Inspired by a deeply personal journey, Nicole Shannon creates wearable art for well-being
Nicole Shannon has always made things. Meaningful jewelry. Inspired paintings. Curated, unforgettable experiences. But the piece that matters most to her wasn’t born in a studio; it was born in a hospital room.
When Shannon’s son Quinn arrived, it was with a rare genetic condition—and with 263 missing genes. Facing challenges most could scarcely imagine, Quinn went home from the NICU on hospice and has since weathered 15 surgeries in his seven incredible years. “We don’t say if in our family,” says Shannon, “we say when.”
In those early difficult days, Shannon and her family found strength in their faith, in each other, and in something simple yet powerful: breath work. Dealing with what felt like a long parade of emergencies and surgeries, Shannon sought a natural way to find serenity in the chaos. While up late one night at Quinn’s bedside, she discovered a profoundly effective breathing technique—one that uses a long, slow exhale that research from Harvard, Stanford, and the National Institutes of Health has shown to activate the body’s parasympathetic nervous system, shutting down the ‘fight or flight’ response to evoke calm.
She tried to teach the technique to her mother, who was helping care for Quinn, but quickly realized that such breath work didn’t come naturally to everyone. Shannon handed her a straw, and it worked. “She carried the straw in her pocket, but it was always getting lost,” recalls Shannon. “I thought, well, it would be cool if she could wear it . . . and said, ‘I’m a jeweler. I could make something!’”
With the goal of sharing this life-altering technique with others, the Greenville-based artist and creative flow coach spent months in her studio creating and refining what is now Bamboo Breath, an elegant, stainless-steel pendant designed to resemble a bamboo stalk. Just as bamboo bends but doesn’t break in the face of strong winds and heavy storms, Bamboo Breath is a beautiful reminder that we all have the innate ability to navigate turbulent times with calm and resilience.
Alongside the Bamboo Breath, Shannon has created other pendants rooted in intention—such as helping the wearer stay anchored to personal purpose and values. Made with the care and craft of fine art, designed not to hang on a wall but to be worn and used, the artist’s work is quickly forging a category all its own in the jewelry world: Fine art tools for well-being.
People who receive the pendant as a gift often track Shannon down to tell her what it’s done for them. “I get these beautiful letters from people I’ve never met,” she says, “telling me how helpful Bamboo Breath has been. It’s incredible.”
Listen to Nicole Shannon’s appearance on The Upstate Trail Talks podcast with Griffin Donley
