Talk Shop: Hart Hagerty // Hart
ABOUT HART
Hart Haggerty founded her namesake jewelry line in 2016, bringing a deeply personal perspective shaped by both global experience and Southern roots. A seventh-generation Charlestonian, Hart spent five years living in Shanghai after studying Chinese and Sociology at Vanderbilt, followed by a chapter in New York working in advertising before returning home to build her brand, HART Jewelry.
Today, HART is known for its soulful, personalized pieces—modern heirlooms designed to be worn every day and collected over time. With a growing presence that includes multiple retail stores alongside its online business, the brand remains grounded in craftsmanship, symbolism, and meaningful self-expression. When she’s not working, Hart embraces life in the Lowcountry—sailing with her husband, hosting porch parties, painting local flora, and keeping up with her two young daughters.
Describe your style in three words or less:
Eclectic, warm, and intuitive.
What have been the three biggest influences on your aesthetic in your life:
My parents’ (my childhood) home is in downtown Charleston. It’s a grand old house built in 1774. The inside is layered with my dad’s vibrant surrealist art, my mom’s love of global textiles, and antiques. Amelia Handegan decorated their house in the 90s – chartreuse paint, star-embossed walls, plush raw silk curtains. The layered maximalism left a strong imprint.
Rock ‘n’ roll music and its bohemian icons like Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix. I just love their stage looks. The skinny leather trousers, the embellished jackets, silky blouses, and piles of eclectic jewelry, of course.
My hometown is Charleston. I still get hit by waves of gratitude and pleasure just walking the dogs, dropping my kids off, and daily life is a sensual treat. Each day brings a new detail to discover: a scroll in an iron gate, a secret garden, nerding out on the original dental molding at a friend’s historic house.
What is your favorite thing about what you do:
My favorite part of my job is its constant evolution. Each day brings a different learning. Just when we think we can exhale and coast for a bit, a new opportunity or challenge arises. Whether that’s designing and opening a pop-up store within 3 weeks, fast-tracking a design collaboration with another brand in time for a summer launch, or jetting off to Jaipur to meet and brainstorm with new manufacturers. My mom’s favorite quote - ‘Boredom is the shriek of unchallenged capacities’ - was sticky-noted to our childhood fridge. I’m never, ever bored.
Do you have a mentor in your career, and if so, how have they helped to shape your trajectory:
I am lucky to call Jill Sharp Weeks a very dear friend. To be in one of her special homes is like sitting inside a Picasso painting. She is truly a master artist with interiors and styling. Over the years, she has encouraged me to embrace my unique aesthetic and instilled confidence in my taste and eye. We can literally talk for hours - there’s never enough time with her. She is a beloved cheerleader, and we are plotting a jewelry collaboration one day.
What does your home say about you:
My hope is that it says I’m a lot of fun, that you feel welcome, that I enjoy the hell out of life! I truly believe each moment is a gift. So I design my home so that each room and corner enables me to seize the magic in each moment. Hedonism on the porch, comfort by the fire, entertaining friends around the dinner table, quiet reflection in a sunny corner, hard work in my home office.
Where do you find inspiration:
Cliché, but travel. I’m lucky to travel a lot for work – Marrakech, Jaipur, Mexico City, Tucson, New York, Hong Kong, Jamaica… just to name a few for this year. Locally, I love a good rummage through antique malls - junky or fancy. If I have 3 hours to myself, I’ll go to a local antique mall, slowly wandering the booths for hours to collect objects for my home or antique jewelry and silver for design inspiration.
Who are your style icons:
Interiors - Rita Konig is tippy top for me.
Fashion - Loulou De La Falaise and Alexa Chung.
What are your key ingredients for entertaining:
Soft candlelight, jazzy but unobtrusive tunes (Dos Gardenias radio, Prince’s ‘Piano and a Microphone’ album) are a must. But the biggest thing is being a relaxed host, which is achieved by doing as much prep as possible, and putting your feet up to enjoy a drink at least 30 minutes before your friends arrive. Nobody wants to hang with a stressed-out host. Don’t attempt any new recipes. Simple is best. And dessert is Klondike bars on your finest silver platter.
Do you collect anything:
Glassware by Laguna~B and Alex Eagle. Hunks of lapis and pyrite, which I get at the Tucson Gem Show. Design and art books. Pewter pitchers. Funky beaded or mesh vintage handbags. Old Etro via The Real Real.
