About Hibana | A Revolutionary Jewelry Organizer
For as long as I can remember, I have loved jewelry.
I have pieces from high school, college, vacations with my family, gifts from family members and friends, specific pieces from jewelry artists I admire, and pieces I bought for special occasions. Like many people, my jewelry was stored all over—in jewelry boxes, drawers, in the boxes that they came in, on necklace trees, earring dishes, and ring stands.
Still, I pretty much wore the same pieces every day.
When I was getting ready in the morning, if a necklace was not in my immediate sight line, it stayed in its box. Or, I would reach for a piece and find it in a tangled mess, or tarnished and in need of a cleaning I didn’t have time for. I sought but never found a cohesive system to store my jewelry.
In 2020, I moved to the coast of Maine. I continued to store my jewelry in a haphazard manner although, with the move, I had more room for necklace, bracelet, and earring trees. My jewelry was now in my line of vision—and what I saw was that most pieces were tarnishing at a much faster rate now that I lived in a more humid environment.
That’s when I learned that the best way to store jewelry, especially sterling silver jewelry, was in anti-tarnish ziplock pouches.
I could even purchase them in a variety of sizes. All of my jewelry went into pouches and I stored those pouches in a large jewelry box. Problem solved? Not quite. I still wore the same pieces most days because I didn’t have the time to sort through the pouches in my jewelry box. Now what?
The next step in my efforts to properly care for and organize my jewelry was to go to an office supply store to buy binders and plastic pages with sleeves that would hold the pouches of jewelry. I created something very similar to what my children used to store their trading card collections.
Now I could see all of my jewelry, organized and stored, and choose what I was going to wear just by flipping the pages in the binder. I was rotating the jewelry I wore each day, including some pieces that I hadn’t worn in years. I was getting closer—but the pages weren’t quite strong enough to support the weight of the jewelry, and since the pages were clear, I was faced with looking at stacked layers of jewelry which became a visual jumble. In addition, the binders wouldn’t stay closed – and while functional, there were still flaws in the system and the binders weren’t aesthetically appealing.
That’s when the Hibana System began developing in my imagination. I wanted to use the parts of my cobbled together system that worked—the ziplock pouches, and pages with sleeves—and make it not just better, but beautiful, worthy of keeping my jewelry safe and organized and still functional. As I started sharing ideas with my husband and my daughter, my friends, and coworkers, I found that people not only wanted an organization system like Hibana, but now we were all brainstorming how to make this product the best it could be. The travel edition was added; perfect for travel but also, a smaller version that could stand alone as its own system.
Around this time, I lost a dear friend very unexpectedly. She was also a collector of jewelry. When her family and friends went to her home to gather her personal items, they found jewelry stored exactly as I had always stored my jewelry – all over her home. Unfortunately, what they realized is that she had many beautiful pieces of jewelry, but no one really knew the story of her collection. Not to mention, inexpensive items were heaped in large ziploc bags along with her very expensive pieces. Those bags changed hands several times and became slated for a tag sale. At a glance, the jewelry didn’t appear to be anything special, but some friends of hers retrieved the bags and then spent days sorting through the treasures, making sure each piece went to someone who would appreciate it. It was through this experience that another feature of the Hibana System was born: understanding that our jewelry represents so many different periods, events, and relationships in our lives, the Hibana system could help us tell our stories.
The Hibana jewelry organizer system includes black cards in two sizes that fit in each of the slots for jewelry pouches. Those cards can have multiple uses—documenting the value of a piece, identifying the artist who created the piece, identifying the metal, gemstone, carat weight, etc. And, perhaps even more significant, the cards may be used to tell our stories. In just a few sentences, when did you get that necklace? Where did you wear those earrings? What was the occasion? Who gave it to you and why? The cards provide a method to document our memories and share our stories through our jewelry collection.
In 2020, I lost my mother to dementia. She was young, and her decline occurred over several years, and yet it still feels like it happened too quickly. As her memory faded, many of her stories were lost. As a child, I loved trying on my mom’s jewelry. It was a special treat when I was allowed to go into her jewelry box and play dress up. However, when she passed, I realized I didn’t know much about the origin of her jewelry. As a family, we could piece together some stories, but many were lost.
I thought of my own jewelry collection: a ring my mom got me for my 16th birthday; the pearls my husband gave me as a wedding gift; the collection of anklets I have because my best friend and I exchanged ankle bracelets every year to mark the beginning of summer. Many years ago, I had a dear friend who was a jewelry artist. I have a bracelet she designed that represents the adoption triad; a necklace she made for my 40th birthday with 40 small pearls; and a bracelet that has the birthstones of each of my children. I have a charm bracelet from my childhood and a necklace with charms chosen by each of my children. I have jewelry from all over to mark different places that I have lived and traveled. I have pieces that remind me of specific times and people in my life. The Hibana jewelry organizer system offers me the opportunity to tell the stories of my jewelry—and the stories of my life.
What started as a solution for a tarnishing, disorganized jewelry collection has become a complete system to store your jewelry and your memories. I look forward to hearing how you use the Hibana System. How will you make it your own?
All my best,
Barbara Fisher, Visionary & Designer
Angel Fisher
From running around the office and putting dice in her mouth, to aiding in the social media presence of Hibana, Angel-Dionne Fisher has been around the office her whole life. Her love of the arts and theater led her to earn her BFA at University of the Arts in 2024.
Jewelry has always been incredibly important to her, and it’s been something she’s always shared with Hibana creator Barbara Fisher. From the rings she wears every day, to the pearl necklace and earrings she was gifted on her 21st birthday, preserving the memories of these pieces is extremely important to her.
The GPI x Angel-Dionne is one you never knew you needed ;3