About RubyFruit

About RubyFruit Designs

An artist and free-lance designer since 1990, Lara Salomon Schuchat holds a BFA in Jewelry & Metalsmithing from the University of North Texas, School of Fine Arts, where she taught Beginning Jewelry courses to students prior to graduating. Before leaving the Dallas-area to begin a nomadic life with her pilot husband, she also taught students of all ages in the Dallas County Community College District on the Northlake Campus. Courses included Jewelry Making for Continuing Education and a special summer project called Kids Kollege where she encouraged children from the ages of 2-12 to develop a love of the arts. Classes such as Meet the Masters and Pee-Wee Picasso introduced youngsters to a variety of artistic media, including painting, drawing and beads.

Lara has also worked in the Health & Natural Foods Industry, combining her artistic sensibilities with an interest in the environment and organic farming, diet & nutrition, and healthy living, interests reflected on the Links page. After taking approximately 8 years off to care for her children, Lara is happy to be back in the studio and introducing this new line of work. However, during her 8 year hiatus, she took many free-lance jobs designing websites, graphics and logos, and handling marketing and PR for clients in the Holistic Health Industry including a Certified Clinical Nutritionist, a Chiropractor, a Birthing Center, a Birth Doula, a Health Food Store and many more. These jobs allowed her to exercise her creative muscles and hone her computer skills at the same time.

In 2002 Lara was diagnosed with an autoimmune Thyroid disease, among other things, and began a very different odyssey down a strange medical path. This experience inspired her to create the Butterfly pieces in the RubyFruit catalog. To read more about her experience and see the catalog simply follow the Butterfly link. All proceeds (after costs) from the sale of Butterfly Designs go to several charities that are near and dear to Lara’s heart including the Thyroid Cancer Survivors Association and The Light of Life Foundation.  

Currently, Lara resides in Seattle with her family but they split their time between the Emerald City and the island of Guam, a US territory located in the Mid-western Pacific, where they lived until January 2004. Frequent travel back and forth allows Lara and her husband, Justin, to search out materials on their own thus reducing the need to go to wholesale marketers. The majority of the sterling silver, pearls, gemstones, crystal and glass beads used in Lara’s creations have been lovingly hand-carried back after trips to such exotic locales as Bali, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia. Justin is always happy to use a few days off from work to make a buying trip to Bali! Lara and Justin look forward to more adventures and they plan trips to New Zealand, Thailand and Hong Kong in the future. This adventurous spirit is at the heart of RubyFruit Designs and is reflected in the unique, hand-crafted items that Lara creates.

Thank you for visiting ShopRubyFruit.com and be well!  

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