We were lucky to catch up with Angela Lowell-Schade recently and have shared our conversation below.

Angela, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

There have been a few, but the most memorable was back in 2011. I had a facebook business page for Something Blue (still do). At that time followers were “fans” I had accumulated about 2000 fans and one day I woke up to over 43k fans overnight! After doing some investigating I realized that Facebook had decided to merge Facebook business pages with the same name and apparently had merged my Something Blue Jewelry page with the Something Blue book by Emily Giffin (who also wrote the book, Something Borrowed which was made into a movie in 2011 with Kate Hudson) Luckily for me the fans of the book page were similar to my target market so I decided to roll with it by making an announcement welcoming all of the new fans, explaining the situation and offering a special coupon code: “NotTheBook” for 25% off.
It was quite successful.

Unfortunately, over time, Facebook changed the way they showed “fans/followers” content (if you didn’t pay to boost posts, your followers would never see them) Because of that I started focusing on other forms of social media like Pinterest & Instagram.

Angela, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Sure! My name is Angela Lowell-Schade and I started Something Blue in 1994. However, my jewelry journey began long before that, when I sold my first jewelry line at age 12. I later developed a passion for fabrication and wax carving in college and studied jewelry making in London before returning to the states to work for a custom jewelry designer in her retail shop.

During that time, I realized that many of our clients, who were also brides, struggled to find beautiful, high-quality jewelry to wear on their wedding day. I began creating custom pieces for several of our bridal clients and launched Something Blue, a line of wedding jewelry that women could wear long after saying “I do”. Something Blue jewelry became my full time focus, and was eventually stocked in more than 40 boutiques in the US and also sold at Harrods, Liberty & Co, and several smaller boutiques in the UK.

I started Something Blue 29 years ago and since that time my designs have evolved. Several years ago I was inspired to create a more accessible line of jewelry for everyday and Something Blue slowly grew into Studio Blue, a line that includes not only traditional jewelry pieces (still often worn by brides) but also an ever-growing collection of body jewelry that complements our stylish and on-trend aesthetic.

I work in a sun-filled studio in the foothills of Southern California and my design aesthetic is delicate, timeless, and elegant. Effortlessness embodied, my jewelry takes the fuss out of style, adding just the right amount of sparkle to any outfit, casual or refined. The pieces are stylish and on-trend but not trendy, so you can feel confident wearing them at any time and in any season. I want you – whether treating yourself or a loved one – to find meaning in my jewelry pieces, which will provide enjoyment for many years to come.

Can you talk to us about how your funded your business?

Going back, I initially created “Something Blue” (Bridal Jewelry) when I was working for a high end, jewelry designer that mostly designed custom wedding rings. This was in 1992. At that time, our bridal clients didn’t have any fashion jewelry options for wedding day jewelry. The options were Cathy’s Concepts which was very inexpensive imitation pearls and rhinestones, not really worthy of a wedding day…or high end diamonds and genuine pearls, like Harry Winston or Tiffany & Co. something that was out of reach for most brides. I began to create custom pieces for our bridal clients, with the intention that these pieces could be worn beyond the wedding day. This included Bridesmaid’s jewelry which brides would gift to their wedding party.
About a year later I was laid off. As I was collecting unemployment I decided this was the perfect opportunity to create a real business out of this Bridal line concept. Affordable, yet high quality bridal jewelry that was not too “bridal” and could be worn well after the wedding day.
In June of 1994 Something Blue Bridal Jewelry was born. I really had no additional funds other than the unemployment income I was receiving at the time which was less than my prior salary at the jewelry store. But, what I did have was time.
I wrote a business plan (begrudgingly) and I did some “market research ” among friends and family.
I designed and created a line and in the first few years I repped it myself. That was tough. Being rejected, in person wasn’t fun, but I just kept at it. I eventually participated in some trade shows. My first big show was a Bridal Show at the Mart in Chicago. There I landed several Bridal shop clients and just started building on that. My Uncle was good with tech and he created my first website. Every step I took to build my business was done on a shoestring budget, and by tapping into the resources I had around me, like friends and family. I really had no other option. I eventually found a rep in the L.A. Mart, then another in the UK (she was also a friend who moved to the UK and was a jewelry rep, perfect!) She managed to get my line into Liberty & Co, Harrod’s and some smaller boutiques. At one point 2 of my pieces were featured in the Harrod’s Christmas Catalogue. This was a very exciting accomplishment but it was also a little scary because at that time I was still the only one making every piece.
So I guess the short answer to the question of how I funded my business was through being creative and doing everything myself in the beginning. I think that while that situation is certainly challenging it also makes you become much more resourceful.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

In 2006 I gave birth to my daughter and my initial plan was to just continue on with my Bridal Jewelry business, which was 95% wholesale at the time. (I also had a couple of local shops that I had, and still have, consignment agreements with). However, I misjudged my ability to keep up with the demands of running a wholesale jewelry business AND taking care of a baby full time. So my first pivot was instead of creating 3-4 new lines every year, I created a smaller collection and for every seasonal collection I kept the same designs but in different color ways in order to lessen my workload. I also only sold to my most dependable shops.
Then the 2008 banking crisis hit. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do but I wasn’t bringing in enough revenue and needed to generate some money quickly. I had a lot of samples from my previous reps and I thought about selling them online DTC, but E-Bay was not the right platform. (and my stand alone website never generated much income). At some point I stumbled across a jewelry designer that had posted a link to their Etsy shop, which I had never heard of (imagine that!). I checked it out and it seemed like it would be a good fit so I started listing old stock and had some mild successes. Then I decided I would pursue selling on Etsy full time and stop selling wholesale completely. After a few years I changed the name, Something Blue, which is very bridal focused to Studio Blue and began designing pieces that were more aligned with “everyday” jewelry. During this time I maintained a DTC website but never achieved the same level of success that I did selling on Etsy so for many years my main focus was Etsy.
In 2020 I designed and created a new stand alone website, ShopStudioBlue.com which features pieces that are little more intricate in terms of production and are also a slightly higher price point than the Etsy shop…and running a successful website is not easy, however, after 2 years I’m about to make another BIG pivot. I recently started working with an incredible Shopify expert, Grace Hayden, on my current website and together we came up with this next pivot; creating a completely new brand with a very focused niche, focused on Mother & Daughter jewelry that will embrace the special bond between mothers and daughters (and Aunts, Sisters, Grandmothers, family, etc) This new brand is intended to replace the ShopStudioBlue website. I’ve already obtained the new domain url and started the process to trademark the new brand name. I’m really excited about this next journey. Stay tuned!

Contact Info:

• Website: ShopStudioBlue.com
• Instagram: somethingbluestudio
• Facebook: facebook.com/shopstudioblue

Image Credits
The headshot of myself is Robin Foley Portraits (instagram is @robinita7) The product images I shot myself. Model is Violet Schade