This Designer Is Keeping Her Friend’s Legacy Alive With a New Jewelry Collection

Jillian Kramer
·4 min read

Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy

When Cindy Hock-Lauwers’ mother passed away nearly two decades ago, the designer memorialized her in a jewelry collection. Drawing inspiration from a sparkling, belt-buckle-size brooch her mother wore, Hock-Lauwers—the founder of jewelry brand Shimmer by Cindy—created an array of pieces she knew her mother would love.

The collection “really helped heal some of our broken hearts,” Hock-Lauwers says.

Now, Hock-Lauwers hopes that a new jewelry collection can do the same for another woman mourning the loss of her mother: Liz Ferenciak, whose mom, Nola Addante, died last year of metastatic breast cancer.

The Shimmer for the Cure MBC Collection, featuring jewelry adorned with teal, pink, and green stones—the colors that make up the metastatic breast cancer awareness ribbon—honors Addante, who was Hock-Lauwers’ dear friend.

But it was Addante’s daughter, Ferenciak, who inspired the collection, Hock-Lauwers says.

Each year, Hock-Lauwers designs a limited-edition jewelry collection and then donates 100 percent of the proceeds. (She also has Shimmer for the Cure collections dedicated to breast cancer and diabetes awareness.) Last year, after her mother’s death, Ferenciak called Hock-Lauwers to ask if she would consider donating the proceeds of a 2023 collection to Metavivor, a nonprofit that funds research for stage IV breast cancer.

Hock-Lauwers seized the opportunity.

She says she saw it as a chance to not only pay homage to her friend, but also as a way to help Ferenciak heal following her mother’s death. “We were both daughters who had lost their mothers,” Hock-Lauwers says. “And we were both looking to keep their legacies alive.”

Hock-Lauwers asked Ferenciak to model the collection, which is made from rhodium-plated brass and cubic zirconia, in its promotional materials and on the Shimmer by Cindy website. “Liz is just as incredible as her mother, and she is literally the spitting image of [Nola],” Hock-Lauwers says.

Liz Ferenciak in the Shimmer for a Cure MBC Collection.
Liz Ferenciak in the Shimmer for a Cure MBC Collection.
Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy

The collection builds off a three-stone ring, the Nola Ring, that Hock-Lauwers created after Addante was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer. After its initial, limited release, Hock-Lauwers gave the proceeds to Addante, who used the money to travel the country in an RV.

The Pear Band Ring, $38, another ring from the collection.
The Pear Band Ring, $38, another ring from the collection.
Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy

“She was an adventurer,” Hock-Lauwers says. “Even through all her treatments and all her illness, she would be going places and doing things. She truly was the epitome of living life to the fullest.”

Addante was a nurse and later worked as a nursing professor at Rockford University, in Illinois.

“She had a very caring nature,” says Ferenciak. She also had an artistic side: She played piano at home and organ at church.

Addante was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018. She underwent a double mastectomy, but a year later, she learned the cancer had metastasized to her liver and bones. She was aggressive in seeking treatments, Ferenciak says.

“I had such hope that Nola was going to respond to the treatments,” Hock-Lauwers says. “She had such a will to fight.”

Addante died on July 2, 2022. She was 59 years old.

“She would post on Facebook all the time, and you would see her travels and all the fun things she was doing and how much she loved her family,” Hock-Lauwers says. “It’s quiet without her.”

After her mom’s death, Ferenciak, a marketing strategist, reached out to Metavivor to ask if she could contribute to the nonprofit’s social media. She’s helped promote its #LightUpMBC event, a fund-raising livestream held every October 13, which is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

Through Metavivor, Ferenciak has connected with others who have loved ones battling metastatic breast cancer. Recently, she attended a Metavivor event where she represented the Shimmer by Cindy MBC Collection. As people perused the jewelry display, they also shared their stories with her. “The jewelry brings hope to these people,” she says.

Art Deco Chain Bracelet, $44.
Art Deco Chain Bracelet, $44.
Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy
Bar Necklace, $34.
Bar Necklace, $34.
Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy
Pear Tennis Bracelet, $55.
Pear Tennis Bracelet, $55.
Courtesy of Shimmer by Cindy

“If you’ve lost a loved one, I want people to know: Look for signs that they’re around, and do what you can to keep their memory alive,” she says. “It’s so important to do that for people you love. Whatever it is, find a way to do something you think they will look down on and appreciate.”

Jillian Kramer is a journalist who writes about health, wellness, science, and adventure. She taps into a broad network of experts to write in-depth articles for leading publications, including Glamour, The New York Times, Scientific American, Travel + Leisure, EatingWell, and Food & Wine.

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Originally Appeared on Glamour