A Tale of Tokens: The couple at the heart of OKC-made custom jewelry creations

Love Tokens owners Chris and Stacey DeGraffenreid

Stories have entry points; you shouldn’t necessarily start at the beginning every time, because sometimes the beginning isn’t the best part. So let’s say Love Tokens begins on a park bench in Santa Monica where former standout NFL defensive lineman Rosey Grier taught Stacey DeGraffenreid how to crochet. Along with her husband Chris, she’s half the ownership team of Love Tokens, the Oklahoma City-based custom jewelry manufacturer with a client list that includes Kemo Sabe and Lucchese Bootmaker.

DeGraffenreid started making jewelry in 1990, and her story could have been that of just another person picking up a fun hobby, but for Grier, Michael Milken and Julia Roberts — yes, those are entry points.

Stacey already knew how to make jewelry when she met Grier, randomly, on that park bench. Her first pieces went to clients at the salon she owned at the time, but then Love Tokens was still 15 years in the future: 2005.

“(Former State Secretary of Education) Sandy Garrett got Stacey on Michael Milken’s board,” Chris says. “Through those connections, Julia Roberts saw her jewelry, and liked it well enough to buy one of the first pieces.”

Chris’ mother died in 2003, and Stacey, who was already better than a novice at making jewelry by then, inherited a large collection of Catholic-themed jewelry that Chris’ family did not want.

“I’ve always been obsessed with antique jewelry,” Stacey says, “and she had a huge collection of rosaries, medallions and other religious jewelry, much of it antique. I deconstructed many of the pieces to use in my own jewelry.”

Grier would help add the other element that makes Love Tokens distinctive: fabric work. In fact, the hand-crocheted chain he taught her is still in regular use on some designs.

The company is headquartered on Stacey’s family land between NW Oklahoma City and Piedmont, and the workshop is adjacent to Okie No-Name 11, one of a series of lakes built in the 1950s by the Army Corps of Engineers as a flood abatement resource. The couple live in Stacey’s grandparents’ old house, and other relatives live on the property, making it a proper family compound.

Both are native and lifelong Oklahoma City residents: He went to Putnam City Original, and she went to PC North. Chris attended OU, where he studied public administration with an eye toward going into politics in some capacity. They met there and married in 1989. He started a screenprinting company while still in college, and it took off, but as the jewelry business continued to grow, it was apparent that his life was taking a different direction. In 2005, they had to decide what to call the rapidly expanding company.

“A love token is a real piece of jewelry,” Chris says. “A coin, really, but it was engraved on both sides, and offered as a sign of affection. Stacey had collected a bunch of them, and we both liked the name.”

The success of the business created a pivot point not long after the formal launch. “I had been doing all antique jewelry for years,” Stacey says, “but we started to run out of pieces I could repurpose or deconstruct.”

An obvious problem, yes, but one most people wouldn’t anticipate given how much jewelry you find at estate sales and other events. The popularity of her products brought the problem to the forefront much faster than they expected, so the process of creating their own pieces from scratch, so to speak, seemed the only option.

“We just ran out of stuff,” Chris says. “So we taught ourselves how to cast. Now, 90% of our jewelry is a cast product. Roughly 80% is silver, but we use American turquoise, bronze, gold, bone and other products as well.”

To make the process work, Love Tokens has 11 employees, including the DeGraffenreids’ adult children Demi and Dylan. The bulk of the work is done in a kiln room and workshop, where employees take each piece through the necessary steps: design, 3D printing (when necessary), wax mold, cast, cut and clean, assembly, tarnish and finish.

The kiln room has a high-tech crucible, as well as a kiln for pieces that need the temperature dialed in. Industry outsiders might think temperatures approaching 1800 degrees Fahrenheit would do the trick without much tweaking, but silversmith Ethan Hall said sometimes they need more control of temperatures, even between 1800 and 1900 degrees.

Hall has three apprentices, and all the current employees are at Love Tokens due to referrals from other employees. “We work with UCO, too,” Chris says. “They have a jewelry design program. One of our people graduated from the program, and a few have been in it in some capacity.”

Aspen-based Kemo Sabe is the company’s number one client, according to Chris. “We manufacture hat bands for their custom hats, slides and pins, and they carry our custom designs in all five stores. It’s been a tremendously beneficial relationship for us.”

Locally, Love Tokens pieces can also be found at Lucchese Bootmaker in the First National Center, and at Wohali on N. Western, a custom hatmaker and design studio owned by Cealy Fawn Mills.

“Creating a custom hat is incredibly personal,” Mills says. “We are lucky to have the creatives at Love Tokens right here in Oklahoma City. Having them locally allows us to work closely in creating personalized pieces for our clients, in addition to the options we carry in our studio. It’s an important part of our process. They are always up for the challenge; it’s their passion. We are always just as excited as the client to see the final vision come to life.”

Demi DeGraffenreid said the short-term plan for Love Tokens is to get its products in as many states as possible, and in front of as many people as possible. The goal is to have Love Tokens become a household name where jewelry is concerned. Given the company’s client list and story, it’s on the right track.