of great pride when we see someone fall in love with pieces that we created. There are lots of choices with our pieces and many different ways to wear even one piece of jewelry, which sets us apart from other designers.”

Kemo Sabe likes Mountain Gems Hand Crafted products so much that they carry its designs in not only the Vail location, but also in the store’s four other locations in Aspen, Colorado; Park City, Utah; Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Round Top, Texas.

“I’ve been a Kemo Sabe customer long before I was a vendor,” jokes Loup, as she and Block mingle throughout the Vail store during the trunk show this week. At the trunk show, which runs through Saturday, you’ll find a few more of Loup’s and Block’s designs on display. View the Stetson hat with the Gus crown in chocolate brown and admire the Herkimer diamond hat band layered with the Buffalo Nickle coin hat band. The Buffalo Nickel is rare and known for good luck and prosperity. Or if you are into more bling, check out the Diamond Cut Collection with an emerald cut style and a round cut style necklace.

“We have them on chains as a single or a triple and you can wear them layered which is popular right now and then we show it with our paperclip chain that can be used as a hat band or as a necklace,” Loup said.

The Mountain Gems Hand Crafted jewelry line can be found at Avalon Clothing Company in Beaver Creek and Lionshead Village. You can also shop online at MountainGemsHC.com and follow Loup and Block on Facebook and Instagram to see the latest designs, sales, trunk shows and other happenings.