A custom ceramic charm necklace made in Cuyahoga Falls was ordered by Travis Kelce's aunt as a gift for Taylor Swift, with Cleveland, his jersey number and a Siamese cat all on the same chain.
The order belongs to Love Violet XO, the jewelry brand Allison Kuhlman created after she went looking for creative work she could do at home. She only started making ceramic charms in September 2024. Cleveland.com, in a Thursday report by Paris Wolfe, said Kelce's aunt placed the order.
Six Charms for a Family Gift
Wolfe's account describes a necklace of six symbolic charms: three Cleveland charms, Kelce's jersey number 87, "The Heights" for his hometown, and a Siamese cat. Kuhlman explained the last one in plain terms. "She is known to love her cats, that’s why I made that one."
Yahoo named the buyer as Joan Bender Rice, who is married to Kelce's maternal uncle, Don Rice. It said she commissioned handmade ceramic jewelry for several family members, including Swift. The same account said Kuhlman did not specify which individual pieces were intended for Swift, or whether the singer had already received them.
What Cleveland.com does itemize is a very local string of references: the city, the number on Kelce's jersey, and the place-name attached to his hometown, finished with a cat.
YouTube, a Marketplace Kiln, 100 Designs
Kuhlman has degrees in music and art history and worked as a wedding photographer before Love Violet XO. She launched the brand after wanting home-based creative work when her daughter was three.
The ceramic charms came later, and not from a formal studio apprenticeship. In September 2024 she decided to make them, learned the process on YouTube, and found a small kiln on Facebook Marketplace. Over the past two years she has made 100 different designs.
The catalog runs through Cleveland-themed pieces, food, holiday themes and social media icons. Her favorite, she told Cleveland.com, is bowtie pasta — a charm with no celebrity brief attached to it.
Twenty Dollars and a Local Shelf
Most Love Violet XO charms cost $20. Custom orders may cost more, which is the relevant distinction for a one-off family commission rather than a charm pulled from the ready-made tray.
The jewelry sells on Etsy, at the Cleveland Market, and at Northeast Ohio retailers including Oceanne and Blair Ritchey. A $20 pasta charm and a necklace built as a Kelce family gift currently share that same small circuit of online and local shelves.
Sirens Charms and a Leg Lamp
The Swift order is not Kuhlman's only Cleveland sports job. She was asked to create charms for the city's new WNBA team, the Sirens. She made six different charms for a staff activation, and at a special event the staff assembled their own necklaces.
She is working with the Sirens' head of retail on plans for the guest experience. The merchandise launch, she said, is intended to build excitement for the team. No date for that staff event appears in the reporting.
Holiday work is the next object on her list. Upcoming pieces include a miniature of the leg lamp from "A Christmas Story," planned for this season — a movie prop Cleveland already claims, reduced to something that can hang from a chain.
She is not the only small maker who has built Swift-and-Kelce jewelry. Marblehead Weekly News reported that business owner Kelly Schneider made a custom Chiefs necklace with vintage team charms, an 87, Kelce's surname engraved on a gold heart, and Swift's lucky number, 13. Kuhlman's reported set answers with three Cleveland charms, The Heights, and a cat.
