Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Christelle Zarb. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Christelle, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Let’s start with a story that highlights an important way in which your brand diverges from the industry standard.

We live in a world where everything is mass produced. Nothing is made to last and nothing is truly unique. Unless it’s handmade! That’s what I love about running a small business of handmade items. Not only do I endeavor to produce high quality and unique jewelry, but I also want to make women feel beautiful. We live such busy lives, that self care usually falls low on the priority list. I love creating jewelry that elevates a casual outfit and requires no extra effort in your part. If you look great, you feel great. When you feel great, you’re ready to take on the day!

I love working with my customers to create custom jewelry or just modify an existing design to make it perfect for them! Nothing makes me happier than seeing people wearing and loving my jewelry. Customers will send me pictures or I’ll see my friends and family wearing them, and it makes everything worth it. Seeing the smiles on their faces and how they matched the earrings with their outfits really makes me happy. It might seem like a small thing, but it’s the little things that make all the difference.

Our goal is to make women feel good about themselves and help them express their unique styles. Big companies don’t always think about each individual and what their needs are. But that’s our specialty!

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.

I first heard of polymer clay on social media! I saw videos of other artists making earrings and I thought, I can do that! At the time, a friend of mine was going through a really hard time and I wanted to help her focus on something fun and therapeutic that she could also make a business out of. So together we bought some clay and some tools and we discovered we loved working with polymer clay! Unfortunately, in November 2022, my friend suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. I decided to really lean into polymer clay jewelry and continue doing what we loved doing together.

I started off buying cheap materials and just whatever I could find online. But as I got to know my customers and their needs, I started sourcing high quality earring backs. All of our earrings are hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive ears. We have a variety of lead free and nickel free earrings and are researching other metals to provide the best jewelry for you. Polymer clay earrings are also extremely lightweight so they won’t stretch out your earlobes. I’m always thinking of ways to make our products better.

I am constantly trying to improve my technique to make the jewelry look like a work of art. I love working individually with customers to help them find the perfect style and metals for them. I’m really proud of how far my skills have come, and I hope to continue to improve. If a customer isn’t sure about how a pair would look on them, they could reach out to me and I would love to help them find the best jewelry for them based on their individual style!

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

So I started an Instagram page and posted pictures of the jewelry I made. I wasn’t getting a huge response. I discovered that people are very interested in the process and not just the end result. So I started filming myself working the clay, cutting the shapes and putting everything together. And then I started getting a lot more engagement!

The online polymer clay community is quite large and it’s difficult to stand out. But learning from others while developing your own style is a great way to grow. I try to respond to every message and I very comment because I do love connecting with my customers. I always appreciate when someone takes the time to comment or send me a message, so I try to respond as soon as possible.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I think viewing customers as individual people and giving them personalized customer service is the best way.

I have made some mistakes like sending a customer the wrong item or forgetting to change out the hooks they requested. So when they reach out to me, the first thing I do is apologize and admit my error. And I work as quickly as possible to fix the issue. And I also like to include a small gift, like a free pair of studs in the correct order to show my appreciation for their patience and understanding.

Mistakes happen, so dealing with them from human to human- not just company to customer- makes people trust you and enables us to offer better service to our clients.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.OBDSJewelry.Etsy.com
• Instagram: @obds.jewelry