IN with the old and IN with the new!

I love fashion. Strike that… I love sustainable fashion.

Getting more involved in the wholesale scene has gotten me more aware of the fashion world. Things happen so far in advance! It’s so strange to go from my market life, where every week I would re-make similar pieces to the ones that sold the previous week, to wholesale where stores order a season ahead. In this fast paced, ahead of things world, keeping up with the seasons means that there should be exciting new designs and a shedding of the old designs. I love making new work but I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to get rid of the old… 

I’m a fan of sustainability, of making work that’s timeless. We’re riding a merry go round of extremes, of trends of new and used and discarded. It’s such a disposable era, nothing’s made to last. I think, if something is good, if something is successful, it should remain.

I’m all for creativity and keeping things fresh but I’ve been cultivating my line for a decade. All of my customers, through the Artist Market and my Etsy shop have helped inform it, refine it. I guess it’s just different with handmade. I love when I hear that my earrings are a staple, a go to, a favorite, everyday pair. I like that they get worn and worn and become part of your story, take on your travels, your memories. 

I just want to make work that’s simple but eye catching… a little edgy but rooted in comfort, wearability, and there’s no time limit on these things. The beauty of taking the "ancient" and mixing it with the "modern" is that it can live in the NOW. There doesn’t need to be an “in” and an “out”, how about a solid ALWAYS!
Make new work but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold. Just some thoughts while traversing this new path...

 Meanwhile I'm getting work ready to present to a new shop. I love how every fall copper earrings look fab with the surrounding colors!

This little Pendleton jewelry case is great, super compact and stylish. I stapled my earring cards to a few foam board sheets for extra display space.

It all fits and stays safe while being lightweight and looking professional. 

Happy Fall Y'all!

Street Team?

It is exciting but hard work to get into new shops. For the past 6 months I've been simultaneously making jewelry and seeking out stores. I actually just received my second random Etsy Wholesale order from an adorable looking shop in Washington D.C. called Wake up Little Susie! That makes 12!

Last week I dropped off work at Magpie, in NYC (Upper West Side). Getting my work in there was the result of Montana (who works at Trinket) mentioning my work to the owner, when she was in NYC. Thanks Montana!

The more stores I get into the more jewelry I need to make... which means less time to seek out stores. Also, it's not always easy to "rep" oneself, especially when it's in other states that have never heard of my work. So this got me thinking... Would you like to see my jewelry in your city/town? Would you like FREE jewelry? Would you like to help a sista out? 

There's really nothing quite like positive word of mouth and if you enjoy my work and enjoy shopping and (when you're out and about) if you could just happen to wear my jewelry into your favorite boutique and talk up my work - perhaps give out my card or website, I would be so grateful. I would happily give anyone $50 jewelry credit if it resulted in getting into that shop. It really would only take a few minutes and it would mean so much to me! Or if you're so inclined to send an email out to your favorite shops, that would also be amazing. You could send them this link: http://www.jenniferkahnjewelry.com/stockists.html
Just be sure to tell the owner to pass on your name to me so I can give you the credit in my Etsy shop. 

So what kind of shops? Pretty much any boutique that sells Free People clothing is a good place to try. Or a place that sells handmade goods. I tend to shy away from stores that just carry jewelry - some of my biggest orders come from shoe stores and day spas so it's really more about the feeling, the vibe. As I say in my Etsy shop - I make jewelry for the modern bohemian: artists, yogis, professionals, mothers, teachers, servers, live music seekers, tea drinkers, organic food eaters and all those who appreciate comfort and style. If you want to pass my info on to your favorite spots, that would be awesome! And if it works out, you get the bonus of being able to shop locally, in your own town for my work!

Cities I'm looking to get into:
Portsmouth, NH
Portland, ME
Austin, TX
Asheville, NC
Denver, CO
Portland, OR
Tacoma, WA
Seattle, WA
San Francisco, CA

I'm not limited to that list, I'd be happy to be in touch with any shop that's a good fit for my style. Thanks for considering this! I would love to build up a rockin' street team!

Playing with Displaying

It's always important to freshen things up... I just got a new banner that I love. I thought -Why not have big images so folks can see my work from a distance and find me easily? I've also realized that I can pivot my framed earring displays out which opens up my booth and looks so much better, sometimes it's those little things that can make such a difference.

T. Karn Imports is using a lovely wood frame to display the earrings I just sent them. Tesha chose such a great combination of pieces. 

She's displaying these necklaces on some rustic dark wood, I love the contrast.

