The time has finally come for me to spill the beans on the biggest project of my career so far. I’m going to tell you the story from the beginning because I think it will show you how anything is possible…
In June 2011 I decided to take part in the Hatton Garden festival during London jewellery week. Notorious for diamonds and precious metals, I have to admit I felt a bit out of my depth. The day didn’t get off to a great start, there wasn’t a tent set up for me, I was directed to the wrong place to park which resulted in a parking fine, which you can imagine I was most chuffed about, then I was plonked on the end of a row of people demonstrating silversmithing, whilst I was demonstrating how to look out of place, joy, although this did seem to work in my favor in the end. The interest I received from the other dealers and jewelers was amazing; passers by were commenting on how they had heard about me! Awesome.
After a while I got into the flow of things, was chatting happily with people when I spotted a potential customer, (you get to know what they look like after a while). I remember at this point thinking “oooo, I think she might buy something”, the following exchange of words went like this:
customer: this is lovely stuff
Me: thank you!
customer: who do you design for?
Me: eerrr nobody, just me, my own brand
Customer: you don’t design for anyone else?
Me: (OMG what’s happening here) no just me
Customer: Ok because I buy for Jigsaw and I think your designs would really work for us.
Me: (OMG, OMG, OMG, f**K f**K f**K, OOOMMMGG!!!) OK, cool, great! (aaarrrrggghhh!!!! be cool!)
You see people, I was found, spotted whatever you wanna call it! just like you hear about, I was just doing my thing when, bam! just like that, the opportunity I’d been working towards, hoping for, the thing that people thought wasn’t possible happened.
This was just the beginning the festival was in June 2011 and the collection I designed for them hits the stores this week. The learning curve and experience has been like no other. I’ve been in the accessory making, small business game for over 8 years so I felt I’d learnt a few lessons on the way, what not to do, how to design creatively but commercially… however even that didn’t prepare me for how challenging it was going to be to pull this off, whilst keeping everything else going!
It’s all about timing, and the ironic thing about when all this happened was that everything was on the up, the business was building nicely, the customer base was growing, and Christmas was around the corner so I was quite busy.
Running a retail business and a commercial wholesale business are two very different things. When I got into this craziness I said I don’t want to be wholesaler however you soon realise that this is a bit of naive and slightly romantic way of thinking. I soon learnt and for a while I concentrated on designing items that I could wholesale and some that I would keep for retail. It’s easier said than done, because you don’t want to compromise your design… I was once told you have to be commercial to be creative and I can’t tell you how true that is. Building up credibility can take a long time but you only give yourself a chance if you’re out there selling as often and as much as possible.
For more on-the-job business advice drop me a line, but for now, it’s back to the collection!
The initial plan was to take a few pieces from my current range, Masai, Ivy etc, but the owners of Jigsaw! (I know! nuts hey?) loved the idea of the collection so decided to go for something totally exclusive to them! This was great but also meant a totally different ball game, if they didn’t like what I came up with that was that, done, all over. Fortunately for me, out of the 8 pieces they requested, they chose 7, so yes I will blow my own trumpet, that’s pretty good going!
So we’re there the collection is agreed, the deadline is set, it’s time to start making.
There were times during this period when I thought, yep I really am a bit mad, the business changed overnight with additional staff, premises etc but all the while I have to tell you, I was loving it and still having boughts of random hysteria and chuckling to myself at yet another stroke of the Amma Gyan luck, but then again I think it’s what happens when you work really hard.
So if you’re ever passing The Strand, Kings Road, Kensington, Argyll street or in Guildford, pop into Jigsaw and look out for ‘Reign by Amma Gyan for Jigsaw’ hehehe, cool eh!
The initial collection:
The final selection:
Now lets make! Reign, moulded leather necklace with peruvian amazonite stones.
It took over for a while…
Then became a family affair
The girls hard at work.
Nadine on fire! look at her go!
The final days, kind of sad seeing them go…
Delivery day! this was a particularly satisfying shot!
Reign, by Amma Gyan for Jigsaw - Spring Summer 2012
Jigsaw blog post
