EDMONTON - Luiza Klebek’s jewelry is not for the timid. If you don’t like to be noticed, don’t wear one of her pieces because you will get stares, and comments and questions, she warns.

The attention the Edmonton designer got from wearing her own creations is what launched her home-studio-based business, Mi & Bee Design, three years ago.

Every one of her bold and dramatic necklaces, bracelets and earrings, made of silver and natural gemstones, and Swarovski crystals, is one-of-a-kind.

And like an original painting or sculpture, each piece is titled. The names usually reflect places she’s been — and she’s travelled the world — or events. A crystal quartz, sterling silver and fine silver necklace she designed for herself for her brother’s wedding is titled His Big Day.

The married mom of two is absolutely passionate about originality; even her company tag line bids potential buyers to “Express Your Individuality.” It means when stores such as Katwalk Shoes, 18336 Lessard Rd., sell out of her pieces, they can’t get more of the same even if they could sell a lot more.

“Luiza’s like, ‘No more, I can’t make anymore because then it won’t be unique,’ ” Katwalk owner Kathy Holub says.

“I hate reproductions of anything and I hate the fact that we live in this world where everything is mass-produced,” Klebek explains. “I can’t stand that.

“That’s why, to me, jewelry is wearable art, and that’s how a lot of women who buy it say they think of it. They love wearing it because it’s totally unique to them, and that’s what I want. I want everyone to have something totally unique without having to spend $5,000 or $10,000.”

Her bracelets sell for between $50 and $125, her necklaces for $100 to $300, which makes them affordable for most people, she says.

And 90 per cent of the pieces she makes can be worn with anything, at any time, including jeans and a T-shirt, she adds.

“I’ve made thousands of pieces and I’ve never reproduced the exact same piece,” Klebek says proudly. “I’ll use a different silver piece, a different chain, style of clasp, or arrangement of rocks.”

Her stones are all natural and of the highest quality. They come from all over the globe — from as far away as Turkey and Iran, where she gets lapis lazuli, an intense blue, semi-precious stone, to right here in Canada, where she obtains the amethyst, a transparent purple variety of quartz, from Ontario.

The chunky look of her jewelry appeals to women who are confident, outgoing and have a certain personality that can handle the attention it gets them, Klebek says.

Others are scared of it or completely intimidated by it and say, “Oh, I could never wear that,” she adds.

“I totally respect that, but if they’ve never tried on a piece, I suggest they do.”

One woman who had only ever worn dainty silver or gold chains with a birthstone, wound up buying one of Klebek’s biggest turquoise pieces because she loved it. It was just a matter of trying it on, the designer says.

Klebek’s favourite stone is crystal quartz, which is also popular with most of her clients because it’s clear and goes with everything from black to plaid to wedding white.

She chooses the gemstones for her pieces strictly for esthetics, how they look, but acknowledges that some people buy them because they like amethyst, for example, or the colour purple, or because they believe amethyst is “the stone” of healing.

Klebek’s says she has never felt a warm or healing sensation from any of her stones, but some buyers have told her they feel an unbelievable energy.

“I think what comes through for some people is I put an incredible amount of passion into this. I love doing it, so what I hope comes through is that passion.”

czdeb@edmontonjournal.com