Envela Corporation announced that Claudia Kretchmer has been named as Artistic Director of Jewelry for its Consumer Division. In this newly created role, Kretchmer will direct the Company's design of sustainable jewelry and luxury accessories. Kretchmer is a fourth-generation, award-winning jewelry designer who uniquely combines her passions for astrophysics and jewelry design.

Initially pursuing Physics and Astrophysics as an undergraduate at the University of California, Berkeley, she later earned a Masters in Astrophysics from The Johns Hopkins University. During her graduate studies, she developed a fascination for exploring galaxy evolution and conducted research at observatories in Arizona, Hawaii, and Chile, and using the Hubble Space Telescope. During a break from her PhD studies to lead the family business, Steven Kretchmer Inc., she won the Town & Country Couture Design Awards with her first solo design, The Star Pendant, in 2007.

Since then, Kretchmer has received numerous design awards, including the prestigious AGTA Spectrum Award and the WJA Excellence in Design Award in 2016. When not designing, Kretchmer spends her time supporting Bad Girls Do Good Things, a charity focused on raising funds for cancer awareness and treatment. She also serves as a board member for The Johns Hopkins University, and acts as an Ambassador for The Arizona Foundation for Women.