I wanted to revamp my necklace displays so I got crafty and bought some bamboo cutting boards and nailed leather (scraps from a jacket) to them. I dig the combo of the leather and the wood and the badassness of the nails. These displays feel edgier and show the necklaces off better than the displays I was using.

Right now, aside from working on store orders, I'm busy sending catalogs out and trying to get into some new shops. I'll be in Santa Fe in a few weeks and NYC and Rhode Island in August. Let me know if you have any suggestions for great shops in those areas!

A Decade at the Artist Market and A New Schedule

It's time for me to do fewer markets...everything has been aligning for this shift. I will miss being there every single Saturday but I'm happy I will still be there half the time. This will be my 10th year at the Burlington Artist Market. I can't believe it, a decade! It seriously flew by. The market is so much fun that I've just kept doing it year after year...after year! In a way though it felt like I wasn't growing and expanding my business. For 5 years I've been trying to juggle the market, my Etsy shop and having my work at Trinket and I was always overwhelmed. Often shops would contact me about wanting to carry my work and I would always sadly say I just can't keep up with what's already on my plate. I did want to get into shops though, I think it's great exposure, I just couldn't figure out how.

So this is the year I began implementing a change. This happened in 4 parts...

1. Aside from enjoying selling my work myself, I've never liked the idea of losing 50% of a sale by selling wholesale. I understood that you make it up in volume but since I couldn't produce a lot of volume, that didn't mean anything. I needed to get help with making things, so I could make them faster. First I needed to figure out a formula to see how I could afford to have help...
     So after a lot of research, I developed a great jewelry pricing formula that works for me. I weighed every piece of silver and priced out every jump ring. I  timed how long it took to make things. I put it all in an excel spreadsheet so I could see everything. If I could price out how long it took me to cut something out of metal maybe I could find a company to cut my metal and then I'd have more time... I suddenly loved math and appreciated using a coefficient of expansion. I began to see how every piece related to another one. It was so helpful and from there I was able to choose my wholesale line.

2. I picked 6 of my most popular earrings in 2-3 sizes and 3 metals. Boom! That yielded 36 earring options. I found a company to cut out my earring shapes which, aside from saving me time, is saving my hand. Then I heat, drill, hammer, file, wax, patina, polish and wire them up. I'm also getting some pendants cast which allows me to make multiples and to get them in sterling and brass and to keep the prices down. So I can wholesale about 20 necklace and some rings. Some pieces in the line are made entirely by hand but I can make them fast so they're included too. I'll be adding more to the line often.

3. I got an intern! I'd like to introduce Fiona. She is a going to be a senior at UVM and she's AWESOME. She's been working with me since November, mostly doing a lot of hammering and I love having her here once a week. She's super enthusiastic, sweet, stylish, helpful and has a great eye. I've never had help before and it's incredible how much work you can get done when you have 4 hands working at the same time. She also modeled for my catalog (she owns those stitched crescents), they look so great on her!

4. I started a wholesale website, made a catalog, got it printed and sent it to shops. Mostly Vermont galleries and boutiques, just trying to grow my business very slowly, organically. Hoping to take this ball of energy amassing in Burlington and fan it out. I got into 6 new shops! I sent out first orders and I'm going to see how this all gels together. In order to make room in my schedule to make work for shops, I decided to do every other market. That decision was confirmed when I looked at my calender. I have 5 weddings to attend (and 2 bachelorette parties!) this summer. CRAZY! A very natural schedule emerged and it's 2 markets a month.

I'm excited to weave this all together and hopefully expand my business - and not be overwhelmed. It will be nice to be less dependent on the market for income, especially on those rainy/cold days. This has been the hardest I've worked during a winter and that was what it took to make the leap, make the shift, shake things up and grow. We'll see how it goes...

New Wholesale Site!

I've been hard at work getting my wholesale line together...

Above is a sneak peak of my new wholesale shop... You can't really visit it without the password but here's the LINK

It's comprised of 6 of my most popular earring designs. Many come in 3 sizes and 3 metal options so that alone yields 35 pairs of earrings. It features close to 20 necklaces, my Chakra wraps and a few rings. All in all there are 65 pieces (some are featured in my new postcard above) and I'm so proud of putting this all together.

Now I'm focusing on getting select Vermont and New England shops to order for spring. If you have a shop or know of a shop that you think would be a good fit, please let me know (or please let them know!) and I'll pass along the super secret password. Over the next few weeks I'll be working on a catalog too. This is a big shift but I think it's the way to go...