Collingswood resident Marisa Lombardo is probably best-known for owning local restaurant Sapori Trattoria Italiana for the past seven years with her husband, Franco Lombardo. 

But the 36-year-old, mother of three is gaining recognition for another passionate endeavor—her jewelry line, Artemisia. 

The line has already been featured in publications such as Lucky, Philadelphia and Philadelphia Style magazines. And in 2011, the Courier-Post's South Jersey magazine will highlight the line on its cover. Lombardo said the feature is scheduled to run Sunday, Jan. 2.

Most recently, Lombardo has added edgy, urban vintage-inspired boutique Anthropologie to her roster.

"Artemisia is in the Rockefeller Center Anthropologie store, in New York City, right now," said Lombardo of 25 jewelry pieces and 45 hair clips the store will sell. "We're only in the Rockefeller location for now. I told them to take this collection, put it in the store, see how it does—and hopefully, more Anthropologie locations will follow."

What does the designer think sets Artemisia apart?

"Nothing about the line is methodical, roped or ordinary. Nothing repeats itself," said Lombardo.

A true statement—Lombardo said each piece is one-of-a-kind, because it's made from an antique.

According to Lombardo, this is how a piece is born:

"I'll go 'antiquing,'" she said of visiting antique stores and vintage markets. "When I find a piece that speaks to me, I buy it, and I'm inspired to create something from it—because of it."

Even the designer's antiquing outings are one-of-a-kind. Born in America, Lombardo's life was split living between the United States and her father's hometown in Italy.

"I grew up cross-culturally, spending the school months here, the summers and holidays in Italy," she said. "I went to university in Rome, and lived in Edinburgh, Scotland for some time. So my cultural background sort of carries through to my jewelry collections."

For Lombardo, that means frequent trips overseas to Italy, England and other countries just to go antiquing.

"I make pieces as they come to me, which sometimes means I'll come home empty-handed," she said. "At times, I'll have 100 pieces to sell, and then I'll have nothing for six months. I don't work on a supply-and-demand basis."

But the lack of both method and consistency works for Lombardo.

"I don't do collections by season, but that works out fine with stores I've worked for. They treat me as an artist," she said, citing Marlton boutique Primadonna as a long-time seller of Artemisia jewelry. 

The pieces speak for themselves, said Lombardo, which justifies why retailers will still stock Artemisia after a six-month jewelry drought.

"At the Rockefeller Anthropologie, I just delivered close to 50 feather hair pieces, all made from the cogs and wheels of old watches—basically, the nuts and bolts, the inner-workings of a watch," she said.

Lombardo has been creating jewelry for 10 years, and has even previously launched a clothing line and a children's line for Artemisia. But today, jewelry is her main priority.

"Since my jewelry collection is starting to bloom, I chose to focus on that. I can't do it all," said Lombardo, who has three children, Sebastiano, 8, Sonia, 7, and 4-year-old Simona.

Artemisia jewelry starts at around $70, but more intricate pieces can run as high as $600.

"The pieces speak to me, so there's a lot of spontaneity in my art," she said. "I only work when things inspire me—kind of like a sculptor, who sits in front of a big piece of marble until the sculpture just emerges."