February 4, 2025 • 30 mins
Ep. 201 Lauren Harwell Godfrey, Founder and Designer at Harwell Godfrey, shares how her background in advertising and fine dining shaped her journey into fine jewelry, creating a brand known for bold, geometric designs inspired by the African Diaspora and crafted with ethically sourced gemstones.
On this episode, Lauren speaks with AfroTech’s Will Lucas about building a luxury brand with purpose, the role of technology in jewelry design and production, and how she balances artistry, philanthropy, and business growth—while keeping storytelling at the heart of it all.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
I'm Will Lucas, and this is black tech, green money, luxury,
storytelling and innovation. A few designers balance these elements as seamlessly.
It's Lawer and Harwell Godfrey. From a career in advertising
defined tiny to launching her namesake jewelry brandt, Laura's journey
has been anything but conventional. Her designs, inspired by the
(00:22):
African diaspora, sacred geometry, and personal experiences, have caught the
attention of celebrities, collectors, and major retailers alike. But beyond
the sparkle of eighteen care go neth if we source
Jim Stones, Lauren is building something bigger, a brand with
a purpose.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So I'm very interested in your background.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
As you know, I'm seeing a lot of advertising work
there and culinary arts, and I'm wondering how those things
might have influenced your design perspective and running a jewelry business.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I think that it's really
influenced me as a human being. Those different career choices
that I've made in the past that I've been on
advertising for me as.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
A creative director and an art director.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
And my whole job was to communicate my ideas visually
and come up with an idea and then be able
to really explain it to people in a very clean
and concise way. And I think that's really served me
well in the jewelry world, because again, I'm like coming
up with these designs, I'm not the actual bench jeweler
who makes them, so I have to be able to
(01:25):
clearly communicate visually what it is that I want. And
I feel like I had a head start on that
because of this fifteen year career in advertising where that's
like every day, that's what I did, So that was great.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
And then culinary it's another one where you have this
set of ingredients that you're working with.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Right in the culinary world, it's like you got your
proteins and you got your grains, and you got all
this stuff and the way you put it together is
what makes it magical. And you're a chef or somebody
who's you know, using food as a way of communicating,
and I feel like that's the same and jewelry. We
all are working with precious metals, gemstones. The materials are
the same, and how we remix.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Them and do it in our way that makes them special.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, let's called how you started that was saying, you know,
it was really about storytelling, and I wonder when you're
trying to communicate those ideas, is it like when you're
trying to communicate to the actual producer of manufacturer. Is
it like literally, I need a line here versus telling
the story.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So they can kind of get where you're coming from.
Or how literal is it?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It depends on the project. I do a few different things.
I'm very computer literate, having been in the advertising and
kind of graphic design space for so long, So sometimes
I'll make things an illustrator and I'll make them down
to the millimeter, so it's a two D like rendering of.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
The object that I want.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
But I'll be like in the end, I want this
to be twenty five millimeters, I want this stone to
be one millimeter, and I want this pattern to be this.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm very pattern driven in my work, so there's a
lot of precision.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
But then sometimes I want to evoke more of a feeling,
and so I sketch. I think when I instead of
being you know, a flat, very computer and thing, if
I can actually catch the item, if it's something that
should have more of a vibe, if you will, I
think that really helps, and sometimes I do a combining
simple it's just very product or project dependent.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, speaking of illustrator, you know, I wonder how technology
has influenced your design process, either to your point, you know,
sketching something is a lot different than just you know,
a flat illustration.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But how has that lended more you know, input into
the design.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I think it has, and I think.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's something that makes me unique as a designer, just
having that sort of fluency and illustrator. It's not I
don't think illustrator is a very traditional jewelry design program,
but it's what I know. So I use what I
know to make my things. And I don't come at
the jewelry world from like, you know, a family business
that I was a part of all this.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Like heritage in the jewry world. I'm coming at it.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
As a designer and using the tools that I know
to influence that. And I think I've had a lot
of positive feedback that my work is very identifiable.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
And I think part of what might.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Make that true is because I'm able to do intricate
designs that have the technology and the know how to
use that to help me really helen in and makes
a very specific, very interesting patterns and things.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Possible into work.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So I came up in the music business, and I
used to talk to a lot of producers who advised
that they treated their production or songwriting like a job.
So nine to five, whatever their time is, like, they
go to work like everybody else, but they had to
treat it that way instead of just something that they
just do when they caught a feeling or call it
(04:45):
a vibe. And I wonder how you structure your life
to sit down and do work. Is it, Hey, I'm
just going about my day and I got inspired by something,
or hey, I'm sitting down from twelve to six and
I'm going to draw.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know, that's also very dependent on the time and
the space and where my head is. Sometimes I'm just
like an idea will come to me and I'm like, I.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Need to get this on paper. I'm so excited about
the thaying to stop everything and get this down.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Other times, I know there's a deadline looming and I
don't really have a choice, and I have like, you know,
I gotta get I'm currently we're operating in that space
these days.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
There's a big deadline living.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I'm launching a new collection this summer that I really
need to like finalize. So it really depends, you know it.
Inspiration strikes everywhere, and I'm not limited to when I.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Can put out a new piece of jewelry.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So if I really fall in love with an idea
and I'm like, I think this just needs to hit
and be out there, I can do an independent release
and not have it attached to any sort of a
you know, a showroom, market or a planned date or anything.
I have that flexibility in that freedom because I have
an audience that is interested in that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So it's there's all come at it from all the
different ways.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
How do you know when a design is done?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's a feeling and I don't know if a design
is ever truly done. And trust me, I've had some
designs where I make it, I launched it and put
it out in the world, and a year later it's
maybe it's a one of a kind and I didn't
sell it. I last year did this. I took the
piece back. I sort of changed a couple things about it.
I reoriented, I like put it on a different necklace,
(06:28):
and I did some stuff and it immediately sold So
the thing that's kind of cool about jewelry is there
are ways that you can keep manipulating designs.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Obviously, if it sells, it's out the door.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And there are some pieces that I make that are
meant for production, meaning there repeatable items that a store
can buy and all my wholesalers are able to buy,
and so those things don't I try not to change
too much because money goes into the like photographing them
and marketing them and all this stuff. But when it's
one of a kind and peace, you know, I think
(07:02):
it's done when I have this feeling like I love this,
it feels good. But don't put it past me to
take it back if I see something that I want
to change later.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and I'm sure you know other designers who have
beautiful work, but having even come close to the level
of success you.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And others have.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And I would imagine that a lot of that has
to do with brand. It's not just the product, but
it's the story that coincides with it. Positioning in these things,
what have you seen work to elevate your brand where
others might not have found that same success.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I attribute a lot of my success to joining a
showroom at the very beginning of my career, which a
shore room and my shroom, the shure room that I
went it's called for Future Reference, and it is a
shureroom that specializes in independent jewelry designers. And they handle
my product pr and they handle my wholesale business, and
(07:59):
they have a lot of connections in the jewelry industry.
