Attire Accessories - Dec 2017/Jan 2018 (Issue 67)

62 ATTIRE What sets your business apart from your competitors? Our investment in the business, commitment to brand awareness and customer service is what we really pride ourselves on. We’re a small label, so in a saturated jewellery market, we’ve tried to set ourselves apart by giving each customer a truly personal service. Each order is dealt with individually and we make sure that each piece will be loved by the buyer, so we listen to their needs and tweak aspects as necessary. Our designs are all handmade in the UK as well, so we put these details across in our ethos. We’ll always keep it this way, even as we expand. We love supporting young creative brands locally ourselves, and in a changing buying environment, we think people are turning to homegrown, original designers too. How important is the location and history of the company to its success? It’s what we base our ethos on. We’re sisters who design and create each piece by hand – the only difference is that now we’re helped by a growing team of creatives. Handmade design will always be at the heart of the Black & Sigi brand. How has the product offering changed over the years and how would you describe your current collection? We started out only offering bangles and rings, then we added necklaces before finally including earrings. We’ve now included hair accessories and have collaborated with other creative brands to offer wonderful new pieces, shoe charms being our latest venture. The Bountiful Earth autumn/winter 2017 collection was born and inspired by a tomato.The jewellery may be luxurious, but our inspiration comes from many unusual and diverse areas. Nature, history, mythology. Something catches our eye, and from there a collection is created; it may be the colour, the texture or just the name. How often do you launch new lines? We launch two lines a year using the semi- precious designs.These are smaller, capsule collections to complement our classic and everlasting Immortal range.This is our mainline collection, which we try to add a range to each season. Our current designs within this line use pale pink-coloured coiled wire inspired by Neptune the God of the sea. What are the current bestselling designs? Tell me about your recent campaigns. The Aphrodite range, hands down is the bestselling range, and is loved by all our customers. What we find with this line is that regardless of whether you’re a statement jewellery maven or delicate jewellery fan, these designs hit a right balance of contemporary statement styling, but isn’t too in your face.The Neptune range is fast catching up with Aphrodite in the popularity stakes though. Which trade shows do you attend and which one works best for you? We’ve exhibited at Pure London and Top Drawer so far. We find Top Drawer has really worked for us, as it’s design led and brings in a variety of buyers who are looking for original, distinctive products. Next year though we’re set to add a new trade show to our calendar. We’re looking at potentially signing up for Scoop and even adding an international trade show to our exhibition calendar. Any buyers or customers who want to know where they can find us can sign up to our newsletter.

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