Favorite Instagram accounts to follow for inspiration (please include links):
With the risk of sounding like obnoxious virtue signaling, I am trying really hard to limit my scrolling these days and look to vintage and old books instead for inspiration. @archaeologyart, @profgalloway, and @gwynethpaltrow.
What jewelry “rule” do you always follow, and which is made to be broken:
Other than proper care of your jewelry, I don’t think there should be any rules. Mix your metals and materials. Mix high-end with low-end. The funkier and more personal, the better. Get your kids to make you a silly seed bead / plastic bracelet to wear alongside your finest watch.
What piece of jewelry do you never take off:
My engagement ring, which I designed. It’s modeled off of an Art Deco era Cartier ‘target ring’ with emeralds and an old diamond with lots of personality. I really should be better about taking it off… I wear it sailing, gardening, surfing…
How has running HART changed your relationship with jewelry:
Running HART changed my relationship with jewelry. There are two worlds in jewelry: heirloom fine jewelry (solid gold), and disposable fashion jewelry (90% of it is total soulless garbage that quickly ends up in a landfill). Our goal has been to build a meaningful middle — pieces with intention, design, and real durability, but still attainable. Since 2019, we’ve invested deeply in our gold-plating process and responsible sourcing to make that possible, and I’ve learned firsthand how complicated jewelry is. While our jewelry is not indestructible, I’m genuinely proud of what we make. It’s been incredibly difficult to get to where we are today; jewelry is a very technical product. I am proud of our resilience, and we’re always thinking about innovation and improvement in this category.
What are you working on right now:
Personally: Working with designer Allison Abney to redesign my house, a classic 1840 Charleston single in the quiet Ansonborough neighborhood.
Professionally: Special talismans with superpowers that are unapologetically woo-woo and tap into my unbridled optimism and desire to wear my values without being too serious. Pendants in the form of magnets about the law of attraction, lucky lottery tickets, cosmic dice, memento mori skulls, you name it. I am not holding back!
Wardrobe staples:
Vintage levis. I have 20 pairs. It’s sick.
Several charm necklaces – loaded, simple, long, short, with vintage charms mixed in with my designs.
Vintage statement jackets - brown leather, vintage Escada or Etro, army fatigue, 80s beaded cocktail toppers…
Best career advice you ever received:
Don’t accept no as their first answer. But also, rejection can be the universe’s redirection….So there’s a tricky balance between resilience and acceptance…!
Your greatest extravagance:
I love clothes, but I’m rarely inspired to buy brand-new, full-price contemporary pieces. Instead, I buy a lot of second-hand on The Real Real. Saved searches include Etro, Missoni, and Roberto Cavalli.
Favorite places to shop:
Get me to any vintage mall, thrift store, or consignment store, and I’m happy. For furniture, I love Round Top. Online, mostly The Real Real.
Most prized possession and why:
I’m really proud of my house. I’ve worked really hard to buy it, and I am so excited to shift into high design gear this year!
Your life motto:
Every moment is a gift.
Advice for someone looking to define their own interior style:
Don’t just passively scroll or flip through a book. Get your hands busy. Print out photos, rip out pages, make a collage, dedicate a journal to your style. Get daydreamy… make lists, doodle, scrapbook. Ask yourself, why am I drawn to this photo? What do I actually like, and why do I like it?
Take Ten: My Favorite…
Food: Crab soup or oyster pie
Drink: Vodka martini, slightly dirty. Or with a lot of vermouth and a twist.
Film: Best in Show. Dogs and humor, what more do you want?
Hotel: Golden Eye in Jamaica
City: Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City
Bedding: I can’t bring myself to drop real coin on sheets yet. So Quince’s organic percale is doing the job lately!
Tea or Coffee (and how do you take it): Coffee with heavy cream! The fattier the better. Trust me. You won’t go back to half and half ever again.
Playlist: The entirety of War on Drugs
Weekend Activity: I do love hosting a dinner party. Or, lazily, coffee in bed while my girls happily rot while watching cartoons, followed by a late family breakfast of my epic homemade French toast to fuel up for a family beach outing with surfboards and boogie boards.
Design Book: Rita Konig’s Domestic Bliss: Simple Ways to Add Style to Your Life is SUCH a charming, useful, and joyful read. She has timeless tips from how to host cocktail parties to how to spoil your godchildren. It’s very underrated in my opinion.