My friend Randy Mulofsky is the founder of the showroom.
I went to her when I decided I wanted to
start making jewelry, and I'm like, hey, this is career
number three.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I don't have like years and years and years.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I got to like start, you know, getting this thing
off the ground and making it successful as soon as
I possibly can.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
She's like, you know, set your expectations. But I really
leveraged having a showroom.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And having their contacts to help me gain traction in
the industry and get people to take me seriously as
a person who had nothing to do with jewelry. That
really helped me, and I continue to work with them.
Even though you know, some people grow out of their showroom.
I don't know that I ever will, because I just
like the partnership of the showroom and we continue to
come up with interesting.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Ways together to market the jewelry, you know, do interesting collaborations,
different things like that. So I think that really helped
give me a leg up where if you're coming.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
At this is like I have this idea, you know,
the treaty falls and the forest is anyone here, you
know that kind of thing. It's like they were able
to really amplify me from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You know, we've seen this amazonification of sales and retail
over the last decade or more, and luxury shoppers has
held on to some extent. You know, people want to
get to know by and touch and feel in person,
have that in person experience. But luxury buyers are increasingly
(09:25):
you know, shopping online. And I wonder what role e
commerce has played for more luxury brands like yourself to help.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You grow your business and how you've been intentional in that.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
It's been interesting. You know. What I feel about all
that is that it's constantly changing. Like you said, luxury
is interesting. People kind of can.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Adopt certain ways of doing things. I do think story
is a unique space where people are really.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Looking for connection.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
These are items that typically are heirloom or that they're playing,
they have in their lives for a very long time,
and I'm finding, you know again, I'm about eight years
in and I'm finally starting to really understand how important
personal connection is to people, especially when they're coming to
buy something like this.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
So, you know, we do utilize online sales. I have
a website, but I.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Also opened a store last year, and I'll tell you this,
I've noticed since I opened the store that my web
sales have gone down, and I think it's because people
take the time and effort to come to the store
and have that connection. Touching jewelry makes a big difference,
the weight of the jewelry, the way it feels on
your body. I think we're kind of a unique part
of the luxury industry that really eggs VERSU in person time.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
But I also just launched a charity effort to help
out with the fires in.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
LA and people were buying stuff basically that I was
promoting on Instagram not.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Having touched it because they didn't have one for them
to touch.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I didn't option as soon as that they went to
the person who wanted it was gone.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
But then I opened it up for other people to buy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
And they trusted me enough to buy it, you know,
without so it depends on the case.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, you know. In my my YouTube feed, I've had
these things pop up more recently about how exclusivity and
some luxury brands are very prevalent. You think about air mes,
like you think about a Rolex store, like you go
and you can't buy a Rolex in a Rolex store,
And I want, you know, I wonder like how this
(11:24):
stuff makes sense and how do you balance exclusivity with
accessibility needing? Like you know, maybe Rolex can get away
with that. Maybe that's just you know, positioning, they say,
And there's other ways to buy it. I don't know,
you maybe you know, but how do how does this
work when you're trying to balance exclusivity with luxury and
because obviously you don't want everybody to have it if
(11:44):
it's luxury, but accessibility also matters because you had a
business to run.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Yeah, it's it's a juggle.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I think the way I try to balance it is
again by having some products that are truly one of
the kind, so only one of them will ever exist.
And generally speaking, that's because of a special gemstone that
I've used, where each gymstone over a specific.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Scale can become very unique.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So for those people who are like I want to
have something that no one.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Else has, we can do that.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
But then, you know, I also part of my brand ethos,
I think, is to make fine jewelry accessible in a
different kind of way, like where I'm like pilot on
wear it every day. There's like there's kind of an
accessibility vibe to my brand that I want honor. So
I make price point pieces that people can get that
are not one of the kind and they're you know,
sub one thousand dollars or one thousand, two thousand dollars,
(12:38):
and you can get into the brand at a level
that's more accessible if you will. But then I've also
done some limited edition pieces, like I did a collaboration
with the artist Ashley Longshore as a friend of mine,
and we did a press for Champagne ring that's really
fun and we're like, let's catch this the twenty so
the people that are fans of both of us can
like have access to it, and it's like, you know,
(12:59):
but then like everybody in the world is going to
have one too, So there's just different tactics for different products.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, you mentioned collabs and I'm interesting how collabs with
designers work and so is like the actual structure is
this us saying hey, option a like, hey, I'm going
to pay you to come and let's do this thing together.
And there's here's the revenue exchange between us? Or is
this we're going to do this split on whatever we get,
(13:26):
Like how do on paper and in function collabs work.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
It's different for every person. So every brand is unique.
And like, you know, even with Ashley.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Consider her a friend and she also is a brand.
