Name: Nina
Web Site: http://www.ninadesigns.com/staff/01Nina.html
Bio: I am one of those lucky people who discovered their passions early in life. I sold beaded jewelry at my first craft show when I was ten years old and haven't looked back since. I also enjoy writing, dancing and nesting with my family. When I started Nina Designs I wanted to build a company where art and life could coexist with commerce. Our talented silversmiths deserve fair pay and good working conditions as do our amazing California staff. As a team, we usher new ideas from the drawing board to your hands. Creating products to inspire jewelry designers is an ongoing joy. I love knowing that our work at Nina Designs feeds the creative energy of so many talented artists!
Posts by nina:
Silver Pendants from the US to Lima
December 28th, 2011Silver Pendants support jewelry designers all over the world. As designers we share similar joys and challenges. Carmen Rosa Gamio Alvarez is a jeweler in Peru who recently received a microloan from Nina Designs. Reading her bio, I was struck by how much all of us have in common as jewelry designers, business women and moms.
Alvarez discovered her love of art early. “When I was a little girl, I liked to draw, and today I have a lot of fun designing and creating jewelry. I think it awoke the latent child artist in me.”
She adores her job. “The silversmith’s art runs through my veins and I love it…For me, my art is a fusion of fantasy and reality.”
She struggles with the high price of silver. “The rising price of silver is seriously affecting my work.”
And she relishes being a Mom. “Motherhood is greatest challenge in life and my greatest satisfaction.”
Sound familiar anyone?
SAVE on Silver Charms! 13% Price Reduction
October 28th, 2011Save on Silver Charms, Silver Pendents and Silver Jewelry Findings! On Friday Oct. 28 at 5pm we lowered our silver prices 13% in response to the recent decrease in global silver prices. This effectively rolls back the 15% price increase we had in August.
As a result of our 6-8 week production schedule, we have not actually received any inventory at the lower prices. We decided to lower prices anyway because we understand that in this difficult economic climate every cent counts. We hope these lower prices help you launch a fabulous holiday season!
New Tree of Life Pendant
New Leaf Charm
New Puzzle Piece Charm
Top 100 Women Owned Businesses in Bay Area, We’re #87!
October 25th, 2011The San Francisco Business Times recently rated the Top 100 Largest Women Owned Bay Area Businesses and Nina Designs earned 87th place. They held a fancy dinner on the top floor of the Westin St. Francis Hotel. It was a great opportunity to connect with other fascinating business women. I loved the Biochemical Engineer who ran in late because she was trying to buy another company! The women owned diverse companies from IT, to staffing, to fashion. While acknowledging the challenges of the current economy, most of the women were optimistic that 2012 would be a great year. They stressed resilience, determination and value as key elements for success.
Nina with Publisher Mary Huss
Tasty Treats!
Silver Pendants and Silicon Valley
October 18th, 2011Silver Pendants and Silicon Valley might not appear to have much in common but as I sat listening to Sheryl Sandberg at the annual Professional Business Women’s Conference it was easy to relate to her story. Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer at Facebook, formerly of Google and a one time protege of Larry Summers at the World Bank. Sandberg is a powerful speaker with strong opinions. I particularly resonated with belief that it is important to bring your authentic self to work. Tony Hsieh of Zappos voices the same opinion in his book, Delivering Happiness. The desire to be authentic at work was one of the main reasons I built my own company so hearing Sandberg advocate this position from within a large corporation caught my attention.
Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook
Sandberg feels that women need to “lean in” to career opportunities. She notes that women often underestimate themselves or even feel like frauds. She thinks it is wiser for women to grab opportunities to advance as high as they can before they have children, rather than holding back and settling for less demanding positions. Whether or not you agree with her, she makes a powerful argument. While she does acknowledge that there is often a tradeoff between likeability and success for women her overall message is clear: Have Confidence!
You can read more about Sheryl Sandberg in The New Yorker
or watch her talk on TED.
Silver Charms Feed Creativity in Ghana
September 25th, 2011Silver Charms from Thailand and Bali sold in the USA support the Asian silversmiths who make them, and the US designers who incorporate them into their own jewelry. Through our Micro-loan program, they also support creative endeavors in Africa. Evelyn Kafui Ahianyo is a mask carver in Ghana who recently received a loan from us. She designs the masks one by one and decorates them with paint, recycled glass, beads, brass and other materials.
