Today we’d like to introduce you to Tigren Dorian.
Tigren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I have lived in Los Angeles my whole life. Both my parents are artists, but I had no interest in following their footsteps when I was younger. Like most kids, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. After leaving my first job at AMC theatre I went to work for the family business. I started off sweeping floors with an old school broom and dustpan. My parents didn’t give any breaks, they made me start from the bottom to teach me you have to work your way up. At first, I hated everything about the jewelry industry as it seemed so archaic and old-fashioned. I didn’t understand much about the industry nor did I care to learn about it at 17, but I decided to stay and work with the family until I figured out what I really wanted to do. I looked at my job as a holding place until I found out what I was truly passionate about.
Fast forward 13 years, I’m now running the company. I never planned on staying in the jewelry industry until one simple day, no different than others before it. I had a 2-carat diamond in front of me that I was looping for a new design… then it hit me, I was looking into this diamond and it consumed me. Inside this diamond the spectrum of light broke into a rainbow of fire, all the colors dancing with each other. The colors bounced off the perfectly symmetrical facets. Instantly, I was hooked. I had finally understood the beauty that was before me.
I never had any real design training, but I believe that contributes to the uniqueness found in my jewelry. I didn’t want to learn from my parents, partly because I’m stubborn, but also because my parents had their own style and perspective—one that differed from mine. Even starting simple, I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to portray the designs I had created in my head into an actual piece of jewelry. Eventually, I found a style that spoke to me thanks to a lot of trial and error. The more I designed jewelry, the more I realized that not only did I enjoy the process, but I was actually really good at it. Even when I wasn’t at work, I found myself mentally shaping pieces—even going as far as imagining the different proportions and playing with the symmetry, textures and colors. For once, something came so naturally to me.
I try not to contain myself in a certain type of design with the fear of becoming redundant and predictable. With that thought, I realized creativity spills and merges into all mediums of art so I should explore more of what I can be. I started an Instagram for my company and I found the art of photography. I discovered ways to speak to people through my art. Photography allowed me to portray actual feelings and emotions that people resonated with. Once I realized I had the ability to do this, it carried over into designing T-shirts and belts. Working with different mediums is like being able to view something from different perspectives. Putting all these mediums together allowed me to create a new point of view and a different perspective to approach my art.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Definitely not… It’s been a bumpy ride, to say the least. One of the biggest obstacles I have faced the simple fact that jewelry is not a necessity, it’s a luxury. Naturally, when things get rough, people give up their luxuries—either willingly or forcefully. The crash in 2008 hurt the whole industry, shrinking by 30% in that year alone.
Another difficult part about being in this industry is that, like any other type of art, it’s subjective. Not everyone will see the same type of beauty and trends are always changing. To stay relevant in this industry, I have needed to become adaptable to continuously evolving fashion culture. However, I pride myself in the fact that I do not conform. In other words, I adapt to the trends while keeping the integrity of my art.
The challenges and obstacles that we as a company have faced thus far—and the ones we will inevitably face in the future—have given our company character. Dorian & Rose has overcome adversity time and time again, and I believe that the fact that we’ve come so far shows our customers how much of us goes into each and every piece of jewelry.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
We are a custom jewelry manufacture in the heart of Downtown LA, we’ve been making jewelry here since 1999. I run the day to day operations, overseeing all our workers and managing the production of our jewelry. I go from analytical tasks—like working out the engineering of new spring clasps—to creative tasks, like trying to lay out a sequenced colored tree of life diamond medallion.
We still do things the old way at Dorian & Rose, everything is made by hand every piece has a human touch to bring it alive. Crafting with our hands gives us the advantage of adding our emotion to our pieces. We don’t have the cookie cutter stamped out pieces, each piece is molded with the feelings of that day and that’s what gives our creations life, we put our souls into them. Some might call this the hard way, but that’s what separates us from the rest, we know the difference between fast work and quality work.
If you had to start over, what would you have done differently?
To be honest, I wouldn’t change a single thing. Every failure I’ve had has taught me a lesson, pushed me further and forced me to adapt. Each mistake took me to the next step and eventually got me to where I am today. I am grateful for all the experiences I have had and the lessons I have learned, even if I did learn them the hard way.
Contact Info:
- Address: 706 S Hill St #680 Los Angeles, CA 90014
- Website: http://dorianandrose.net
- Phone: 8186408480
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorianandrose/
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/dorian-and-rose-los-angeles
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