Alexa Allamano is the owner and creator at the helm. Foamy Wader is a nickname she earned by wading into a fountain filled with soap suds. The words call to mind walks along the shore, where water meets sand, and dipping one’s toes into the sea foam churned up by breaking waves. 

Her grandfather was a sailor and a gem cutter. One of her treasured possessions is a photo of her four-year-old self watching her grandfather work. 

Both sea and gemstones have roots in her family. “I’ve always loved gems and crystals. My mom called me a magpie when I was little. Anything sparkly, I love it.” Her grandfather was a sailor and a gem cutter. One of her treasured possessions is a photo of her four-year-old self watching her grandfather work. The family surname is Italian for “by hand” and suggests a long history of crafting that is in her DNA.

Allamano’s jewelry designs reflect a spare distillation of shapes and curves seen at the seashore. “I look at things from an ultra-minimalist perspective—nautical minimalism,” she explained. She likes geometric shapes that are abstracted into simplified forms. Circles in multiples or in different combinations are a recurring theme, and she varies the texture in each circle to make it unique. “The texture I use on many of my hammered pieces looks like the surface of sea water—that irregular shine makes it shimmer.” Her work is as much about minimalism as it is about celebrating the beauty of the person wearing the jewelry. Her Beam necklace features a circle with rays emanating from it but with a cutout in the center. “The cutout frames your body. The sun and the beams are coming from you—your light is shining out.” 

It is this thoughtfulness in her designs that is evident throughout her store. Signals is a “secret code” jewelry line based on nautical flag signaling. Each flag represents a letter in the alphabet, which can be used to create a piece that spells out a name or initials or conveys a hidden meaning based on the maritime code embedded in each flag. It’s this celebration of nautical that just seems to fit on Whidbey, and Allamano is delighted that the visitors to her Langley location understand this. “Coming here and having things like nautical flags—people just instantly get it. I don’t have to explain.” Other sea-themed offerings include Buoy cuff bracelets and Barnacle and Sailor’s Knot necklaces.

The store itself is a visual wonderland—offering a lovely view through large windows that look out over the Saratoga Passage. Allamano arranges her creations on stands or in glass displays surrounded by sea-inspired objects: sand dollars inside an old brass case, necklaces arrayed on a burnished silver tray, shelves adorned with shells and delicate porcelain saucers, and bracelets resting on vintage embroidered linens. One fascinating display features weathered bottles she’s foraged from antique stores, with ear cuffs circling their rims. “Each item is a little bit of history. My husband likes to say I opened a shop so I could continue buying tiny little bottles forever.”

Initially, making jewelry was a creative outlet. In 2008, Allamano followed the urge to leave her job at a bank and focus on her passion. After a few years of exhibiting at craft fairs, pop-ups, and wholesale markets, she opened her first storefront in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood in 2014. Several years later, she and her family moved to Whidbey and she opened her first Langley storefront. The pandemic brought the closure of that site in 2020 and, in response to the changing business conditions, she moved into a small space in the quaint Langley Village area off of Second Street.

Once there, she and her husband developed a unique way of allowing customers to view pieces in person and then easily purchase online. They named this new window-shopping approach Scan to Shop. Jewelry pieces are displayed in the window, each with a unique QR code. Scanning the code opens an online form to purchase that piece—no searching or scrolling required. They even wrote a guidebook on this solution to share with other retailers, which is available on the Foamy Wader website. In August 2022, Allamano opened the current location at 206 First Street, but has kept the small space in the Village, calling it the Captain’s Quarters.

Allamano works with recycled gold and silver—metals recovered from a previous application and refined for reuse. She obtains raw materials from vetted sources that pay livable wages and do not use child labor in mining. All her jewelry comes with a lifetime guarantee and free repairs. Anyone interested in a custom-designed piece for a certain look or special occasion can make an appointment with Allamano to discuss what they are looking for. Her wide selection of gem colors makes it easy for customers to match a birthstone or a color that carries personal meaning.

For Allamano, it is just as much about the finished jewelry as it is about the journey—with quality and craft expertly applied throughout each stage of the process. Whether a visitor is just window shopping or buying a piece of jewelry for themselves or a loved one, entering Foamy Wader is all about the experience—an experience intrinsically tied to Allamano’s roots and her love for the sea.