| Meet Tanya Lee – up & coming Jewellery Designer |
|
|
|
Designing jewellery – sounds like a marvellous profession. The niche market, however, grows increasingly competitive though. Tanya Lee established her own business in the summer of 2005 and has since sold her handcrafted jewellery designs at her online-store (www.tanyalee.com). Our resident journalist Christa Catharina Muller met up with her in North London to find out her story so far…(Check out the special FashionCapital discount offer at the end of this article.)
Question: Tanya, what is your full name and where are you located? Tanya: Hi, I’m Tanya Lee Rose. I’m based in North London. Question: Do you have any university background in design? Tanya: I did my A-levels in Arts with an A and was offered to study at Central Saint Martin’s. I made a mistake in not taking the place - instead I followed another interest that seemed more realistic than fashion and design, which led to a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. Question: What is it about jewellery that you love? Question: When and how did you get your business off the ground? Tanya: Around 5 years ago I started making and designing jewellery with Swarovski components. It all started as a hobby and as word spread, I was getting more and more requests. With lots of promising feedback and of course my love for what I was doing I felt it was time to get serious and I started ‘Tanya Lee’ as a business. It was all one fast chain reaction; I graduated from university, brought out a whole line of designs, launched my website and I’m now shipping my designs all around the globe: Australia, America, Brazil and, of course, Europe.
Question: Did you have any help? Tanya: My friends and family have always motivated me and I have had a lot of good advice on the business side from my parents. Question: Tell me more about the idea behind the business, your inspiration. Why did you choose Swarovski crystals? Tanya: I have always loved everything that sparkles and glitters. Swarovski crystals are the most gorgeous and are of the highest quality of sparkling stones other than diamonds. It felt only natural to me to use Swarovski crystals, which come in all of the colours of the rainbow and make everything brighter. My inspiration? Well, I think I basically design what I would like to wear myself. I have always been a fairytale kind of girl and my designs reflect exactly that. Comment: The Swarovski colour chart covers 48 different shades, please click here to view it. Question: What range do your designs cover? Tanya: Currently I offer a wide range of different bracelets, necklaces and other accessories such as mobile charms, eyeglasses’ chains and key rings. Styles are suited for everyday wear and also for special occasions such as a wedding or for an evening out. They range from simple subtle to big and eye-catching.
Question: What is special about your designs? Tanya: All of my designs are made using only the finest silver, silk and Swarovski components. The customer gets to pick what they want as every design can be made with different colours. The pieces are really made to keep forever. Question: For being Swarovski quality, your products are rather reasonably priced. How can you achieve that? Tanya: That depends; some people would say they are expensive. I just want everybody to be able to have some. Question: Where can we see your work? Where is your jewellery stocked? Tanya: I exclusively sell online, but I am still considering offers to stock my jewellery in boutiques. Question: Have you been in any magazines / fashion publications? Tanya: The Daily Mail recently did a review on my jewellery range (9th December 2006) and I’ve been advertising in Vogue, Glamour and Tatler. The last weeks have really been busy. Orders have gone straight through the roof and I’m nearly working night and day to finish the designs.
Question: How difficult is it to make it in fashion? Tanya: Like in every business the start is tough. Motivation from all the good responses and compliments certainly is the key that keeps me going. One day – I was in the shopping centre – two girls approached me and told me they had been looking for something like my necklace the whole day. They ended up buying it off my neck. Another time, a woman came to me and told me she had exactly the same bracelet and was very enthusiastic about it. I didn’t tell her I was the designer though, but these are the things that make the early mornings and long hours of work worthwhile.
Question: What does your service include? Tanya: If you order something from my website, the order will go out with the mail the very next day – even if I don’t get any sleep. Quick service is part of my business. When someone has a special request, we will closely work together to create the perfectly fitted piece. It’s very important to me to fulfil my customers’ needs. People come to me asking if I could design a necklace matching their dress or if I could use crystals to make their bra straps sparkling. A lot of my work consists of designing bridal jewellery, they come to my showroom and we pick colours and styles together. I have a showroom at home, which is filled with hundreds of tubs with all the different crystal styles and colours. Question: What is the most special thing you have designed? Tanya: Every time I work on a unique design together with a customer it makes me happy to see them fully satisfied. One of the most impressive items so far has been a bridal necklace. It was a five rowed choker with little crystal droplets hanging off it, it was truly beautiful. My personal favourites are my bikinis, which I have adorned with Swarovski crystals and also the collar I made for my little dog Charlie. Question: What are your plans for the future? Tanya: I really want to get a bikini range ready for next summer, which will be my main priority for the near future.
You can buy Tanya Lee’s personalised jewellery collection online. Just visit www.tanyalee.com. All FashionCapital readers get a 20% discount if they enter this promotional code TLC55 when they order.
By Christa Catharina Muller
|
