We recently connected with Jonathan Black and have shared our conversation below.
Jonathan , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.
I have always loved jewelry and antiques since I was a child and about 5 years ago I was changing the direction my life was going and thought to start my own business with a jewelry line. I stalled on the idea as I knew I needed a different concept for my line as jewelry is a very over saturated and difficult market to enter. I decided to go on vacation and I was in Europe in the city of Lucca in Italy and there was a giant antique market going on that weekend that I stumbled upon. There was tons of vintage jewelry vendors with great used pieces for amazingly low prices everywhere. I thought to myself what a waste that these beautiful pieces from the late 1800’s through the 1980s were never going to be seen or appreciated by the current generation/s so I decided to change that. I bought unique pieces and pendants that caught my eye and restored them to almost new condition before putting them on trendy and custom/current jewelry necklace designs. I chose strands of pearls as they were coming back in style and they are timeless in my opinion. I started selling and my pieces started flying off the shelves and I knew I had something special.
Jonathan , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Jonathan Black and I’m 41 years old. I decided about 5 years ago to start a business revolving around jewelry as I have always loved it and my grandfather was also a jewelry maker so I grew up enveloped in it. I also decided to incorporate Italian antique jewelry into my pieces as I love antiques and Italy as well. I have a family home in Italy and grew up over there in the summers and knew I needed to have that as part of my life as well. I started Luce di Lucca Jewelry, named after my favorite Italian town, and decided to make current/trendy jewelry pieces for the everyday person that incorporates vintage Italian jewelry pieces in them. The antique jewelry pieces are too beautiful to be forgotten about and I want my customers to feel as if they are wearing history and sharing it with the current culture. It is too beautiful to be put away and forgotten about. I restore and repurpose all the vintage pieces and incorporate them into current and beautiful jewelry pieces. I make high end/dress up necklaces, simple elegant necklaces, bracelets, and earrings in gold and silver that all have a vintage Italian piece incorporated in them. I also design custom pieces for my customers and also have designed wedding pieces for brides and their wedding parties. What sets me apart from others is that my jewelry is in a very small niche that is different from most other lines and it is also environmentally friendly and sustainable as I am recycling and preserving history with each piece I create. I am most proud about this fact. I want all my clients to know that each piece they get is one of a kind and it also is a part of history so they are wearing history.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
I used to work in a completely unrelated field that I did not like. I decided life is too short to not do what you love so I searched for a passion that I felt strongly about and came up with my jewelry line. I love being able to create art from my mind and have my customers love it. It is very fulfilling and brings a quality to my life that I’ve never had before. I am truly happy now at 41 years old and wish I had found my passion sooner.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
When I started my business, I was new to social media and decided to focus on Instagram as my main marketing tool. I started by following boutiques and other creators in my industry. After I followed enough of those people and got return followers, I decided that I need to make social media part of my every day routine. Therefore I decided that I needed to have a new product and a new post every day and that is what I have been doing. It has been working for me and my social media following has grown tremendously. I also like 500 posts a day from my non-followers in order to entice new followers and will return and liked post for post everyday as well. Make it a part of your routine and you will see it grow faster than you think. Also engage with your followers and you will see orders come in.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lucedilucca.com
- Instagram: @lucedilucca
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/lucedilucca/
- Other: [email protected]