Jewelry Designer Presley Oldham's Debut Home Collection

From an oval-shaped worry stone, composed of 110 grams of solid sterling silver, to dimple trays for rings and incense, a trio of nest trays, and a candle in a handblown vessel aswirl with color, Presley Oldham’s debut Home Collection marries the jewelry designer’s wondrous sensibilities with Upstate New York artisanal handicraft. As with Oldham’s jewelry pieces, every creation in the home collection is designed with more than one purpose.

The collection emerged from a period of reflection. “What I’ve always loved about having a brand is that I can create the world I want to see, be it with my jewelry, imagery, or community,” Oldham shares with Surface. “I kept returning to this idea, and as I approached the five-year anniversary of my company, I knew that I wanted to continue building the world and clarifying my voice as a designer.”

“I’ve always had the idea for a home collection in the back of my head, particularly a candle, and I thought this was the perfect starting point,” he continues. “I was already working on jewelry with glassmakers who could help craft the home pieces, and it felt like a natural expansion. Launching home is both a celebration of the brand I’ve built over the last five years and a peek at what I hope to grow over the next five years.”

Based in Hudson, New York, Oldham has worked with an extensive network of upstate glassmakers on his jewelry since his September 2024 show. “When I started dreaming up the home collection in January of this year, it made sense to work with the artisans in my community,” he says. “The candle vessels are blown glass and the trays and incense holders are lampwork glass—where you heat glass rods with a torch. It was exciting to translate these different methods of glassmaking, both of which I’ve used in my jewelry, into a new category of objects.”

“I wanted the candle vessel to feel unique, and blown glass is wonderfully unpredictable. Each piece is swirled in hues of blues and greens, and no two are exactly alike,” he says, suggesting that people could use it as a cup or catchall after the wax burns. “The trays and incense holders are more consistent, but you can tell they’re still crafted by hand, which was important to me. I wanted the home collection pieces to be able to fold into the world of my jewelry, and interact with my jewelry pieces.” 

The Sprout candle and incense introduce Oldham’s first scent. For it, he partnered with Ben Lewellyn of V.CM Village Common to compose the fragrance. “It was fun to learn how to describe smells while working with Ben upstate, and to design something that’s so personal like a scent,” he explains. “Ultimately, my own memories and emotions were the key to finding the language of the Sprout scent. When I think of comfort, the moments that come to mind were the endless childhood summers I spent in New Mexico with my grandparents. Wide open spaces, a gentle breeze on a sunny afternoon, a rainstorm off in the distant desert, and a cacophony of greenery around you. We went through a lot of different mixtures of oils to find the right recipe, but eventually found the perfect balance.”

“I would describe the Sprout scent as earthy and grounding, but with warmth and brightness,” he says. “The Texas Cedarwood is a note I knew I wanted from the start—it just smells like home to me and is the perfect woodsy, warm scent. The Cypress wood is a bit of a spicier, earthy wood to balance the grounding of the cedar. Oud is one of my favorite scents, and brings a sort of umami note to the candle—it’s perfectly sweet, woody, and sexy all at once. Vetiver is a grass that evokes that damp soil smell after rain, as well as some sweetness. This is all rounded out with the brightness of the clary sage, which brings a gentle touch of herbaceous into the mix.”

The worry stone might be the most tantalizing of the pieces—and the most personal. It is a cast of rock that sat on Oldham’s grandmother’s desk. “She would hold it as a sort of meditative object to find some comfort or grounding,” the designer shares. “It fits perfectly in your hand, and even has a little spot for your thumb to rest in. I introduced a slightly re-sculpted version as a pendant this season, and thought it would make a wonderful objet as well—particularly with the weight of solid sterling silver.”

Oldham intentionally kept his debut home collection concise. “I wanted to be mindful to keep this first collection tight and thoughtful, especially as an independent brand branching into a new category,” he says. “Once we’ve built the foundation, I want to grow the collection with vases, kitchenware, and perhaps lighting. And hopefully another candle and scent too.”