“I sit and draw the mask creatively, and come up with the colors that will make it stand out. I’m also good at observing nature and this comes to bear when I have to sit and come up with designs after the mask has been carved. Although my masks have cultural references, I try to enhance the looks. In Ghana, mask are seen to have spiritual beliefs attached to them, so most people wouldn’t like to even hold them. But with the new coloring and designs, people are now comfortable with masks and are ready to learn more about the history associated with them.”
Ahianyo may not realize it but she has a lot in common with mask carvers in Bali who have their own village, Mas. I used to love sitting with friends while they painted their masks with intricate designs. I tried a few myself and made a total mess of it!
Ahianyo’s masks are for sale at Novica.
Silver Pendants Go Beyond Jewelry
September 13th, 2011Silver Pendants are a main course here at Nina Designs but we also serve up Microloans. We believe strongly in supporting women artisans all over the world by helping them expand their businesses. For this endeavor, we have partnered with Novica to identify qualified artists and administer the loans. They also provide a thriving global marketplace where the artists sell their work.
Nyoman Nadri creates robes, bed covers, pillowcases, sarongs and shawls in Bali, Indonesia. She specializes in Batik, a resist dying technique that uses wax to create intricate designs. In doing her work, Nadri is inspired by people’s needs. Her customers come to her and request the kind of motifs they desire, and bed cover or sarong sizes they need. Selling through Novica has given her access to a larger market and allowed her to hire more women to work with her.
“Novica has had a positive impact on my family, as well as with the families of the women working with me. It means that we can have hope. We make the batik robes and we know that by selling them through Novica we can have a steady income to provide for our families”
Nadri will use her loan to stock up on white textiles and dyes for her batik work.
Batik Robe
Silver Pendants Deliver Inspiration
September 8th, 2011Silver Pendants and shoes are not so different. They are both coveted by women and highly addictive. That is why we chose Delivering Happiness by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to be the first book we read in our Nina Designs business book club. Most of the staff read the book and then went out to lunch to discuss our thoughts and how we could use Zappos ideas to improve Nina Designs. We were very impressed with their commitment to WOW customers with their service and the idea that every phone call is an opportunity to bond with customers. The concept that “your culture is your brand” also resonated and we liked their communication strategy, “Be real and use your best judgement”. We decided to formalize our Core Values so everyone could use them to guide decision making and evaluate performance.
Despite the similarities, the element of design is a key difference between our company and theirs. Zappos sells the same shoes everyone else sells while Nina Designs creates new designs that are unique to our company. Our silver pendants and jewelry parts also become part of larger creations, facilitating our customer’s own creative vision. That lead us to a key insight. While the goal at Zappos is to Deliver Happiness, at Nina Designs we strive to Deliver Inspiration.
What do you deliver?
Peep toes from Zappos
Peep toes from Nina Designs
Silver Pendants & Hiring Decisions – Both Hard Choices!
August 28th, 2011Choosing the right Silver Pendant can be difficult but not nearly as challenging as making a good hire. Whether you are looking for someone to help assemble jewelry or to organize your office there are a few guidelines that can help steer you toward a successful outcome. In the book Good to Great, Jim Collins offers some excellent advice:
Get the right people on the bus in the right seats.
- If you’re in doubt, don’t hire, keep looking.
- The moment you feel you have to tightly manage someone, you have made a hiring mistake.
- Whether someone is the right person has more to do with character traits and innate capabilities than with specific knowledge, background or skills.
I recently heard a presentation by Kerrie Halmi, who is often consulted by large companies to improve their hiring processes. I think her advice is golden:
1. Cultural Fit – Anyone who is a poor fit won’t last. Reference your company values, does the candidate share them? This does NOT mean, “Are they just like me?” You want variety, different types of people. (At Zappos they have a whole department dedicated to making sure that new hires are a good cultural fit).
