Business of the Week: South Indigo Designs Jewelry Meant to Tell a Story

What began as a college side venture under a small festival tent has grown into a thriving jewelry business built on creativity, craftsmanship, and personal connection.

South Indigo, a Tyrone-based jewelry company founded by local artisan Lexi Battaglia, creates handcrafted pieces from gemstones, precious metals, and custom designs. The business travels to markets across Georgia nearly every weekend and will be at the Tyrone Night Market this Friday evening.

The company traces its roots to Lexi’s college days, when she first began selling jewelry at local festivals and markets.

“My wife, Lexi, started it when she was a sorority girl down at GCSU, and she did a festival for the first time and did very well there,” said Jake Battaglia, Lexi’s husband and business partner. “She made some beautiful small dainty pieces of jewelry, gold, silver, and she popped up a little tent and started selling all of her handmade goods.”

Nearly a decade later, that festival booth has evolved into a full-fledged business. While Lexi serves as the designer and artisan behind every piece, South Indigo has become a family operation. Jake said Lexi continues making jewelry from home alongside her mother, sister, and husband while also caring for the couple’s newborn twins.

Both Jake and Lexi grew up in Peachtree City, graduated from McIntosh High School, and were high school sweethearts before eventually marrying. Today, the couple lives in Tyrone and is raising their young family while growing South Indigo.

Handmade with meaning

South Indigo’s jewelry begins with natural materials. Lexi incorporates gemstones such as garnet, jasper, and amethyst into bracelets, necklaces, rings, earrings, and other pieces designed to reflect an earthy, handcrafted style.

“She is the original designer,” Battaglia said. “I’m just married in now.”

Among the company’s most popular offerings is permanent jewelry, a growing trend that replaces traditional clasps with a small welded connection. The result is a bracelet, anklet, or necklace designed to stay on until the wearer decides to remove it.

Battaglia believes customers are drawn to permanent jewelry because it often represents something more than fashion.

“Jewelry isn’t just something that is the way that it looks on you or the aesthetic of it,” he said. “Jewelry is much more than that. It’s how somebody feels in that moment. It could reminisce about somebody in their past, and it just really brings people together.”

Many customers choose matching bracelets with friends, family members, or significant others, creating a lasting reminder of a shared experience. While the jewelry is designed to stay on, Battaglia noted that it can easily be removed if necessary and reattached later.

A growing presence in local markets

South Indigo appears regularly at markets throughout metro Atlanta and Fayette County. The company participates in the Peachtree City Night Market rotation and frequently travels to larger regional events as well.

Residents who would like to see South Indigo’s work in person can find the company at this Friday’s Tyrone Night Market. The business also maintains an Etsy storefront under South Indigo Co and is working to expand its online offerings in the coming weeks.

For Jake and Lexi Battaglia, the business is about more than selling jewelry. It is an opportunity to create pieces that become part of people’s stories while remaining connected to the community where their own story began.

Now raising newborn twins while growing a handcrafted jewelry business, the Tyrone couple continues building South Indigo one market, one customer, and one meaningful piece of jewelry at a time.

To see more of their work, visit their Instagram page.