The Journey begins

Before I start writing about news and nice to knows about CreatsUniques and my world of handcrafted jewelry design, I want to tell you how my journey began.

There have always been projects in my life.

For a while I made and sold puppets, then there was the phase of building furniture, another was sewing beautiful clothes but I also tried painting, drawing and modeling. In 2016, these skills led me to make large and unusual pieces of jewelry, because these are apparent in my current designs.

Of course, starting a jewelry label, finding customers, and then selling the pieces wasn’t as easy as I had originally imagined. I put a lot of money and energy into building the first two websites, with and without an online store, only to discard and redesign them all over again, because the design of my jewelry has also changed over the years.

My first Designs

were single pieces only and I didn’t make earrings, bracelets or brooches, only necklaces then. It was important to me from the beginning to give every woman the opportunity to express her uniqueness by wearing my jewelry pieces.

As I travel frequently, I started collecting pieces of wood, seedpods, horn and shells, which I decorated with gold or silver foil, cotton cords and various beads also from markets and vendors all over the world. I went to Chinese markets and found very old temple coins, which obviously had been rubbed for luck for decades.

On the right you can see some of them combining slices of wood.

Beads’n Things

I found the most beautiful beads in Africa, handmade by small family businesses in Ghana and in the Kazuri Factory in Nairobi , Kenya, which is the first fair trade factory in Africa. It was founded in 1975 with two single mothers as employees and since then has grown to 300…all of them single mothers. Amazing, isn’t it?

I went to the Tuareg tribe’s tents in the Sahara to see how the brass beads are made.

My designs back then were different but you can already see where the journey is going to go. I showed my creations at craft markets all over Germany and by talking to a fellow vendor I actually had THE eye opener concerning the stainless steel wire I wanted to use but couldn’t find anywhere.

The solution was to use dental wire! It is hard but not too hard to break by bending it. It is soft enough to form loops and hooks but it always keeps its form even when you touch it.But most importantly it is antiallergic!

Using this material turned my designs from good to high quality and then…

…I met

.Edda Jockisch and her daughter Anna Kranzle through a Facebook Group and was virtually introduced to THE show for extraordinary clothing, accessories and jewelry in New York: CURATE

From then on my dream was to participate and become a member of the Curate family. In February 2020, right before Covid-19 hit, I was able to see the show as a visitor and instantly felt that this is where I wanted to exhibit my designs. I even sold the necklace I was wearing to a very well known and successful jewelry designer from Los Angeles. Can you imagine how thrilled I was?

CURATE

Rhonda, my representative

Virtual Show and NYC

Due to Covid-19, as you all certainly know, no physical show was possible in September of 2020 but I decided to participate in the Curate Virtual Show with some of the designs you see to your left. I still used seedpods and wood but also pieces made of crocheted wire with precious and semi precious beads.

Through this event I was able to introduce my jewelry brand to the US market and I love it! However, I had to move from absolutely one-of-a-kind pieces to reproducible unique ones in order to make more of the same style for different customers. In October 2021 I signed up for the physical show in February 2022 but I couldn’t get a visa in time. I was devastated!

Thankfully I found a wonderful representative, who flew to NY in my stead and managed everything brilliantly. Thank you Rhonda, you made it possible!

Of course I was virtually available during the opening hours for customers to ask any questions, thanks to WhatsApp!

It was a great experience and, even if I probably will not show in NYC again, it was a successful event and now I have many great business relationships with boutiques from various states and cities, each of them with different tastes and preferences concerning the designs and collections to keep me very busy.

So here I am now, ready to let you have a look behind the scenes of CreatsUniques, give you additional information about the manufacturing process, packing and shipping of orders and where I find new inspiration.

Be prepared for new posts…