TLDR I won't be manufacturing gold filled pieces afterall and future collections will be solid metals only ✨ Enjoy the candid chat below x
Steph
At the start of the year you may remember that I posted and blog titled "The Path For Us in 2024" And in that piece I announced that I would be incorporating overseas manufacturing in order to create some unique gold filled collections and to give my wrists a chance to rest.
I know we're only 8 months into the year but guys — I take it all back.
Initially I wanted to incorporate manufacturing because gold filled, as a material, is really difficult to work with for jewellers and it's super limiting in what we can actually create with it when we're hand making something — but it's a material that sells really well for JF so I wanted to try and find some middle ground.
By incorporating manufacturing and the skilled hands of people In CAD and refining I was looking to create new gold filled designs that would be unique to JF.
At the start of the year we did our first batch of manufacturing with 10 unique designs which was due to make up our first earring edit of the year. But those plans quickly went south, I lost lots of money, had to cop it on the chin and craft the collection myself.
Where it went wrong
This wasn't as simple as 'slight metal colour variation' or the 'wrong stone color' was used. This was I tried the piece on and my ears were so **** irritated by the end of the day that I couldn't confidently tell you these were safe for sensitive skin.
Anyone who has had a chat to me in person or bought from me at the markets knows that I will very confidently tell you you can pop these in and leave them in, you are all good. Sensitive skin? I've got you — And that was not the case with these pieces.
In short, after test wearing the final product myself, I wasn't confident in the quality of the metal used. Bringing us to the next issue.
One of the designs was a new set of pearl studs. I got a sample from the manufacturer, yep, great, love them. Approved the design to go ahead and patiently waited.
What I received 2 months later was totally different to that sample. They were really poor quality plastic beads, in very messy settings with metal that just looked brittle.
This was from a company that claimed they had over 120 years of trade experience in jewellery manufacturing and handcrafting. Who appeared to have all the appropriate credentials and industry 'blue ticks' displayed and seemingly good reviews on google.
The first thing I did was document everything, I took videos, I took samples, I smashed the plastic beads so I could show the manufacturer and politely say "hey this isn't what I paid for or what you agreed to make" and when I reached out to them their reply was a very blasé "oh, well, we didn't know you wanted real pearls".
This then led me to question the integrity of every other piece they had made for me. As I had intended to design a really colorful collection and I had requested stones such as topaz, sapphires, emeralds to be used in these pieces. So if they had absolutely no issue giving me plastic pearls, what the **** else were they setting and passing off as genuine stones?
I ended up with just over 300 pairs of earrings that would not meet my standard of quality for one reason or another, that I couldn't vouch for and ended up scrapping for recycling.
I know, 300 pairs sounds like alot but unfortunately this was a minimum order ie the absolute bare minimum you must order for them to manufacture the product for you. I had estimated that this stock would get me through the entire year of events and online sales.
I spent $8000 on manufacturing this collection of jewellery that in the end, I had to cop a loss for — Which financially I just haven't been able to recover from yet.
This has been a really hard lesson, particularly during a really tough financial year for both small businesses and individuals in general.
Unfortunately in the end, the manufacturer wouldn't accept any responsibility for their shortcoming. They had every excuse under the sun as to why the jewellery was made the way it was and eventually, they ceased communication without any offer of resolution.
Finding and Reflecting
Reflecting on everything that happened made me realize that this wasn't how I wanted to run my business. I am so passionate about this for many reasons, one being the amount of joy it genuinely gives me sitting down to hand make pieces.
And stressing about communicating with manufacturers and trusting them to uphold my values is not something I want to be doing.
I also had a bit of a conversation with myself and said "ok how do I want JF to look in 5 years" and I made a mood board, which I love doing, i'm a very visual planning kind of gal, and I realized I don't actually want to move in that direction (manufacturing overseas), I was simply trying to force myself to 'keep up' with what other people were offering. But in turn, that just went against what I wanted for Jane Finch all along.
I want to create these really high quality sentimental pieces that you're going to adore, wear and pass to somebody else eventually and I really want those to be the highest quality.
So after surrounding myself with lots of visual inspiration I have started creating my next collection which will just be sterling silver or solid gold, and I'll be handcrafting it myself and that's it.
I think when you're a small creative business making a product it is so easy to have your thoughts clouded with "oh I should do this" "I should be doing that" "I need to keep up with XYZ and what they're offering " — then you really quickly lose grip on what you actually want.
When you are a creative you can't just be making it for all these other people — at the very foundation of it, you know, you make it for yourself. For your passion, your joy, your want, your comfort, whatever it is that drives you to create.
If you've managed to make it all the way to the bottom of this chat, thank you so much ✨ I wanted to highlight this lesson for myself and for others. You don't need to keep up with anyone, you set your own pace, in your own race x
Steph