Tessa Packard London has given British luxury jewellery the contemporary shake-up it needed. We talk to Tessa Packard, the founder and creative director, about not following the crowd and finding inspiration in the strangest of places
Where did your career start?
I spent the summers during school and university interning at Dickinson, an art dealership on Jermyn Street, and ended up working in their Impressionist and Modern department, as well as setting up their Latin American desk. It was certainly one of those jobs that was as exciting or challenging as you were willing to make it, and having always been ambitious and hungry to succeed, I really enjoyed the challenge of growing my own client base. In many ways art and jewellery operate with the same luxury sphere – fine art collectors tend to be collectors or buyers of fine jewellery – so I would say that my time at Dickinson was undoubtedly an invaluable learning experience. But, if you love drawing and designing, and want to be at the helm of your own business, you can’t stay working there for ever.
Did you find it hard to channel your creativity into a business?
I think a lot of designers and creatives are not naturally very good at business. I would certainly never say that I am the most experienced businesswoman in the world, but I would argue that I have a relatively good grasp on both, mostly because I enjoy the operations aspect of my business as much as the creative aspect. I think that my previous experience of working in a business that deals with luxury commodities gave me, to some extent, an understanding of the various elements that make up a successful business, most importantly the importance of cost and saving. I think perhaps the most essential thing for any creative entrepreneur to identify is their weaknesses and strengths. If your strength is creativity and your weakness is business, then you need a very good Operations Manager to sit in your place.
Who do you go to for advice?
It varies. I don’t have any official mentors but I do have a very good group of industry experts, inspirational entrepreneurs and savvy business men who I turn to for advice from time to time. I think the important thing to remember when asking for advice (generally speaking) is to compartmentalise it – pick your audience and get to the point – as most mentors are knowledge-rich but time-poor. I’m lucky that I do have a few very good friends who work in the luxury market who I can turn to for more in-depth advice, as well as many great friends who are also young entrepreneurs and running fashion or luxury brands. They’re good at keeping me sane and reminding me that Rome can’t be built in a day.
Art plays a big role in your jewellery design with your sketchbooks. Is this something you want to continue?
I cannot imagine creating a jewellery collection without producing a working sketchbook of ideas, mood boards and preliminary designs. Without this preparatory work I would just be a girl who sits down with some gemstones and a bit of metal and arranges them together to create something pretty. Without my sketchbooks I have no way of proving to my clients or myself that I have half a creative brain in my head. Narrative integrity, in my book, is everything if you want to call yourself a designer.
Do you think that is something your clients particularly like?
Yes, I think it is something my clients like and appreciate. Clients tend to gravitate towards my jewellery because they value the importance of story and context – there is always an interesting and perhaps unusual narrative stream of thematic emphasis running through each of my collections. My clients tend to be people who like to buy things with a playful side to them – jewellery that tells a story if you will – and they in turn enjoy passing on the story about the piece in question to any third party admirers.
When a client visits you, do you already have an idea of what you want to design?
When designing a bespoke piece of jewellery, a one-to-one consultation with the client in question is essential. I might have a small idea of what the client is looking for from an earlier telephone conversation, but ultimately a final design is hard to ascertain until you hear their brief in person. The design of any bespoke piece must be driven in equal parts by budget, client brief and designer input. I would be a terrible designer if I ignored the client brief or demised the client’s budget. Of course, there are situations where a client has a dream which isn’t achievable within budget, or they have a dream and you can actually go a bit beyond budget because there is a little more wiggle room than anticipated. I guess the skill of the bespoke designer is to achieve a design for the client where they feel that they are getting exactly what they want without unnecessary overspend. Designing bespoke jewellery is certainly more challenging than designing my bi-annual collections; with my own collections I design exactly what I want and what I feel is missing from my own jewellery box, but when it comes to bespoke client, that’s when you really have to prove yourself to make it work.
How do you find that client interaction when someone is choosing a design?
Style and aesthetic preference are incredibly personal things. What I might pair with a workwear uniform might not be what others like to wear with a suit in a corporate environment. As the designer I think you have a responsibility to suggest new looks but not insist upon them. It’s very easy to take the role of the frustrated stylist – constantly pushing clients to experiment and go bigger, bolder and more statement. In reality, you need to strike a balance between encouragement and empathy, risk and realism.
How do you meet your clients?
Word of mouth is a great source of new business, as is social media to some extend, although I would say that tools such as Instagram are more powerful in terms of brand recognition and reputation rather than direct sales. We also do bi-monthly mail outs and collaborations with other luxury brands which again helps disseminate information and brand awareness. We try and do as many relevant events as possible, whether they be private jewellery presentations, press lunches, client dinners or showcases. For me, intimate and exclusive showcases for private clients tends to work best in terms of sales.
As a new business how have you found social media?
Twitter I am getting better at. I don’t naturally find an affinity with tweeting but I am trying to improve! I have a secret obsession with Instagram that my husband would say is unhealthy because it’s the last thing I check at night and the first thing I check in the morning. As a social media tool Instagram really appeals to me because it is visual – it works like a virtual gallery where images can be compiled and curated next to one another to create a visual overview of a brand.
How much do you think you being a British brand helps you?
Britishness is completely ingrained in our identity as a luxury brand – placing ‘London’ in our company name was a very intentional contextual decision. For that reason I couldn’t imagine making my jewellery anywhere else, and I don’t think our clients would expect anything less either! In terms of British design, I think we are having somewhat of a resurgence at the moment, so naturally the impact of that for all British brands, big or small, is beneficial from both a press and sales perspective. I think there is also a lot more room in the British market for new, luxury brands, as well as an increased demand for luxury British goods by the international consumer, which again is advantageous.
With each collection do you focus on Spring/Summer and Autumn/Winter?
Yes, although I refrain from giving my collections seasonal names such as Spring/Summer15 or Autumn/Winter15 as I don’t think jewellery should be treated like a trend or seen as relevant for only a short season. I believe that the pieces from my first collection are just as interesting and unique today as the pieces from my most recent collection. Instead, my collections are given thematic names relating to the inspiration behind them. However, much consideration is given as to when each collection is released in order to maximise press exposure and seasonal buying. A more pastel toned jewellery collection will naturally launch in spring, whereas a collection rich in rubies, amethysts and black diamonds is more akin to a winter launch when magazine editorials and buying habits favour darker palettes.
Your current collection is inspired by the weather. Can you tells us about it?
It’s going to be called Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining – a rather apt name I think! For September next year we have a totally different theme, a collection inspired by the idea of exploration and conquest, looking back at the adventures and bounty of Gallileo, Columbus and other such explorers. It will look at what inspired and drove their extraordinary feats of exploration, as well as the goods they brought back from their journeys, such as pearls and gemstones.
Where do your ideas come from?
Myriad different places. I might be having a conversation where someone mentions silver clouds and I start thinking about diamond linings. It might be that I’m standing outside in the rain, trying to barbecue, and I’m thinking obsessively about the British weather. I’ve always been very interested in culture and geography so the Explorer collection was perhaps somewhat inevitable considering my love for landscapes and the economics of trade and the patterns of human behaviour.
I recently read Freakonomics, which made me think a bit more laterally about human development and human nature. There was also a big resurgence about Scott of the Antarctic a few years ago and I remember thinking how icebergs looked like cut quartz. It all just links up somewhere in my brain and before I realise it I have another collection in the making. Sometimes, however, the idea behind a collection is so clear cut from the start that I don’t need to log it and file it away. I just simply start designing.
For more information, visit Tessa Packard
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