Rebel Nell, Detroit City Football Club team up for jewelry items

A company famous for scraping layers of paint at automotive plants or using seat cushions from the old home of the Pistons and polishing them up for unique jewelry is launching yet a new venture that’s all about Detroit.

Rebel Nell, is a jewelry manufacturing company that employs women who are facing or who have overcome hardship. The company refurbishes old material from companies, sport teams and historic landmarks and turns it into jewelry, hair accessories or artwork.

Now Rebel Nell is now partnering with Detroit City Football Club to create unique pieces of jewelry from a mural that was created by fans at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck.

“We exist to provide employment equitable opportunity and wraparound support for women with barriers,” said Rebel Nell CEO Amy Peterson. “And we specialize in making one-of-a-kind items from repurposed material.” 

The company is located near Henry Ford Health’s ArtBlock, which provides a collaborative workspace for nonprofit groups and other organizations. Rebel Nell fits right in, sharing space with the York Project, a sustainable fashion brand.

Rebel Nell is big on creating pieces from scraps, whether it’s an old Piston’s jersey or pieces of graffiti from the Dequindre Cut. To make pendants, they use a punch tool to cut out the pieces of art they would like to use. Then they assemble those pendants as necklaces or accessories. 

For the DCFC collection, Rebel Nell used a plain wood board and covered it with a black vinyl backdrop. They gave fans a prompt and told them to answer the question “What does DCFC mean to you?” Fans used paintbrushes, pens, or whatever utensil they could use to express how they felt about the team. Rebel Nell then gave them a grand surprise by removing parts of the vinyl backdrop that revealed the letters “DCFC”. The mural now stands at the stadium with the letters and still features some of the affirmations.

They then took the pieces of vinyl they tore off from the mural and used the punching method to create the pendants. Those pendants were then created into jewelry, accessories and gift items.

The completion of the mural was during the 2021 season.

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“We are proud of the DCFC Collection and our ability to incorporate the fans and their love and support of this amazing team into the creation of the pieces,” said Peterson in a written statement.