So we had a meeting with her team and we came.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Up with, you know what we were both comfortable with, and.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We really hit it. From a business standpoint, it's like
we're buddies and we'll go we could, you know, have
some drinks together, and that's the whole other thing. But
we took this very seriously and had some very serious
business conversations about it. I also collaborate with the Caveat Company,
which is a local to me.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Female run caviar brand.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
They distribute nashally though it's quite wonderful caviar.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But you know, we also had our meeting.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
And we discussed how we would work together as brands,
and those were two very different conversations from two very
different brands.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That I want to work with.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
But I will say, so far in the collaboration space,
I've only really done them with people that I know
and trust in, like, because I want it to be,
you know, an authentic collaboration where it's you know, people
and products that I stand by and love.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
So that's that's the common ground on both of those.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, well, let's go a level deep on that.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So I get you know, some of the creative Like
we may bounce ideas off of each other, and you know,
then I'll ultimately come up with this product that we're
both you know, a fan of releasing.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
But like, how do splits work? How does it?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Say?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Okay, Lauren, is you know, taking fifty percent and this
band of here's second?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Like, how do you decipher who's doing what? And how
does the split work? Are you give an example?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, Like a good example of this is typically.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
All the clouds I've done, there's jewelry involved, and so
I'm responsible for making that jewelry and paying for those
raw materials.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
If you will.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So for me, the way the Clods have worked is
that I need to be able to pay myself back
for that investment and then split profits after that.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So if both of our names are on it, you know,
it's like, I think both parties are entitled to uh
a split thing, But I also have cost to cover
because I'm usually the one manufacturing item.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
There's these two quotes I found from you that I'd
like to repeat to you, and I wanted to get
your take and go a little bit harder. And so
there's one you said, I do consider myself a big
muse for the work. To me, realness is not asking
what do I think someone is going to buy? The
question is about what I think is interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
What do I like.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
If it's something I truly love, maybe someone else will
love it too. I'd rather come from the heart than
from a place of pure profit.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You remember saying that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I don't think I am a store back in those days.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
We're gonna talk about that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We're gonna talk about that. So the second part is
this is this other quote you said. It has not
been the thing that I thought about, if you will,
I did not come into this thing thinking like, Wow,
this is a competitive, competitive industry. How am I going
to do it? I'm just starting to make jewelry. I
was just starting to make jury. I made jury that
made me happy. Then I decided to change and to
(16:34):
do more fine jewelry. I really wanted to find a
way to make it profitable so that I could keep
doing it. I was not trying to seek out a
spot in the fashion industry. That happened naturally because people
responded to the work. So I get where you come from.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Like I would.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I didn't have a storefront, then I didn't have real
bills to pay and et cetera. But I want to
find this balance between creative work and being able to
keep doing it, which means you got to make more. Like,
how have you found the balance between being true to
Lauren's creative perspective and Yo, we got a bill that's
(17:10):
going to need to get paid in a couple of
days here.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, well it's interesting. So I've always thought of myself
as a creative and my creative perspective is very important.
I'm starting to.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Finally embrace the fact and not feel like a total
impostor that I am also a business person.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So this is a new phase of life that I'm mentoring.
One thing I.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Will say, though, that has also taken me time to
understand is I think I have really good instincts, and
I think I have good instincts about what to make.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Not everything is a.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Success and not everything's flying off the shelves, don't get
me wrong, But I think what's made the brand a
success and the success the success that it is.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Now is that.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I surprise people and I do things that aren't completely.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Traditional. And in this base of fine jewelry.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
What might be surprising about how technology and even AI
might be disrupting and or impacting your industry and your work.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
You know, I feel like I personally have not hit
up against AI that much. Yet I'm not looking forward
to it because I think, to me, what AI is
going to create is this very ubiquitous sort of everything
feeling and authentic and not the same. I don't know,
I'm not super excited about it yet. Maybe someone will
prove to me a way to get excited about it,
(18:33):
but I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Not quite there. But technology, I think is amazing, and
I think.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Technology, you know, there's a lot of different ways that
you can make jewelry. Some of it, like I said,
is done by people who sit on a bench and
literally handmake it.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
We work with people like that. We also, you know, there's.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
Printing technology and jewelry. There's like all kinds of ways.
If I have a person who wants to do a
custom project with me and they want to make an
engagement ring, let's say I can actually print a resin
or whax of that ring so that they can try
it on and see what it feels like before we
commit to spending money on gold.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
So there's just really cool stuff that can happen.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
And I see I think, as you know, technology keeps
getting formed.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I'm excited to see how that can impact the form
factor of jewelry.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
You know, people are working in titanium more, you see
alternate materials.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
Am I still there for you guys?
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Okay, my computer's just acting very crazy. So speaking of technology,
myers right now, come on, technology is a slow I
don't know mercury is in retrograde.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
I don't know what's up anyway.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
But yeah, I personally I am a fan of technology
when it comes to form factor and what it can
allow us to do.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
Because I also I really.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Like to approach design in a not limiting myself from
having an idea if I don't think it's possible because
maybe there's something new in technology that I don't even
know that.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
Can help make it possible.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So yeah, I design things and I come at it
in a way where it's like, hey, I've not seen
this before necessarily, and I have a really wonderful group
of people that helped me with my production and they're like, oh,
here she comes again with like this crazy idea. But
I'm like, that's what makes it fun and like that's
what's going to make it stand out. So we come
at stuff all the time where we're like, we haven't
(20:22):
seen it, but let's see if we.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Can make it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, you know, and we aren't necessarily mining diamonds and
gems and domestically. And I wonder how has potentially, potentially
technology made the the effort to source ethically more transparent
or more difficult.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
I think it's made it more transparent because there are
a lot of people like the lab grown diamond thing,
let's say that, and that is definitely technology. In the
jewelry industry, there are a lot of consumers out there
who are like, all about these lab grown diamonds, and
so the natural diamond world has to figure out how
can they still stay relevant.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
And you know, create some communicate to.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
People in a way that shows why natural diamonds are
beautiful and special and why they aren't bad for the environment,
or why they aren't blood diamonds and all that sort
of stuff and traceability and other technology in the jewelry industry.
