We were lucky to catch up with Jennie Kwon recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jennie thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?

The jewelry industry is a very crowded space, as the barrier to entry is low. You don’t need a ton of capital to create a small collection and present it to the world.

Because it’s such a crowded industry, it’s hard to introduce pieces that present a new point of view. Especially with more delicate, accessibly priced jewelry, there’s only so much real estate to work with.

This is what makes it extra important to keep your blinders on and stay focused on your own voice. This is what really set JKD apart from the rest, and continues to let us carve out a space in this industry for the past now almost 11 years. It’s temping to look around and be swayed by what’s trending at the moment, or what’s seemingly doing well for other designers, but we’ve stayed true to what we find beautiful, what we find classic, and the essence of JKD.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

This is my third life. I started my post college journey as a classical violinist, having studied at a conservatory with one of the most sought after musicians in the world. Then came a sudden pivot into the law at a big firm and then movie studio. Finally, after the birth of my twins (who are now 13), I was at a crossroads where I felt it deep inside to be a now or never moment. Jump and switch course to something I felt was meaningful, or stay on the same road I’d been on for the past 5 years for the unforeseeable future.

It took a lot of courage to lose that paycheck and security and take the plunge into an industry I knew absolutely nothing about. After taking a quick 2 week course in metalsmithing, I assembled a collection of a handful of pieces that really resonated with me and within a month, one of my still biggest retailers, Catbird, sought me out and took our collection on. From there, we were in stores such as Barneys, Twist, to name a few and this really got the ball rolling in the right direction for JKD.

People ask what it was about our collection that resonate with so many from the get go, and I really attribute a lot of it to my complete lack of knowledge of the goings on in the jewelry industry when I first started. I didn’t know a single retailer, designer, in fact- I’d never been a jewelry person! But I designed from the heart. I designed pieces that I, as a woman in her mid-30s, wanted to wear and found beautiful. I designed pieces that felt unobtrusive and were, as a result, mostly more delicate in scale, yet felt serious. Pieces that had a clear point of view and didn’t just feel like jewelry that functioned simply as a gateway to more serious higher end fine pieces.

It was and is still of utmost importance that our pieces have a throughline, no matter when it was created. That the essence of JKD is felt in every single one of our pieces.

What we hear so often from our clients is that they can feel the love that goes into making each piece when they try a piece on. Every single detail, every last bead of milgrain, it creates a palpable sense of care. This creates a feeling of soul in all of our pieces.

This is also why we have our own studio and jewelers versus outsourcing which would probably be more cost efficient. This way, I know exactly who is handling our pieces, what their energy is, and the level of care that goes into creating a JKD piece.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is a common story amongst so many small business owners, regardless of industry, but Covid really tested our resilience like never before. And it wasn’t really until then that I realized what we were capable of, and how much support we had from our customer base.

Despite encountering things we couldn’t have predicted, it was a huge priority to keep my employees paid during the shutdown, even if they weren’t able to continue working. To keep the business rolling, we sold all of our samples, and eventually, I had to wheel and deal on the street corners of the jewelry district here in Los Angeles to get pieces made while buildings were boarded up and studios closed. This meant having to drive to god knows where to jewelers’ houses, pick up gold from the jewelry district, pack and ship hundreds of orders out of my house on a weekly basis (with the help of my then 6 year olds). It was truly a crazy time, but when we emerged, we emerged so much stronger than pre pandemic and all of my employees came back to the office ready to work.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I started JKD right when Instagram was gaining momentum- in 2013. We hear time and time again from our followers that what appeals most to them about us is our authenticity. I’ve never hired an agency to take over our social media platforms, as much as I’d love to do that, as the essence of JKD would be lost. Our social media following has grown just as our company has- completely organically and honestly.

Contact Info:

• Website: Jenniekwondesigns.com
• Instagram: jenniekwondesigns
• Facebook: jennie kwon designs
• Other: tiktok: jenniekwondesigns

Image Credits
Sophia Schrank