A DESTINATION FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONS

The business is now called Croft & Stern Jewelry Designs. There’s an emphasis on the “design” part of that name.

Yes, the store has plenty of ready-to-wear items, but Sternau’s goal is to make this a destination store for anyone looking for something different.

“My goal as a designer is to always try and push those boundaries of what is possible, what we can build, what we can do,” she said.

Sternau and her team have all the tools on site — along with years of experience — to design and manufacture jewelry.

“What we do here is build these designs in three-dimensional space,” Sternau said, as she showed an image on a computer-aided design (CAD) program.

Whether you want a new piece for a wedding, or if you want to give a second life to an old family heirloom, Sternau and her team help customers through the entire process.

“Going through that journey with them gives me not only a sense of accomplishment as an artisan, but also I feel like I’m helping them on their journey for self-understanding and being able to really know what they want and feel really proud that they had a part in making something,” Sternau said of her time helping customers design a piece.

Croft & Stern celebrated its official grand opening earlier this month, but the hope is that the store will be a permanent fixture in Maple Grove for years to come.

“We really want to continue that presence, being a jewelry hub, but based on Main Street,” Sternau said.

At the corner of Main Street and Arbor Lakes Parkway in Maple Grove, Kelly Sternau is embarking on a new adventure.

“We have artisans from all over the world that I personally know and have connections with,” said Sternau, CEO and creative director of Croft & Stern Jewelry Designs.

For the last 11 years, she worked in this very building alongside Mark Lauer as a custom jewelry designer, back when the store was called Mark Michael Diamond Designs.

But after Lauer retired last spring, Sternau took over and made this business her own.

“It’s something that I didn’t want this area to lose,” she said. “I worked so hard to really continue this space and to maintain that presence for the people in Maple Grove and really all over.”