The people at de Beers have done a lot of
things like creating something called track or where they can
put these like microscopic numbers on diamonds and you'll be
(21:31):
able to follow its journey from the moment it leaves
the earth to who does the final like faceting and polishing,
and you can see that whole story and how where
that diamond came from. And I think that's going to
be increasingly important because I personally still am a natural
diamond person. I don't work with lab round diamonds. I
think it's detrimental to the economies of the places where
(21:54):
the natural diamonds come from.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
I've been to Botswana, I've met the people, I've seen
their practice.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I know what's going into that and what all the
good that that production of diamonds has done for that country,
and I think it's really special and I want to
support that rather than supporting a lab somewhere, or they're
using a lot of energy to make these diamonds anyway,
So you know, I think the way that we're going
to get consumers feeling comfortable around that is to be
(22:23):
very transparent.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
What has been the most challenging thing about transansitioning from
an executive to a founder?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
You know, I mean again, I see myself as a
creative person, and I didn't see myself as a business person,
So making that transition because I would say eighty five percent.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
Of what I do is run a business now and
fifteen percent is the creative where in.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
My old life it was that I was the creative
director and everything was creative. So I went from like
one hundred percent creative, not running a business at all,
just being somebody who helped support the business with my
skill set. So that's been the biggest transition, is like
wrapping my head around running a business. But I also
find to be one of the most exciting parts about
all this. I really did not know that I had
(23:11):
that in me, And I'm really as the business keeps
growing and aging and you know, we've been in it longer,
I'm really enjoying the process of like growing into that role.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, at fifteen percent. I'm super interested on that because
I was watching this some design there I was watching
and he had grown to this scale of his name
is on the label and he's at the place now
where there's some designs that go out that he never
even sees, but his name is.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
On the label.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And I wonder, how, if you're doing a five percent
work and fifteen percent creative, what does that bridge look
like to where Laurence scale sit a place to where
there's designs coming out like you just you just your name.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Is just on it.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I don't know that I'll ever be there because I
think what makes this brand unique at this point until
I come up with like maybe this library that we
can reference or whatever, I think, I'm still I'm still
my design is important to the brand and I am
the only designer. So I guess that maybe says a
thing about like how long my days are.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Maybe if it is.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Business in fifteen is creative, I still have to I
am still the one who is designing every piece, and
I think if you look at the library of work
that I have produced, it's pretty prolific.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
I think I tend to come out with a lot
of work, So.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Maybe someday in the future there'll be a way to
hand off some of that responsibility. But I also do
really enjoy that part. I think I'm trying to find
more ways to bring in business help, and I do
have some. I have a head of operations that's super helpful. Again,
I have my showroom that I work with, I have
a financial advisor, I have a production group that I
(24:54):
contract with, and just different people who help me on
the business side. But yeah, I'm not right let go
creative yet.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, how have you managed, you know, being a business
person out but still care so.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Deeply about social issues.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
As you do when you you know, you may do
a project and one hundred percent of the proceeds go
a specific way, and how do you balance both those things,
you know, trying to do well while doing well.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
I think that they feed each other.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
And it's it's really important to me and just the
energy that I have towards the work and the way
I feel about what I'm doing.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Because I'm working with really expensive.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Materials, I'm selling to people who tend to have disposable income,
and I think part of what makes that feel okay
to me is that I can use this work to
also give back and to create positive social impact. I
also think because I actually, again, I'm just doing this
(25:52):
thing to help support the victims of the fires in
Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Fire Department in world's
central kitchen, and there's all these things going on, and
I am writing a lot of checks if you will,
or you know, using the credit card to send a
lot of money to various charities right now, which is
hard on the bank balance. But I do think it
also because it's coming from an authentic place and people
(26:15):
can feel that. I think that in the long term,
it sort of creates love around this business too, and
around this brand because people know that, actually, I'm a
human being who cares about other human beings, and I
think that makes them feel good about supporting it and
maybe spending, you know, on these high value pieces and
supporting this brand because we also do good work.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yeah, you know, you mentioned some of the you didn't
mention names, but you talked about how some of your clients,
you know, they have the means to do this stuff
and it's not much for them to be able to participate.
You know, how do you build these relationships with high
profile clients? You know, Rihanna was mentioned as a client
of yours, and there's others how those relationships formed where
(26:56):
it's nothing for them to put on, you know, one
of your pieces and tell people about it.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
I think a relationship that I'm really happy and proud
of is my relationship to Kamala Harris. I'm friends with
her niece, Mina, and so again it's personal and it's
this connection that I connected with Mina and Mina and
I just connected as friends. But then she also likes
my work, so she was gifting it to Kamala. So
it's not like there was a lot of.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
You know, your.
Speaker 7 (27:26):
Office talks to my office, and it was more of
a real engagement of you know, friendship and you know,
shared values that got us to that place where she
was wearing the jewelry and I love that.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
There's also I do have a showroom and we are
sending jewelry to celebrities to wear. And the way that
the Rihanna thing came about was that that you know,
her stylists called in some jewelry and I think she
ended up liking something wanting to keep it. But I
was very far away from that transaction. I don't personally
know her, we don't speak to each other, but I'm
like thrilled. I'm like, yes, we really like get that jewelry,
(28:02):
and I'm like I would happy to know she has
a piece.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
But so there's different levels of it, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
But for me, I've had celebrities DM me and just
say like, hey, I like your work or whatever, and
that makes me feel great.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
And sometimes they see it on people I didn't.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Even know had something, and maybe they're buying it through
one of my retailers because they have a relationship with
the store. Sometimes I just don't even know how it happens,
but it's fun to see things on people for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And finally, I think there's many designers that I'm sure
you've you know, crossed paths with who ultimately like they
never get out of the proverbial kitchen or garage of
building their stuff and it could beautiful stuff, but they
just never figure out a way to get out of
just doing it from their living room. Like what typically
is missing there? And what advice would you give those
(28:50):
folks who are trying to figure out how do they
grow this hobby, this thing that we do from five
to nine into a business that can actually be the
nine to.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Five, and.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
I think you have to figure out how to connect
into the industry. Jewelry is an industry and there are
definitely like key players. I think there's different ways to
connect into the industry. Again, my way to connect in
was by having a showroom. But sometimes there are different
initiatives within the industry where you know, natural Diamonds or
to Beers or something will have a program where they're
(29:22):
fostering young designers.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
And bringing in talent, and then you have this end.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Of the industry because you participated in a program like that.
I think that, but I think that connection in is key.
So how do you find a way in? I think
when you are not connected into the industry and you're
just like on Instagram and you're selling stuff and whatever,
it can be beautiful, but without those contacts, it's really
(29:50):
hard to be a big player in this world.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Black Tech Green One is a production to Blavity, Afrotech
on the Black Effect Podcast Network and n Hire Media,
produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with the additional
production support by Kate McDonald, Sayah Ergan, and Jaden McGee.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Special thank you to Michael Davis in Love Beach.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Learn more about my guests and other technish ups an
innovators at afrotech dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Video version of this episode will drop to Black.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Tech Green Money on YouTube, so tap in. Enjoy your
Black Tech Green Money, share us to somebody, go get
your money.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Peace and love,
I'm Will Lucas, and this is black tech, green money, luxury,
storytelling and innovation. A few designers balance these elements as seamlessly.
It's Lawer and Harwell Godfrey. From a career in advertising
defined tiny to launching her namesake jewelry brandt, Laura's journey
has been anything but conventional. Her designs, inspired by the
(00:22):
African diaspora, sacred geometry, and personal experiences, have caught the
attention of celebrities, collectors, and major retailers alike. But beyond
the sparkle of eighteen care go neth if we source
Jim Stones, Lauren is building something bigger, a brand with
a purpose.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
So I'm very interested in your background.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
As you know, I'm seeing a lot of advertising work
there and culinary arts, and I'm wondering how those things
might have influenced your design perspective and running a jewelry business.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting. I think that it's really
influenced me as a human being. Those different career choices
that I've made in the past that I've been on
advertising for me as.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
A creative director and an art director.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
And my whole job was to communicate my ideas visually
and come up with an idea and then be able
to really explain it to people in a very clean
and concise way. And I think that's really served me
well in the jewelry world, because again, I'm like coming
up with these designs, I'm not the actual bench jeweler
who makes them, so I have to be able to
(01:25):
clearly communicate visually what it is that I want. And
I feel like I had a head start on that
because of this fifteen year career in advertising where that's
like every day, that's what I did, So that was great.
