Photos by Eye Touch Photography
Q&A with Sunday Girl Designer/CEO Amy Di Lamarra
What inspired you to launch Sunday Girl? In 08’ (when the economy was really tanking) I had to make a really tough decision to close down my handbag and belt brand Kudra after 5 years in business. One of the first things I did after that was doing private label jewelry design, one of the clients was Badgley Mischka. It was the first time I really got into jewelry design and it was for couture pieces so I could be really creative and even a bit over the top. It opened up a whole world of design I had never considered before. I did a lot of different freelance jewelry designing over the next few years and in 2011 I officially put together my own line of jewelry and began to sell wholesale.
How does your design process work?
I work the designs in a few different ways. Often I start with a motif that I want to explore with a casting like the lattice petal. After that I play around with variations on that theme. I think about the different jewelry pieces for that central piece for different necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Sometimes I’ll have the idea for the style of the piece like the cluster necklace, then I just play around with different variations of stones. Sometimes I’m totally inspired by a particular stone, like the Sunset necklace, and the necklace comes together around that.
What else goes into your business? How do you incorporate the local Los Angeles community?
In order to create cast pieces, I do drawings or I make initial samples out of wax or metal, from which a mold is made. My castings are all made locally in Los Angeles. I like having all my suppliers close by. I know them and their work and they know me. Those relationships mean everything. I also have a pieceworker who assembles jewelry and makes all the 143 bracelets and necklaces, (she has much more nimble fingers than I do).
There a lot of things that go into my business aside from design and production, a huge one is maintaining my own website, social media outlets etc. as well as other sites where I sell like Scoutmob.com and starting this year Bluefly. I’m also constantly working on getting systems in place to make the work flow more smoothly and save me time. Things like inventory systems and customer relationships are big ones and are constantly being tweaked and improved. I don’t have staff for most of these things. I have to be organized so I don’t waste a lot of time.
Can you explain how you came up with the idea for the 143 bracelets?
I was actually just planning on designing a cute seed-bead friendship style, layering bracelet. I have to credit my husband for coming up with 1 4 3. Way back before texting, he used to leave me notes that would say 1 4 3 instead of I love you, it was our little code, (turns out it wasn’t just us). Anyway, it became the perfect way to set these pieces apart from other similar style jewelry. It’s also open to a lot of possibilities for expanding the collection.
What are the three pieces of jewelry that you think every woman should have in her jewelry collection?
Fun dangle earrings, a great chunky ring, and an interesting mid length necklace that you can throw on with literally anything, to give you that little extra bit of “fancy”, even if you are just running to the grocery store.
What advice can you give women looking to start their own business?
Start where you are, don’t keep putting it off because of unrealistic expectations or perfectionism. Get creative and find a way. I started my business when I was pregnant with my son and all my money was set aside for baby stuff. I’ve had to grow slowly and I’ve made much wiser business decisions as a result.
What jewelry will you be wearing on Valentine's Day?
"Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars." - Gilbert Parker
This post was brought to you by Sunday Girl.
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