Some brands make jewelry. Catbird creates heirlooms in the making.
As Chief Creative Officer of Catbird, Leigh Batnick Plessner has helped shape the Brooklyn-born jewelry brand into something far more than an accessories label. Under her creative direction, Catbird has become known for pieces that feel intimate, enduring, and deeply personal—tiny treasures designed to collect meaning alongside the people who wear them. We’d even go so far as to say that Leigh has built a brand world rooted in emotion rather than excess.
We spoke with Leigh about translating emotion into design, why people are gravitating toward meaningful pieces, and how Catbird continues to grow while holding onto the sense of intimacy that made it beloved in the first place.
Catbird has become known for jewelry that feels deeply personal—almost like a keepsake. How do you translate emotion into something physical and wearable?
Jewelry holds a kind of quiet permanence. It’s one of the few things we wear every day, so close to the body that it can carry meaning and our actual warmth. We’re thinking about how a piece might live with someone over time—how it feels when you first put it on, but also how it gathers memory as the years pass.
There’s a certain restraint in that process. We want to leave space for the wearer to bring themselves to it. That’s where personalization really begins, not just in engraving or customization, but in how it's worn, the drape, the movement of rings as we’re in spirited conversations, the gathering of perfume on a bracelet, the burnishing of time.
Why do you think people are craving more meaning—and less excess—when it comes to what they wear?
Jewelry endures. It moves with you through different chapters, and sometimes even across generations. That sense of durability—both physical and emotional—feels especially resonant right now. We want things that can hold up, not just in quality, but in relevance to