Speaker 4 (01:37):
And then culinary it's another one where you have this
set of ingredients that you're working with.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Right in the culinary world, it's like you got your
proteins and you got your grains, and you got all
this stuff and the way you put it together is
what makes it magical. And you're a chef or somebody
who's you know, using food as a way of communicating,
and I feel like that's the same and jewelry. We
all are working with precious metals, gemstones. The materials are
the same, and how we remix.
Speaker 4 (02:05):
Them and do it in our way that makes them special.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Yeah, let's called how you started that was saying, you know,
it was really about storytelling, and I wonder when you're
trying to communicate those ideas, is it like when you're
trying to communicate to the actual producer of manufacturer. Is
it like literally, I need a line here versus telling
the story.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
So they can kind of get where you're coming from.
Or how literal is it?
Speaker 3 (02:28):
It depends on the project. I do a few different things.
I'm very computer literate, having been in the advertising and
kind of graphic design space for so long, So sometimes
I'll make things an illustrator and I'll make them down
to the millimeter, so it's a two D like rendering of.
Speaker 4 (02:44):
The object that I want.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
But I'll be like in the end, I want this
to be twenty five millimeters, I want this stone to
be one millimeter, and I want this pattern to be this.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
I'm very pattern driven in my work, so there's a
lot of precision.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
But then sometimes I want to evoke more of a feeling,
and so I sketch. I think when I instead of
being you know, a flat, very computer and thing, if
I can actually catch the item, if it's something that
should have more of a vibe, if you will, I
think that really helps, and sometimes I do a combining
simple it's just very product or project dependent.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
Yeah, speaking of illustrator, you know, I wonder how technology
has influenced your design process, either to your point, you know,
sketching something is a lot different than just you know,
a flat illustration.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
But how has that lended more you know, input into
the design.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I think it has, and I think.
Speaker 3 (03:38):
It's something that makes me unique as a designer, just
having that sort of fluency and illustrator. It's not I
don't think illustrator is a very traditional jewelry design program,
but it's what I know. So I use what I
know to make my things. And I don't come at
the jewelry world from like, you know, a family business
that I was a part of all this.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
Like heritage in the jewry world. I'm coming at it.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
As a designer and using the tools that I know
to influence that. And I think I've had a lot
of positive feedback that my work is very identifiable.
Speaker 4 (04:08):
And I think part of what might.
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Make that true is because I'm able to do intricate
designs that have the technology and the know how to
use that to help me really helen in and makes
a very specific, very interesting patterns and things.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Possible into work.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
So I came up in the music business, and I
used to talk to a lot of producers who advised
that they treated their production or songwriting like a job.
So nine to five, whatever their time is, like, they
go to work like everybody else, but they had to
treat it that way instead of just something that they
just do when they caught a feeling or call it
(04:45):
a vibe. And I wonder how you structure your life
to sit down and do work. Is it, Hey, I'm
just going about my day and I got inspired by something,
or hey, I'm sitting down from twelve to six and
I'm going to draw.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
You know, that's also very dependent on the time and
the space and where my head is. Sometimes I'm just
like an idea will come to me and I'm like, I.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Need to get this on paper. I'm so excited about
the thaying to stop everything and get this down.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
Other times, I know there's a deadline looming and I
don't really have a choice, and I have like, you know,
I gotta get I'm currently we're operating in that space
these days.
Speaker 4 (05:23):
There's a big deadline living.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
I'm launching a new collection this summer that I really
need to like finalize. So it really depends, you know it.
Inspiration strikes everywhere, and I'm not limited to when I.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Can put out a new piece of jewelry.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
So if I really fall in love with an idea
and I'm like, I think this just needs to hit
and be out there, I can do an independent release
and not have it attached to any sort of a
you know, a showroom, market or a planned date or anything.
I have that flexibility in that freedom because I have
an audience that is interested in that stuff.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So it's there's all come at it from all the
different ways.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
How do you know when a design is done?
Speaker 4 (06:04):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It's a feeling and I don't know if a design
is ever truly done. And trust me, I've had some
designs where I make it, I launched it and put
it out in the world, and a year later it's
maybe it's a one of a kind and I didn't
sell it. I last year did this. I took the
piece back. I sort of changed a couple things about it.
I reoriented, I like put it on a different necklace,
(06:28):
and I did some stuff and it immediately sold So
the thing that's kind of cool about jewelry is there
are ways that you can keep manipulating designs.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
Obviously, if it sells, it's out the door.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
And there are some pieces that I make that are
meant for production, meaning there repeatable items that a store
can buy and all my wholesalers are able to buy,
and so those things don't I try not to change
too much because money goes into the like photographing them
and marketing them and all this stuff. But when it's
one of a kind and peace, you know, I think
(07:02):
it's done when I have this feeling like I love this,
it feels good. But don't put it past me to
take it back if I see something that I want
to change later.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, and I'm sure you know other designers who have
beautiful work, but having even come close to the level
of success you.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
And others have.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
And I would imagine that a lot of that has
to do with brand. It's not just the product, but
it's the story that coincides with it. Positioning in these things,
what have you seen work to elevate your brand where
others might not have found that same success.
Speaker 3 (07:35):
I attribute a lot of my success to joining a
showroom at the very beginning of my career, which a
shore room and my shroom, the shure room that I
went it's called for Future Reference, and it is a
shureroom that specializes in independent jewelry designers. And they handle
my product pr and they handle my wholesale business, and
(07:59):
they have a lot of connections in the jewelry industry.
My friend Randy Mulofsky is the founder of the showroom.
I went to her when I decided I wanted to
start making jewelry, and I'm like, hey, this is career
number three.
Speaker 4 (08:09):
I don't have like years and years and years.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
I got to like start, you know, getting this thing
off the ground and making it successful as soon as
I possibly can.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
She's like, you know, set your expectations. But I really
leveraged having a showroom.
Speaker 3 (08:24):
And having their contacts to help me gain traction in
the industry and get people to take me seriously as
a person who had nothing to do with jewelry. That
really helped me, and I continue to work with them.
Even though you know, some people grow out of their showroom.
I don't know that I ever will, because I just
like the partnership of the showroom and we continue to
come up with interesting.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
Ways together to market the jewelry, you know, do interesting collaborations,
different things like that. So I think that really helped
give me a leg up where if you're coming.
