We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Aggie B Jewelry a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Aggie B Jewelry, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.
This was a total trial and error experience. We quickly learned that the materials available in craft stores were inferior to those available only to the trade. We combined our knowledge learned online with the vast knowledge we gained by networking with those in the industry. In hindsight we could have started our LLC earlier which would have opened doors sooner. Patience is a virtue with which we were blessed. This helped us to take the time needed to figure out how to do things the right way. Our compatibility with each other was another strength that we didn’t realize would prove to be so important to running a business together.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
We started as 3 friends with a passion for all things fashion. We landed on jewelry because it was something that was accessible to us. Honestly, it hit us one day when we were all together doing some holiday shopping and thought “hey, we would really love to design our own jewelry”. We marched right down to the bead store and bought gemstones that stood out to us. After creating a few bracelets for ourselves, some of our close friends asked us if they could buy them. That’s when it hit us that we could actually make a product and sell it. We quickly started to research the best supplies, components and gemstones to use. We started by selling to our friends and expanded to doing pop-up shows where other consumers could browse our creations. It didn’t take long before we were approached by a local store who wanted to buy our bracelets. We never imagined that 5 years later we would be in multiple stores coast to coast, have our own website, take custom orders and be sought out by consumers from all around the world!
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
One of the most rewarding things is being out in the community and seeing someone we don’t know wearing our designs or when a someone reaches out to us to create a unique piece that incorporates a special momento or heirloom item. We had one customer ask us to create bracelets for her daughter’s using earrings that she inherited when her mother passed away. While we were nervous to use such treasured items, it was such an honor that she trusted us and our vision.
In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?
Support small businesses!!! There are many jewelry items out there that look a lot like ours but were made in China using inferior materials. To separate ourselves from mass produced items, we hand select each strand of gemstones and personally make every bracelet we sell, pouring our heart and soul into each creation. Towards the very beginning of our journey, we were lucky enough to find another small artisan who specializes in casting charms. We quickly developed a great working relationship and friendship. We even ended up traveling to Nashville to meet and collaborate in person. This created the driving force behind our desire to support and work with other small business owners. Everything we source for our designs comes from a small business.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.aggiebjewelry.com
- Instagram: @aggiebjewelry
- Facebook: @aggiebjewelry
