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How two jewelry designers took their businesses from start-up to stardom
By Emily Stegman
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Elizabeth Showers says the motto behind her jewelry business and many of her designs is "feel beautiful." She says her time at GIA opened her mind to all kinds of creative, technically innovative ideas.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Showers
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Between a recent appearance on QVC to present her new Eliza Collection and finalizing plans for two other new collections in the works, Elizabeth Showers has had a busy last few months. The jewelry designer based out of Dallas, Texas, will spend May gearing up for her booth in the Design Atelier section of the Couture show in Las Vegas and then it's time to tackle the ever-present question of where her design inspiration will take her next.
The 36-year-old Texas native arguably had an even busier schedule when she was working to establish her design company (aptly named Elizabeth Showers); the brand didn't start to take off until 1999, the year Neiman Marcus began to carry Showers' pieces in its stores.
Years before that, Showers was going door-to-door to different stores to see if any would pick up her gemstone beaded jewelry.
"I had only $2,000 in my pocket and the additional capital came from credit cards," Showers says. "I was always scared of not getting orders, but I did get lots of them and then, of course, I was concerned about sell-through at the customer level. But, I kept getting orders from our retailers and it was a win-win situation for both of us."
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Elizabeth Showers designed "The Goddess Sundial Pendant" while studying at GIA. It features a 1.5-ct. aquamarine at its center and 1.8 carats of diamonds throughout. This design led to several other sundial styles incorporated into her collections.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Showers
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Next she started to participate in trade shows in New York and Dallas and hired outside sales reps to help her spread the word about her designs. She set up shop at eight or more trade shows a year until she felt it was time to slow down and give more attention to expanding her design skills, and temporarily leave the task of focusing on sales to her staff.
After seven years of hard work establishing her business, Showers came to GIA's Carlsbad, California, campus to "enhance" her design capabilities.
"I saw how the market was changing and I had only designed trendy, beaded jewelry in those seven years - nothing in high-end metals. And, I never was too great at drawing," says Showers, who earned a Jewelry Design certificate at GIA in 2003.
She says the class helped her understand the technical side of design and taught her that she is more of an idea and concept designer (she now has a GIA Graduate Gemologist on staff to help her with technical drawings). Showers also discovered that she needs to take more time away from the office to be innovative and to "simply recharge my creativity."
Showers, who majored in Latin American studies, Spanish and anthropology in college, couldn't have predicted that her fond childhood memories of making jewelry out of clay and spray painting it gold at her grandma's house would foreshadow her future career. Today, her designs incorporate materials such as 18K yellow gold, diamonds, pink tourmaline, chalcedony, green amethyst and turquoise.
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A collection of rings from Elizabeth Showers' jewelry lines. The center ring toward the top is part of the Maltese Collection, which is inspired by the Malta cross and its symbolic virtues of bravery. This ring features green amethyst faceted briolettes and 0.09 carats of diamonds.
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Showers
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Her designs have been worn by news anchor Katie Couric, celebrity Queen Latifah and singers Taylor Dane and Colbie Caillat, and her new sterling silver Eliza Collection is reaching a broad audience through her collaboration with the QVC network.
The designer has created several collections for her company, with the goal to empower all women to feel beautiful. The Hope Collection stemmed from Showers' recovery from anorexia, a disease she suffered from in her teenage and early college years. Each piece depicts an eight-pointed star that Showers dubbed the "hope star" – which also appears in her company logo – and the proceeds are divided evenly among The Elisa Project, an organization that promotes awareness of eating disorders, and The National Eating Disorders Association.
Showers says she successfully grew her business by looking closely at the resources she had, networking and building her personal contacts. She advises anyone striving to take their design business to the next level to hire a public relations firm or someone to help with press for the company.
"I have found that the best way to gain industry knowledge is by becoming friends with other jewelry designers with jewelry collections in your same category. Of course, there is a fine line here; there aren't a lot of jewelry designers who might be willing to share this knowledge with you. Fortunately, I have become friends with several designers and we trust one another to not copy each other's collections and we help each other as much as possible with trade information," Showers says.
