By Julie Wenger Watson for TulsaPeople

Jewelry from Dillon/Rose holds a special place in the memories of Tulsans who have popped the question or commemorated a milestone with local artist Rachel Dazey’s creations. Dazey has, in a sense, fostered meaningful experiences since she started making jewelry, but she also creates them, hosting small classes where people can make their own cuffs.

However, one of her latest events is interactive in a new way. Dazey partnered with local baker and chef Cat Cox for a monthly “Hidden Gem” dinner as an opportunity to create community through a shared meal and conversation. Cox preps the meal with local ingredients, and one lucky diner goes home with one of Dazey’s rings, which has been baked into an artisan loaf of sourdough.

The idea is to bring people together. “Our work is about relationships,” Dazey says. “If we work together, we can create better systems of living and a more enjoyable experience of life.”

Working together is central to Dazey, who co-owns her business with husband Seth. The two are partners in every sense of the word. As busy parents of two young children, the couple works together to juggle the demands of their personal and professional lives.

“Dillon/Rose, the name of our business, comes from Seth’s middle name and my middle name,” she says. That’s the short story. “The longer story is that our work is about relationships, and symbiosis (in) relationships — how there’s always this give and take between people.”

Dazey learned to weld and make jewelry when the couple was traveling through Mexico, trading her first bracelets for a meal of tacos.

The Dazey's make an effort to be involved members of their community, creating jewelry lines that speak to specific social issues and donating a percentage of sales to related causes. “Social justice and activism have always been really important to us,” Dazey says. “It’s been the key to our individual journeys. It’s really important to us that it’s part of our business ethos and our creativity. Having a partnership where we both want the same thing makes us so much stronger.”