Speaker 3 (08:55):
At this is like I have this idea, you know,
the treaty falls and the forest is anyone here, you
know that kind of thing. It's like they were able
to really amplify me from the very beginning.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
You know, we've seen this amazonification of sales and retail
over the last decade or more, and luxury shoppers has
held on to some extent. You know, people want to
get to know by and touch and feel in person,
have that in person experience. But luxury buyers are increasingly
(09:25):
you know, shopping online. And I wonder what role e
commerce has played for more luxury brands like yourself to help.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
You grow your business and how you've been intentional in that.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
It's been interesting. You know. What I feel about all
that is that it's constantly changing. Like you said, luxury
is interesting. People kind of can.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Adopt certain ways of doing things. I do think story
is a unique space where people are really.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
Looking for connection.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
These are items that typically are heirloom or that they're playing,
they have in their lives for a very long time,
and I'm finding, you know again, I'm about eight years
in and I'm finally starting to really understand how important
personal connection is to people, especially when they're coming to
buy something like this.
Speaker 4 (10:10):
So, you know, we do utilize online sales. I have
a website, but I.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
Also opened a store last year, and I'll tell you this,
I've noticed since I opened the store that my web
sales have gone down, and I think it's because people
take the time and effort to come to the store
and have that connection. Touching jewelry makes a big difference,
the weight of the jewelry, the way it feels on
your body. I think we're kind of a unique part
of the luxury industry that really eggs VERSU in person time.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
But I also just launched a charity effort to help
out with the fires in.
Speaker 3 (10:43):
LA and people were buying stuff basically that I was
promoting on Instagram not.
Speaker 4 (10:48):
Having touched it because they didn't have one for them
to touch.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
I didn't option as soon as that they went to
the person who wanted it was gone.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
But then I opened it up for other people to buy.
Speaker 3 (10:57):
And they trusted me enough to buy it, you know,
without so it depends on the case.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Yeah, you know. In my my YouTube feed, I've had
these things pop up more recently about how exclusivity and
some luxury brands are very prevalent. You think about air mes,
like you think about a Rolex store, like you go
and you can't buy a Rolex in a Rolex store,
And I want, you know, I wonder like how this
(11:24):
stuff makes sense and how do you balance exclusivity with
accessibility needing? Like you know, maybe Rolex can get away
with that. Maybe that's just you know, positioning, they say,
And there's other ways to buy it. I don't know,
you maybe you know, but how do how does this
work when you're trying to balance exclusivity with luxury and
because obviously you don't want everybody to have it if
(11:44):
it's luxury, but accessibility also matters because you had a
business to run.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
Yeah, it's it's a juggle.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I think the way I try to balance it is
again by having some products that are truly one of
the kind, so only one of them will ever exist.
And generally speaking, that's because of a special gemstone that
I've used, where each gymstone over a specific.
Speaker 4 (12:08):
Scale can become very unique.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
So for those people who are like I want to
have something that no one.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
Else has, we can do that.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
But then, you know, I also part of my brand ethos,
I think, is to make fine jewelry accessible in a
different kind of way, like where I'm like pilot on
wear it every day. There's like there's kind of an
accessibility vibe to my brand that I want honor. So
I make price point pieces that people can get that
are not one of the kind and they're you know,
sub one thousand dollars or one thousand, two thousand dollars,
(12:38):
and you can get into the brand at a level
that's more accessible if you will. But then I've also
done some limited edition pieces, like I did a collaboration
with the artist Ashley Longshore as a friend of mine,
and we did a press for Champagne ring that's really
fun and we're like, let's catch this the twenty so
the people that are fans of both of us can
like have access to it, and it's like, you know,
(12:59):
but then like everybody in the world is going to
have one too, So there's just different tactics for different products.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
Yeah, you mentioned collabs and I'm interesting how collabs with
designers work and so is like the actual structure is
this us saying hey, option a like, hey, I'm going
to pay you to come and let's do this thing together.
And there's here's the revenue exchange between us? Or is
this we're going to do this split on whatever we get,
(13:26):
Like how do on paper and in function collabs work.
Speaker 4 (13:32):
It's different for every person. So every brand is unique.
And like, you know, even with Ashley.
Speaker 3 (13:36):
Consider her a friend and she also is a brand.
So we had a meeting with her team and we came.
Speaker 4 (13:42):
Up with, you know what we were both comfortable with, and.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
We really hit it. From a business standpoint, it's like
we're buddies and we'll go we could, you know, have
some drinks together, and that's the whole other thing. But
we took this very seriously and had some very serious
business conversations about it. I also collaborate with the Caveat Company,
which is a local to me.
Speaker 4 (14:01):
Female run caviar brand.
Speaker 3 (14:03):
They distribute nashally though it's quite wonderful caviar.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But you know, we also had our meeting.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
And we discussed how we would work together as brands,
and those were two very different conversations from two very
different brands.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
That I want to work with.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
But I will say, so far in the collaboration space,
I've only really done them with people that I know
and trust in, like, because I want it to be,
you know, an authentic collaboration where it's you know, people
and products that I stand by and love.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
So that's that's the common ground on both of those.
Speaker 2 (14:34):
Yeah, well, let's go a level deep on that.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
So I get you know, some of the creative Like
we may bounce ideas off of each other, and you know,
then I'll ultimately come up with this product that we're
both you know, a fan of releasing.
Speaker 2 (14:46):
But like, how do splits work? How does it?
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Say?
Speaker 1 (14:50):
Okay, Lauren, is you know, taking fifty percent and this
band of here's second?
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Like, how do you decipher who's doing what? And how
does the split work? Are you give an example?
Speaker 4 (15:05):
Yeah, Like a good example of this is typically.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
All the clouds I've done, there's jewelry involved, and so
I'm responsible for making that jewelry and paying for those
raw materials.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
If you will.
Speaker 3 (15:16):
So for me, the way the Clods have worked is
that I need to be able to pay myself back
for that investment and then split profits after that.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
Does that make sense?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So if both of our names are on it, you know,
it's like, I think both parties are entitled to uh
a split thing, But I also have cost to cover
because I'm usually the one manufacturing item.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
There's these two quotes I found from you that I'd
like to repeat to you, and I wanted to get
your take and go a little bit harder. And so
there's one you said, I do consider myself a big
muse for the work. To me, realness is not asking
what do I think someone is going to buy? The
question is about what I think is interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
What do I like.
