Three Questions with…Nicole Mikel Swani

Many Tipp citizens will remember Nicole Mikel Swani—long-time owner of The Earth's Center in downtown Tipp. For 10 years, from 2005 to 2015, Nicole served as clinical holistic health practitioner and life coach at the Earth’s Center, orchestrating the work of more than 15 different holistic health practitioners and fitness instructors. At the same time, she worked as an instructor at the Ohio Institute of Allied Health.

Today, Nicole lives in Yellow Springs with her husband Kunal and daughter Anna. And this month, she’s celebrating the 10-year anniversary of Singapore Seahorse Coin Jewelry, her own line of handmade jewelry crafted from coins from around the world. She’s also celebrating her first year of running a retail location for her jewelry in the heart of downtown Yellow Springs.

Nicole explains to the Gazette how she moved from holistic health to jewelry making, and how her new career is surprisingly similar to her previous one. In her words: it's all about connection.

Nicole, take us back to 2014 when you ran The Earth's Center. How did coin jewelry come into the picture?

My dad was a coin collector and liked to use his metal detector to find coins. I always wanted to do everything that he was doing, and so I was always interested in coins, even as a child. When my dad passed away in 2010, I inherited his coin collection, and I got the idea to make jewelry for myself from some of the coins. So that’s how I learned to make necklaces.

Then one of my friends who had been in the military gave me another bag of coins that he had collected—really cool ones with different animals on them. I thought, “well, now I know how to make necklaces from coins, so why don’t I keep going?” I made a batch of about 20 and put them out for sale in the waiting room at the Earth's Center. Everyone started going crazy right away, asking me “do you have a coin from this country, do you have a coin from that country,” so I started making more.

Soon after that, there was an event in downtown Tipp City, and I set up a table at Grounds for Pleasure. I put out as many coin necklaces as I could make, as well as pins and bracelets and things like that. Once again, people just went crazy for them. I started to realize that this was about more than just jewelry. The coins were opening a window for people to connect with memories in their life—places they had been, places they had always dreamed about going, stories of their ancestry, connections with people they love.

I started going to bigger and bigger shows and to feel like I could really turn this into something.

At the same time, I was getting close to a transition at the Earth's Center. I didn't know what that was going to look like yet—but I knew the energy was different, and that the time for a change was coming. Then one day, the jewelry business kind of created itself. I remember the day that I was like, wow, this business is becoming real. I need to give it a name. I named it Singapore Seahorse Coin Jewelry after a coin from Singapore that has a seahorse on it. Any jewelry I make with that coin is always one of my most popular.

Nicole, tell us about the move from Tipp City to Yellow Springs.

In 2015, I married my husband, Kunal. He's a professor of marketing at Wright State, and we wanted to move closer to Fairborn for his job. But it was important to me to be in another small town like Tipp City. Yellow Springs is very different than Tipp, but it has that exact same small-town feel.

I kept participating in vendor shows—indoor and outdoor shows, as many as I could possibly fit into my schedule. Then I came to a point about three years ago when I realized that if I'm going to continue doing this, I have to get a retail location. I couldn't physically keep going and doing all those shows. Especially because Kunal and I now had a baby! It took us two years to find a retail spot in downtown Yellow Springs, but in June 2023, we finally made it happen. So, this June I celebrate my one-year anniversary of having a brick-and-mortar store.

We're lucky to live in a tourist town, in a place where there’s a lot of foot traffic and people who find a product like mine very interesting. It's been a beautiful way of expanding my business. It also brings me right back to the waiting room at the Earth's Center: people coming in and asking me, “do I have a coin necklace from this country, what about that country?” In fact, I have a huge tray of coin necklaces now, listed by countries from A to Z. I can't have every possible country, but I make an honest effort to! And if someone asks me for a coin I don't have, I can find it online and create something custom for them.

Just last month we expanded: we took down a wall and doubled the size of our shop. We’re also carrying different types of non-coin jewelry. I have a line of sterling silver jewelry, beaded gemstone bracelets, gemstone bracelets, and more modern pieces. I also have a high-end coin necklace line, with silver coins and ancient coins strung on sterling silver chains.

Nicole, this month you're celebrating your 10th anniversary of Singapore Seahorse Coin Jewelry. What keeps you inspired?

When people come into my shop, I listen to their stories, and I watch how they connect with the coins that are in my jewelry. I always say that coins are little pieces of art and history... they're like a bridge to other places in the world, even other time periods.

I have a calling to work with people, to connect with people, and to help people. I've found a way of doing that through this business. I feel like this is the fruition of my career path; that everything in my life has led up to this. I'm finding a way to still connect with people—I'm simply doing that through a different craft.

I see myself doing this for a very long time.

You can find Singapore Seahorse Coin Jewelry at 100 Corry Street in Yellow Springs or follow the shop online on Facebook and Instagram.