We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Cait Kaufman and Christina Rahimzadeh a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below
Alright, Christina and Cait thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What can you share with us about the story behind how you found your key vendors?
We are passionate about sustainability and quality in all aspects of our life. We know that gold and diamonds are forever and we’d like Mother Earth to be also. We have a new found love for lab grown diamonds which is standard in our bridal collection along with recycled diamonds. We love using ethically sourced stones and we use only recycled gold in our pieces. Our aim is to work with people who have a similar vision and ethical standard as we do.
Cait and Christina, 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?
When you support a small business, you are supporting a dream. That’s what Kimiya [pronounced “Kim-ee-ah”] is to us. It’s our labor of love and a passion that fuels us everyday. We are proud to be a company that is women-owned, minority led, and as two sisters-in-law, will always be a family business at heart.
Have you ever had to pivot?
In the beginning of our business, we casted a wide net to bring in revenue, not wanting to miss any opportunity to get our designs out there and make sales. Starting a small business is scary, because you put all of your heart soul, time, and money into it and hope that the return is as close to immediate as possible. You end up doing things that don’t necessarily spark joy. Over time, once we leveled out, we realized we weren’t in this for the money only and that we needed to do things that we loved and valued. The right people would find us and follow us.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
Superior quality and customer service has helped build our reputation. We treat each piece like we are making it for ourselves. We are almost always available to answer any questions. We know how important and sentimental a piece of jewelry can be for someone. We never attempt to downplay that. We handpick every stone, every chain, and every component that goes into our pieces. In addition to that, there is a new wave of online shopping. One of the hardest things to buy online is jewelry. We make people feel comfortable by having a level of service that is as if they are in the store, touching each piece.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kimiyadesigns.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimiyadesigns/
- Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/kimiyadesigns