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

Mercy Jewellery’s founder Rachel Parkin talks about starting her new label, evolving her design vision and creating a collection that reflects the sentimental shift in this industry Tell me a bit about how the label was started. The label was started in 2016 after I closed my previous company, Balagan Jewellery. Following some changes in my personal life, I wanted a fresh start. I’m a serial lover of quotes, aphorisms and sentiment, and decided I wanted to develop on this passion. I’ve come to see jewellery as very much a gifting opportunity and I wanted to focus on our core collections to see how both they and the company could evolve. I also felt that I’d identified my signature look as a designer, so after a lot of soul searching I narrowed down our niche offering. How were the initial products developed, and what was the response? When we moved over to Mercy Jewellery we naturally took our bestselling collections. We’d actually been working towards this for some time, but as with many things in life, it takes a whole lot longer than you think it will. We brought forward four collections, One Wish, Amity & Grace, Narrate and Blowing in the Wind and then we created a brand-new Grace & Valour collection. The response was very positive. We honed in on our branding. I wanted to have a clear cohesive offering, which sounds very simple to do, but my creative nature means that I find myself going, “Ooh, let’s add this, and this… and this.” So, concentrating in on what could stay and what had to leave the fold was actually really tough. I think of our collections as complementary brands as I believe they reflect different life stages. Maybe I’m seeing this because I’m older now? I’m not sure, but I’ve noticed that different messages sell at different stages of our lives. I wanted to reflect that, so One Wish is a more youthful collection, Amity & Grace is our more stylish look at life, while Narrate and Grace & Valour are more elegant views on life. What challenges were overcome when the company was starting out? Narrowing our scope and learning how to ONE MORE TIME WITH FEELING ATTIRE 67 PROFILE