Working it

Photograph: Roxana Marroquin

Camille Hempel

“My friends joke that if I had Fresh Direct, I would never leave,” says jewelry designer Camille Hempel (camillehempel.com). And it’s likely true of the Wisconsin native: Her South Williamsburg abode includes a gem-shaped boutique for her line of sculptural baubles and a metal studio where she often forges rose-gold rings at 2am. “I’m consumed by my ideas, so it’s nice to be able to access them in my bedroom slippers,” she explains.

Hempel’s professional pursuits and domestic life have long been intertwined: Before she moved into the 1,200-square-foot former luncheonette three years ago, she operated her custom jewelry business from a four-bedroom apartment that she shared with four roommates. “Once I had a client visiting and one of the people I lived with decided to have an impromptu band practice,” she gripes. “Now I have my very own bathroom that I don’t have to share with guys.”

Perhaps less frightening than a tub filled with kinky man-hair is Hempel’s recurring nightmare: “I’m in the store in my pajamas,” she says. Fortunately, she manages to find respite from work by dedicating a healthy portion of her home to creative side projects, such as her paintings, photographs and collection of eyesore couches. (In 2003, Hempel won $5,000 in a Regis and Kelly contest for the nation’s ugliest couch.) “Someone once said that being in my apartment was like seeing the inside of my brain.”

Click for a gallery of Camille Hempel's apartment