Meet Lezli
There are as many avenues into jewelry design as there are jewelry designers. Each story is unique and inspiring. In our first Customer Success Story we’d like you to meet Lezli Goodwin. Lezli is a well known jewelry designer, accomplished modern painter and creative director for Bead World Inc, an Arizona chain of boutique bead stores. Her modern beaded jewelry features metaphysically active gemstones, gorgeous sterling silver findings and exquisite handcrafted techniques.
Lezli Goodwin Jewelry and Design is celebrating its tenth year by launching a fabulous new web site this October!
We asked Lezli a series of questions. Here are her answers.
Who is your ideal customer? Who do you make jewelry for?
My client is fun, active and stylish. She probably does yoga, goes out dancing with friends and has an infectious laugh. She’s the kind of gal who would pull you aside at the bar to tell you she loves your dress. She’s reached the point in her life where she can afford really nice things, but wouldn’t wear stuffy, formal jewelry. She prefers sassy, bohemian pieces made with really gorgeous materials. Once I have a really clear image of that woman in my mind, I go to the beads and findings I have on hand. It’s really organic, the way the right combination of materials emerges. At the end of the day, no matter how beautiful it is, it has to be the perfect balance of gorgeous and wearable to make it into my collection.
(psst . . . click on the link below to read more).
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Please watch our new welcome video and let us know if it loaded and played smoothly for you. We are having some tech issues. Leave a comment to let us know and we’ll enter you into a Prize Drawing. Include which browser you use to surf the Internet. You could win these fabulous Night & Day Earrings.
The winner will be announced Tuesday, Oct. 4th. Thanks for your help.
PRIZE Earrings
Click here to Play Welcome Video
We prefer to spend our days designing and selling our silver charms but when the computers crashed last week our office was almost paralyzed. There was the mad scurry to figure out what happened, “But we ran the back ups EVERY DAY. What do you mean they haven’t worked since Aug.2 ?!?!?!” Then the flurry of phone calls to Quick Books and the tense wait to see if they could rebuild our data base.
Note to self, “Restore from a backup at least once a week to make sure the system is working!”
Many people think that jewelry designers primarily design jewelry. But anyone reading this site knows that to running a jewelry business forces you to wear many hats just to keep the lights on: marketing, book keeping, employee management and, yes, software management. Then, if you are lucky, you get to sit down and design.
Has your computer ever crashed and left you stranded? What did you do?
Computer Bashing Fantasy
We are excited to announce that the winner of our Jewelry Design Studio Contest is Alison! Voters loved her organization and abundant work space. Thank you to all of our contestants that entered the Jewelry Design Studio Contest. It was so inspiring to see your spaces!
Congratulations Alison!
I’m also pleased to announce that we have randomly selected 2 of our contest voters to receive a fabulous piece of jewelry from our stash! Katy (who voted for Colleayn) and Joanne (who voted for Alison). Katy and Joanne, please email juanita@ninadesigns.com to claim your prize!
Voter Prize: Jasmine Earrings!
Voter Prize: Three Wishes Necklace
Stamping words and messages on our sterling silver jewelry charms has become a huge trend. I wanted to explore stamping more and see what else I could do with this fun technique. I searched out stamping tools to use along with my alphabet letter set and found an endless supply of different designs to choose from. Then it hit me: I could stamp a little scene onto blank Sterling Silver Jewelry Charms for an adorable custom design!
For my first attempt, I wanted to create a picture of a field of wild flowers. With my adorable flower stamp, I used the capital letter “I” from my alphabet letter set to create the grassy field. I also tried creating a treasure map scene on a heart charm. Now that I’ve created these unique designs on my Sterling Silver Jewelry Charms, my mind is full of possibilities…
A field of flowers...
Treasure Map charm!
Click here to watch our NEW Welcome Video
How can we persuade you to try our silver pendants in less than 3 minutes? That was the puzzle we grappled with as we planned our new Welcome Video for the website. Purchasing online is scary, especially if you are unfamiliar with the vendor. We wanted to put potential new customers at ease, to reassure them that we are experienced and trustworthy with high quality products, fabulous customer service and unique designs. We also wanted to highlight our company culture and the amazing skill of our silver smiths.
Having a camera crew in our office was exciting and nerve wracking at the same time. I kept having to remind myself to breathe. Fortunately, the director put us all at ease and did a brilliant job on the edit. What do you think of the video? Did we get our message across?
What is it that makes small things, like this miniature songbird silver charm, so cute? Perhaps it’s some biological disposition intended to help our species thrive and continue, perhaps it’s the contrast between the large items we encounter in our everyday interactions…whatever it is, I find tiny, miniature objects adorable.
I can't help cooing at these adorable tiny charms!
We recently added a few new mini charms to our collection and I’m in love! These charms will be available in late September. I’m looking forward to hanging the petite lotus bud on a simple chain framed with tiny wire-wrapped garnets, and the small angel wing will look wonderful with pearl nuggets. When I look at these charms, I find myself reverting to baby talk. Tell us about the cutest tiny thing in your collection!
One thing I’ve learned through my work here at Nina Designs is that women love to design jewelry. And even given constraints of time and limited space, we still find a way. It’s pretty inspiring to know that a creative spark will eventually catch fire. There’s just no way around it. We’re compelled to create. In this contest we asked jewelry designers to share their work spaces with us, whether that was in their basements, garages, closets, or wherever. Have fun exploring. We found them very inspiring and hope you do too.
At the end of your tour, please vote on your favorite space by leaving a comment. When casting your vote remember to include the name of the person whose studio you like best. And, to thank you for your participation, we’re entering you into a GIVEAWAY. Two lucky voters will be randomly selected to win either the Three Wishes necklace or the Jasmine Earrings.
Voting ends on Sept. 22nd and all winners will be announced on Sept. 24th, 2010.
Giveaway #1: Jasmine Earrings
Giveaway #2: Three Wishes
(psst . . . click on the link below to begin touring studio spaces).
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Silver Pendants are a wonderful way to express many aspects of nature like plants and animals but the fundamental elements: earth, water, fire and air are both the most inspiring and the most difficult to capture. I have always been fascinated by water: rain, rivers, lakes, and the ocean have a mystical beauty and a healing effect on the spirit. One of my favorite activities is to lie still by the ocean or river and fall asleep listening to the sound of the water. As a designer, I have long pondered the question of how to capture the breath, the light and the flow of water. Despite many attempts, I am not yet satisfied with the results but will keep trying! What is your favorite element?
Water Plus Light = Magic
My Favorite Soundtrack
September is National Yoga Month, and what better way to celebrate than with yoga-inspired silver charms? We recently introduced a new feature on our website called Themed Collections which pulls together related charms, pendants, and earring tops to build a cohesive story. One of the first and largest collections we created is the “Yoga Spirit” collection. This collection contains all things yoga-related: lotus flowers, ohm symbols, elegant buddhas, namaste charms and so much more. Celebrate your internal yogi and breathe deeply!
Yoga is not only a practice involving physical poses – it can be applied to jewelry creation as well! One of my favorite yoga quotes is “Flow like a river, no force, no holding back.” When making jewelry, I try to keep in mind the idea of flexibility and to be open to different ways of doing things. The emerald beads are too small to fit on my wire? I’ll substitute peridot instead. I don’t have enough small links to complete a 16″ necklace? I’ll alternate small links with medium size ones. How have you applied yoga philosophies to your jewelry making process?
Rhythmic Sanskrit text and a spiral nautilis grace this yoga-inspired necklace.
The gold namaste charm on this necklace translates to: I honor the Spirit in you which is also in me.
