Today we’d like to introduce you to Sara Smith and Mara Rothbart.
Sara and Mara, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
We have been friends since we were 18 and freshmen in college. We both were very creative and loved making jewelry with our own backgrounds in the industry. Mara is fourth generation jeweler and practically grew up in her family’s jewelry store, and Sara made jewelry throughout her childhood and worked in high-end jewelry retail stores in her earlier years.
We had both had careers outside of fashion and decided that we wanted to create a passion project for ourselves. We had a concept for one earring in 2012 and grew an entire line from the original “skimmer” piece. It took us about a year to get our business up and running with design, production, creating the website and artwork, social media, etc.
Once we started, we really gained momentum and found that people, along with celebrities and stylists, we’re really loving our pieces. The line has been very successful organically and we are very lucky to have a devoted following of clientele.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
It has been mainly smooth, but of course, we have had our challenges. The startup process was pretty tough because we had to find the best team that understood our vision as designers.
It took us a little less than a year to find our production team and then to perfect the initial product. It is always tricky when we come up with new designs because we have an idea in our heads of what it will be, but sometimes it is not possible and doesn’t work once it is physically made. It is a lot of trial and error which can be very costly and time-consuming.
Another struggle as a newer design team was coming up with very innovative products, but having our designs be taken by other larger designers. We are very active on social media and are in the best retail stores, so our exposure was high, but sometimes we could not compete with more established well-known designers who were getting the pieces out faster.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Smith and Mara – what should we know?
We are a fine jewelry business. We specialize in 14K gold pieces and use a variety of precious and semi-precious stones in our jewelry. We are known best for our innovative earring styles such as our spirals, suspenders, and skimmers. We create all of our pieces made to order for clients because we offer three colors of 14k gold, sell our earrings as singles, and some are ear specific (left or right).
We are extremely proud of our company for our innovative designs, top quality, and our customer service. We will always make sure that our clients know they are a top priority to us and make sure they get the best quality possible when placing an order with us.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Our production team has been extremely amazing and without them, we would not have the company we do today. We think our team is really the best out there and delivers the best quality pieces we could have imagined.
We have worked with so many incredible people along the way, but the loyal clients who have been with us since the beginning are really a huge reason why we have been so successful today.
Pricing:
- Our pieces range from $100 to $6,000+
Contact Info:
- Website: www.smithandmara.com
- Email: [email protected]
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