2. References – Spend more time on this. There are ways to persuade people to talk even when they say they can’t comment. “Kristin gave you as a reference, can I talk to you for a few minutes about her?” Take the time to draw out the conversation and ask probing questions. “What would be the best way to manage Kristin?” Listen VERY carefully. “Oh, that’s interesting, tell me more.” Ask open ended questions. “Our culture is very focused on initiative, how do you think Kristin will fit in?”
3. Continuously Recruit – Never get to the point where you are desperate to hire. Always be on the look out for new talent. Stay in touch with anyone who might be a good fit.
Halmi pointed out that a bad hire will usually cost you 1-3 years in gross salary if you tally the time, energy and money spent to correct the situation. She strongly recommends taking your time and waiting until you find just the right person. This is the same advice I heard from Lulu Lemon CEO, Chip Wilson, who counsels, ” Interview someone at least three times to see who they REALLY are.” Most people put up a good front on the first interview but by the third character flaws start to show. Wilson made another good point, “If you hire one good person, they will bring three good people with them. If you hire one bad person, they will bring ten people with them.”
In our experience here at Nina Designs, we have learned to trust our instincts. Even a small twinge of uncertainty is usually a sign that a candidate is not a good cultural fit. It is tempting to compromise when you are stressed for time but don’t give in. You WILL find the right person for the job and with the right people on the bus, you can go anywhere!
The Proud Members of the Nina Designs Team
Silver Charm from Good to Great
August 9th, 2011Silver Charm designs are limited only by imagination but when we created our silver hedgehog charm we had no idea we were creating a talisman for the acclaimed business book Good to Great by Jim Collins. Collins encourages companies to craft a hedgehog concept that will drive their business strategy. He includes cases of companies with outstanding performance and describes their concepts. For instance, Walgreens’ concept was, “the best, most convenient drugstores, with a high profit per customer visit.” They used that simple concept to drive all of their business decisions and were very disciplined about avoiding activities that did not tie into it.
Though many of the businesses in the book have since tanked (Circuit City, Fannie Mae), we have found the hedgehog concept very engaging and thought provoking. To discover your own hedgehog concept, explore the intersection of three circles:
1. What are you passionate about?
2. What can you be best in the world at?
3. What drives your economic engine? For instance, sales per customer? Sales per region? Sales per product category? etc.
The hedgehog concept is so named because the hedgehog does one thing really well, better than any other animal. It rolls into a tight little ball as a defensive mechanism. Figuring out your hedgehog concept is not a quick exercise but an ongoing conversation that can lead you to unexpected places. Let me know if you have yours pinned down. We are still working on ours!
Silver Price Increase August 9th at 5 pm Pacific
August 4th, 2011Silver Prices for Charms and Pendants have been volatile in recent months. We had a price increase in early April, a price decrease in late June, and now with silver in the low $40s, we must raise our prices again. Effective August 9th at 5pm Pacific time, our prices will increase 15% on all sterling silver and gold plated styles. As recently demonstrated, if silver prices drop and remain there for a sustained amount of time, we’ll roll back prices.
All orders placed before August 9th at 5pm will be processed at the lower prices. However, effective immediately, all back orders and special orders will be at the new prices. Existing backorders will remain at lower prices.
We are pleased to be able to offer a lower cost alternative in our new bronze line, available in natural and silver plated finish. They will remain at current pricing and are not affected by the increase on sterling silver and gold plated styles. Our gold plated bronze will be available in several weeks and will have pricing tied to the metals market just like the sterling silver.
Please note that orders will be processed and pulled as we normally do: orders with expedited shipping (UPS Overnight, 2-Day, and 3-Day) are pulled before UPS Ground and Priority Mail orders. UPS Ground and Priority Mail orders are processed in the order received. This is important to keep in mind because we may run out of stock on some items and backorders will be at the higher price.
We understand these are challenging times. We are working hard to present options to help you, our valued customers, continue to thrive in this economy. Thankfully there are still many women who can afford to invest in heirloom quality jewelry made from precious metals. For those who love our designs but can no longer afford them due to the increased costs of sterling silver, we are excited to present our new bronze line. We have fifteen new bronze styles expected in the next few weeks, and more are in the pipeline.
We hope with these various options, we have something that will work for you. Thank you for your business and understanding.
Nina Cooper