Speaker 1 (15:58):
If it's something I truly love, maybe someone else will
love it too. I'd rather come from the heart than
from a place of pure profit.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
You remember saying that, Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I don't think I am a store back in those days.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
We're gonna talk about that.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
We're gonna talk about that. So the second part is
this is this other quote you said. It has not
been the thing that I thought about, if you will,
I did not come into this thing thinking like, Wow,
this is a competitive, competitive industry. How am I going
to do it? I'm just starting to make jewelry. I
was just starting to make jury. I made jury that
made me happy. Then I decided to change and to
(16:34):
do more fine jewelry. I really wanted to find a
way to make it profitable so that I could keep
doing it. I was not trying to seek out a
spot in the fashion industry. That happened naturally because people
responded to the work. So I get where you come from.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Like I would.
Speaker 1 (16:47):
I didn't have a storefront, then I didn't have real
bills to pay and et cetera. But I want to
find this balance between creative work and being able to
keep doing it, which means you got to make more. Like,
how have you found the balance between being true to
Lauren's creative perspective and Yo, we got a bill that's
(17:10):
going to need to get paid in a couple of
days here.
Speaker 4 (17:13):
Yeah, well it's interesting. So I've always thought of myself
as a creative and my creative perspective is very important.
I'm starting to.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Finally embrace the fact and not feel like a total
impostor that I am also a business person.
Speaker 4 (17:27):
So this is a new phase of life that I'm mentoring.
One thing I.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Will say, though, that has also taken me time to
understand is I think I have really good instincts, and
I think I have good instincts about what to make.
Speaker 4 (17:40):
Not everything is a.
Speaker 3 (17:41):
Success and not everything's flying off the shelves, don't get
me wrong, But I think what's made the brand a
success and the success the success that it is.
Speaker 4 (17:49):
Now is that.
Speaker 3 (17:52):
I surprise people and I do things that aren't completely.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Traditional. And in this base of fine jewelry.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
What might be surprising about how technology and even AI
might be disrupting and or impacting your industry and your work.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
You know, I feel like I personally have not hit
up against AI that much. Yet I'm not looking forward
to it because I think, to me, what AI is
going to create is this very ubiquitous sort of everything
feeling and authentic and not the same. I don't know,
I'm not super excited about it yet. Maybe someone will
prove to me a way to get excited about it,
(18:33):
but I'm.
Speaker 6 (18:33):
Not quite there. But technology, I think is amazing, and
I think.
Speaker 5 (18:37):
Technology, you know, there's a lot of different ways that
you can make jewelry. Some of it, like I said,
is done by people who sit on a bench and
literally handmake it.
Speaker 6 (18:46):
We work with people like that. We also, you know, there's.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
Printing technology and jewelry. There's like all kinds of ways.
If I have a person who wants to do a
custom project with me and they want to make an
engagement ring, let's say I can actually print a resin
or whax of that ring so that they can try
it on and see what it feels like before we
commit to spending money on gold.
Speaker 6 (19:06):
So there's just really cool stuff that can happen.
Speaker 5 (19:08):
And I see I think, as you know, technology keeps
getting formed.
Speaker 6 (19:14):
I'm excited to see how that can impact the form
factor of jewelry.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
You know, people are working in titanium more, you see
alternate materials.
Speaker 6 (19:22):
Am I still there for you guys?
Speaker 5 (19:24):
Okay, my computer's just acting very crazy. So speaking of technology,
myers right now, come on, technology is a slow I
don't know mercury is in retrograde.
Speaker 6 (19:39):
I don't know what's up anyway.
Speaker 5 (19:41):
But yeah, I personally I am a fan of technology
when it comes to form factor and what it can
allow us to do.
Speaker 6 (19:47):
Because I also I really.
Speaker 5 (19:49):
Like to approach design in a not limiting myself from
having an idea if I don't think it's possible because
maybe there's something new in technology that I don't even
know that.
Speaker 6 (19:59):
Can help make it possible.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So yeah, I design things and I come at it
in a way where it's like, hey, I've not seen
this before necessarily, and I have a really wonderful group
of people that helped me with my production and they're like, oh,
here she comes again with like this crazy idea. But
I'm like, that's what makes it fun and like that's
what's going to make it stand out. So we come
at stuff all the time where we're like, we haven't
(20:22):
seen it, but let's see if we.
Speaker 6 (20:23):
Can make it.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Yeah, you know, and we aren't necessarily mining diamonds and
gems and domestically. And I wonder how has potentially, potentially
technology made the the effort to source ethically more transparent
or more difficult.
Speaker 5 (20:44):
I think it's made it more transparent because there are
a lot of people like the lab grown diamond thing,
let's say that, and that is definitely technology. In the
jewelry industry, there are a lot of consumers out there
who are like, all about these lab grown diamonds, and
so the natural diamond world has to figure out how
can they still stay relevant.
Speaker 6 (21:06):
And you know, create some communicate to.
Speaker 5 (21:09):
People in a way that shows why natural diamonds are
beautiful and special and why they aren't bad for the environment,
or why they aren't blood diamonds and all that sort
of stuff and traceability and other technology in the jewelry industry.
The people at de Beers have done a lot of
things like creating something called track or where they can
put these like microscopic numbers on diamonds and you'll be
(21:31):
able to follow its journey from the moment it leaves
the earth to who does the final like faceting and polishing,
and you can see that whole story and how where
that diamond came from. And I think that's going to
be increasingly important because I personally still am a natural
diamond person. I don't work with lab round diamonds. I
think it's detrimental to the economies of the places where
(21:54):
the natural diamonds come from.
Speaker 6 (21:57):
I've been to Botswana, I've met the people, I've seen
their practice.
Speaker 5 (22:00):
I know what's going into that and what all the
good that that production of diamonds has done for that country,
and I think it's really special and I want to
support that rather than supporting a lab somewhere, or they're
using a lot of energy to make these diamonds anyway,
So you know, I think the way that we're going
to get consumers feeling comfortable around that is to be
(22:23):
very transparent.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
What has been the most challenging thing about transansitioning from
an executive to a founder?
Speaker 5 (22:33):
You know, I mean again, I see myself as a
creative person, and I didn't see myself as a business person,
So making that transition because I would say eighty five percent.
Speaker 6 (22:45):
Of what I do is run a business now and
fifteen percent is the creative where in.
