Nerd Block

2015 marked the beginning of a new chapter, and one of the most formative periods in Pennyroyal's history.

That year, the studio took on its first work outside of jewelry, designing custom pins, keychains, and collectibles for Nerd Block, a Canadian subscription box company with a devoted following. It was a significant departure from the handcrafted sterling silver work that had defined the studio's first decade, and it opened a door that has never closed.

Over two years, Pennyroyal designed a high volume of custom collectibles for Nerd Block's monthly boxes, developing fluency in a new product category and building the factory relationships that would become central to the studio's future. When Nerd Block went out of business in 2017, the partnership ended abruptly. But the experience had already done its work. Pennyroyal came out of it with expanded capabilities, a broader material vocabulary, and a clear sense that the studio's future lay beyond jewelry alone.

During this period, Pennyroyal operated under the name Wax Off Design to distinguish the collectibles work from the Pennyroyal Jewelry brand. In 2021, both were unified under the name Pennyroyal Studio LLC, reflecting what the studio had become: something broader, more versatile, and harder to put in a single category.

A footnote for the collectors: Pennyroyal does not sell any of the original Nerd Block pieces directly, but they surface occasionally on eBay.