Nature is a big inspiration for Showers' designs and she says a huge part of taking an idea and making it into a piece of jewelry is collaborating with other creative people around her.
"It can be so easy as a designer to come up with ideas. I have a lot of ideas, but it's more about staying focused on what looks like my style. There has to be continuity. I want it to look obvious that it's my collection," Showers says.
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"GIA provided me with the education and support I needed to enter this field. It was really up to me to apply what I had learned," says Serena Traver.
Photo courtesy of Serena Traver
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Designs Built for Speedy Success
The Divi Collection, Sarena Traver's newest jewelry design project, is named for two-time captain of the British Women's Olympic Ski Team and Formula One race car driver Divina Galica. Traver has been her co-driver in several races and says the 64-year-old is an inspiration.
Traver gets behind the wheel for races of her own and says she tries to incorporate her speed racing hobby into her jewelry designs through moving elements. "Whether it's spinning cages or sliding pearls, it adds a bit of whimsy to the design," she says.
JeTalia, named after the designer's son Jet and daughter Talia, includes four collections created mainly from 18K yellow and palladium white gold, diamonds, pearls and rubies. The business started after Traver moved to Del Mar, California, and wanted a change from her marketing career after having her children.
Her dad is a gem dealer who had her help weigh and color-sort stones since she was 7 years old. Traver took him to GIA for a tour and jade exhibit viewing on Father's Day four years ago and realized how much the campus had to offer. (To learn more about GIA's tours and the volunteers who make them happen, see "Time and Passion to Spare," in this issue.)
"It took a lot of discipline on my part to pull 'it' together every day to attend classes in Carlsbad. It was difficult to juggle family, new career, new business and racing all while getting through the GIA programs," says Traver, who completed GIA's Applied Jewelry Arts and Graduate Jeweler programs, as well as the Jewelry Design course – with several cups of coffee a day to help her through it.
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A ring from JeTalia's Synchro Collection made from 18K palladium white gold with flush set diamonds.
Photo courtesy of Serena Traver
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The long nights and hard work paid off, she says.
"As a jewelry designer, I wanted to be knowledgeable in this field and be able to communicate with other professionals on the highest, most respectable level. GIA is really the only place to obtain this and be able to apply it in the field," Traver says.
The Southern California native says spreading the word about JeTalia is a constant work in progress. Things really started to pick up, Traver says, after her Web site was up and running.
She was recently named JCK's "Rising Star," an award she'll receive at the 2008 Las Vegas show in late May, and famous names like Shareeka Epps and Rebecca Gayheart have donned her pieces ("It's euphoric! It's a definite 'pinch me' moment.").
Traver says it took a ton of research, questions, interviews and determination to establish JeTalia. It was a challenge to stay motivated and Traver took solace in the advice from a friend, who told her, "If it was easy, then everyone would be doing it."
She is a firm believer in internships and says they are invaluable. "You can learn so much from working beside a goldsmith or designer," she says.
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Serena Traver says she always incorporates "movement" into her collections ("guess it's the speed racer in me"). This 18K gold and akoya pearl cuff is from her Apex Collection.
Photo courtesy of Serena Traver
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"David Yurman would be my dream lunch date. I saw him speak at the GIA Symposium last year and was completely in awe," Traver says. "His dedication to and passion for his family, career and business is something I'd like to emulate."
Another way to stay up on industry happenings, she says, is to "read, read, read" trade magazines and Web sites.
Traver is an active member of the San Diego Women's Jewelry Association and says she enjoys being able to support and empower women through her work there. She says she looks forward to seeing where her professional exploits will take her, and JeTalia, in the future.
"I want to keep the same forward momentum and still experience those 'pinch me' moments along the way," Traver says. "For me, it's really about the people I meet and the relationships I develop. What fun is it creating a piece and selling it if you can't have friends to share in your success?"
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