Speaker 5 (22:49):
My old life it was that I was the creative
director and everything was creative. So I went from like
one hundred percent creative, not running a business at all,
just being somebody who helped support the business with my
skill set. So that's been the biggest transition, is like
wrapping my head around running a business. But I also
find to be one of the most exciting parts about
all this. I really did not know that I had
(23:11):
that in me, And I'm really as the business keeps
growing and aging and you know, we've been in it longer,
I'm really enjoying the process of like growing into that role.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
Yeah, at fifteen percent. I'm super interested on that because
I was watching this some design there I was watching
and he had grown to this scale of his name
is on the label and he's at the place now
where there's some designs that go out that he never
even sees, but his name is.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
On the label.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
And I wonder, how, if you're doing a five percent
work and fifteen percent creative, what does that bridge look
like to where Laurence scale sit a place to where
there's designs coming out like you just you just your name.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
Is just on it.
Speaker 5 (23:54):
I don't know that I'll ever be there because I
think what makes this brand unique at this point until
I come up with like maybe this library that we
can reference or whatever, I think, I'm still I'm still
my design is important to the brand and I am
the only designer. So I guess that maybe says a
thing about like how long my days are.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Maybe if it is.
Speaker 5 (24:15):
Business in fifteen is creative, I still have to I
am still the one who is designing every piece, and
I think if you look at the library of work
that I have produced, it's pretty prolific.
Speaker 6 (24:27):
I think I tend to come out with a lot
of work, So.
Speaker 5 (24:32):
Maybe someday in the future there'll be a way to
hand off some of that responsibility. But I also do
really enjoy that part. I think I'm trying to find
more ways to bring in business help, and I do
have some. I have a head of operations that's super helpful. Again,
I have my showroom that I work with, I have
a financial advisor, I have a production group that I
(24:54):
contract with, and just different people who help me on
the business side. But yeah, I'm not right let go
creative yet.
Speaker 1 (25:01):
Yeah, how have you managed, you know, being a business
person out but still care so.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Deeply about social issues.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
As you do when you you know, you may do
a project and one hundred percent of the proceeds go
a specific way, and how do you balance both those things,
you know, trying to do well while doing well.
Speaker 6 (25:19):
I think that they feed each other.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
And it's it's really important to me and just the
energy that I have towards the work and the way
I feel about what I'm doing.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Because I'm working with really expensive.
Speaker 5 (25:29):
Materials, I'm selling to people who tend to have disposable income,
and I think part of what makes that feel okay
to me is that I can use this work to
also give back and to create positive social impact. I
also think because I actually, again, I'm just doing this
(25:52):
thing to help support the victims of the fires in
Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Fire Department in world's
central kitchen, and there's all these things going on, and
I am writing a lot of checks if you will,
or you know, using the credit card to send a
lot of money to various charities right now, which is
hard on the bank balance. But I do think it
also because it's coming from an authentic place and people
(26:15):
can feel that. I think that in the long term,
it sort of creates love around this business too, and
around this brand because people know that, actually, I'm a
human being who cares about other human beings, and I
think that makes them feel good about supporting it and
maybe spending, you know, on these high value pieces and
supporting this brand because we also do good work.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yeah, you know, you mentioned some of the you didn't
mention names, but you talked about how some of your clients,
you know, they have the means to do this stuff
and it's not much for them to be able to participate.
You know, how do you build these relationships with high
profile clients? You know, Rihanna was mentioned as a client
of yours, and there's others how those relationships formed where
(26:56):
it's nothing for them to put on, you know, one
of your pieces and tell people about it.
Speaker 5 (27:02):
I think a relationship that I'm really happy and proud
of is my relationship to Kamala Harris. I'm friends with
her niece, Mina, and so again it's personal and it's
this connection that I connected with Mina and Mina and
I just connected as friends. But then she also likes
my work, so she was gifting it to Kamala. So
it's not like there was a lot of.
Speaker 4 (27:24):
You know, your.
Speaker 7 (27:26):
Office talks to my office, and it was more of
a real engagement of you know, friendship and you know,
shared values that got us to that place where she
was wearing the jewelry and I love that.
Speaker 4 (27:39):
You know.
Speaker 5 (27:39):
There's also I do have a showroom and we are
sending jewelry to celebrities to wear. And the way that
the Rihanna thing came about was that that you know,
her stylists called in some jewelry and I think she
ended up liking something wanting to keep it. But I
was very far away from that transaction. I don't personally
know her, we don't speak to each other, but I'm
like thrilled. I'm like, yes, we really like get that jewelry,
(28:02):
and I'm like I would happy to know she has
a piece.
Speaker 6 (28:05):
But so there's different levels of it, you know.
Speaker 5 (28:07):
But for me, I've had celebrities DM me and just
say like, hey, I like your work or whatever, and
that makes me feel great.
Speaker 6 (28:14):
And sometimes they see it on people I didn't.
Speaker 5 (28:16):
Even know had something, and maybe they're buying it through
one of my retailers because they have a relationship with
the store. Sometimes I just don't even know how it happens,
but it's fun to see things on people for sure.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
And finally, I think there's many designers that I'm sure
you've you know, crossed paths with who ultimately like they
never get out of the proverbial kitchen or garage of
building their stuff and it could beautiful stuff, but they
just never figure out a way to get out of
just doing it from their living room. Like what typically
is missing there? And what advice would you give those
(28:50):
folks who are trying to figure out how do they
grow this hobby, this thing that we do from five
to nine into a business that can actually be the
nine to.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Five, and.
Speaker 5 (29:01):
I think you have to figure out how to connect
into the industry. Jewelry is an industry and there are
definitely like key players. I think there's different ways to
connect into the industry. Again, my way to connect in
was by having a showroom. But sometimes there are different
initiatives within the industry where you know, natural Diamonds or
to Beers or something will have a program where they're
(29:22):
fostering young designers.
Speaker 6 (29:23):
And bringing in talent, and then you have this end.
Speaker 5 (29:26):
Of the industry because you participated in a program like that.
I think that, but I think that connection in is key.
So how do you find a way in? I think
when you are not connected into the industry and you're
just like on Instagram and you're selling stuff and whatever,
it can be beautiful, but without those contacts, it's really
(29:50):
hard to be a big player in this world.
Speaker 1 (29:54):
Black Tech Green One is a production to Blavity, Afrotech
on the Black Effect Podcast Network and n Hire Media,
produced by Morgan Debonne and me Well Lucas, with the additional
production support by Kate McDonald, Sayah Ergan, and Jaden McGee.
Speaker 2 (30:07):
Special thank you to Michael Davis in Love Beach.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Learn more about my guests and other technish ups an
innovators at afrotech dot com.
Speaker 2 (30:13):
Video version of this episode will drop to Black.
Speaker 1 (30:15):
Tech Green Money on YouTube, so tap in. Enjoy your
Black Tech Green Money, share us to somebody, go get
your money.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
Peace and love,
Host
Will Lucas
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