Lily Mordà has been collecting beads and designing jewelry since she was a teenager in the early 1980's. She first got into beading after her friend Tracy discovered some amazing 1920's "Flapper" earrings made by her grandmother stashed away in her attic. Inspired by the beauty and intricacy of these unique earrings, the two girls set out to make similar pieces of their own.

But it wasn't until Lily began working at San Francisco's famous "General Bead" in the late 1980's that the idea to open a bead shop of her own first came to her. She did just that, after moving to Seattle, Washington in 1989, where she opened a bead shop called Sound City Bead. Little did Lily know that this would be the beginning of a long career as both a jewelry designer and bead shop owner that would span two continents.

After marrying glass bead artist Tim James in 1999, and moving to Italy, Lily's career as both an international jewelry designer and teacher began to take a new direction. In addition to collaborating with her husband and creating one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces which are sold to customers all over the world, she also spends much of her time teaching to both the local community as well as to international students who come to take her classes from around the globe.


Lily believes that beading is not only a relaxing and rewarding creative activity, but also an incredible opportunity for cultural exchange among students from different cultures and backgrounds. Because of the importance of Italy in general and Florence in particular in the art world, she feels that her search for her "true home" has finally ended. She looks forward to meeting future students and other fellow bead enthusiasts who cross her path in the Renaissance City!

Timothy James started making beads in 2002, after he and his jewelry-designer wife Lily moved to Italy in 2001.  He had no idea at the time that what started out as a one week course in Umbria would go on to change his career and his life forever.

Now, a bead maker by day and web designer by night, Tim also teaches glass beadmaking in the traditional Venetian style at his Florence glass studio to students who travel in from all over the world. In addition, he also teaches a hands-on web design course geared towards non html-minded folks. 
Besides creating handmade beads for the couple's store, websites and jewelry lines, he has made glass beads for a number of design houses, both big and small. Chanel featured his beads in their summer and fall 2006 line. He also received commissions from the famous Italian design houses Ferragamo and Escada, as well. Currently, he continues to supply a myriad of smaller designers, in Europe, North America and as far away as Australia and Japan, with his ever-expanding line of hand-made glass beads.