Are you seeking a gift for someone special? You may find the perfect item among Leslie Ligon’s selection of fashion braille jewelry. Her company, At First Sight, enchants the viewer with photos and descriptions of necklaces, bracelets, earrings, key chains, bookmarks, and rings. The pieces range in price from $10 to $295. All are lovely. All artfully incorporate braille in the design.

Award-winning Design

Leslie’s braille alphabet bracelet, dubbed a “Braille Fashion Cheat Sheet,” was winner of the Smithsonian, Cooper-Hewitt People’s Choice 2010 Award. The bracelet has the braille alphabet on the outside with the corresponding print on the reverse. It is available in jeweler’s metal with a bright shiny or a brushed silver plate finish or in solid sterling silver with a gemstone clasp.

Dedication to Braille

Braille became important to Leslie when, in 1997, she learned her infant son was blind. She was completely involved in his early education program from the start, insisting on a lively and enriched reading readiness program that included braille long before the little boy was of school age. Leslie set out to learn all she could about braille.

She started making fashion jewelry in 2001. By then her son was immersed in braille, and she got the idea of including braille in her jewelry. She wanted to do something different, something that “combined the aesthetics of design and the functionality of braille.” The result was her popular line of fashion jewelry sold through her online website, At First Sight.

Leslie currently is hand- casting a line of antiqued pewter jewelry. The first of these new pieces is a heart pendant with the braille word “love” on one side and the print word “love” on the other. This is a necklace that will go with just about anything. Leslie’s very first piece was the same design in sterling silver.

Images courtesy of At First Sight Braille Jewelry – Jewelry you’ll fall in love with.