Story & Lesson Highlights with Elle Pirmoradi of Dear DTLA

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Elle Pirmoradi. Check out our conversation below.

Good morning Elle, it’s such a great way to kick off the day – I think our readers will love hearing your stories, experiences and about how you think about life and work. Let’s jump right in? Have you ever been glad you didn’t act fast?
Yes certainly, timing plays a crucial part in really every part of life: taking a professional opportunity when it presents itself, meeting someone special in your personal life, having the freedom to pursue dreams and passions… My background is in classical music, where much of the work goes unnoticed to untrained ears, until a piece can actually be performed. Perfecting an art, piano in my case when growing up, is not a speedy process. You have to stay focused, put in the time and keep practicing until you reached your version of perfect. After more than 30 years of playing, this has become a second nature. This gives you a certain confidence in your work, you see and hear something that to other people isn’t real yet.
Fast forward to my passion for jewelry, which led me to found Bangelle three years ago: Fine Jewelry handmade in L.A. We specialize in bangles and bracelets and gradually introduced rings, earrings and necklaces, too. The phase leading up to the initial collection of our four signature pieces was lengthy and required a lot of back and forth to perfect the design. While this was tedious at times, my music background was quite helpful in that I trust the process and I understand good things sometimes need time. It’s funny that I’m actually an impatient person in many ways, I suppose we all have our contradictions.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Think of stacks, think of Bangelle (fun fact: the name is a play on words of bangle + Elle). Our journey started with a clear vision: creating the perfect addition in 18K solid gold to a stacked wrist. Fine jewelry that exudes effortless chic. This led to the launch of the initial collection of our 4 signature pieces, made by local artisans in L.A. Many of our clients already have the famous bangles of established jewelry names and are now looking for an exclusive piece that sets their stack apart. After the bangle collection, we introduced bracelets and cuffs. Happy to say that the newer pieces were also well received. As an independent designer growing organically and authentically was always very important to me. While the emphasis remains on bangles and bracelets, we now also feature rings, earrings and necklaces. These newer additions playfully pick up elements from earlier designs, and often share characteristics such as stackability and symmetry.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
For this one I’ll have to refer to my music background again; I was born into a very musical family, so I naturally started hitting the piano keys at three years old and became pretty good. When I was almost 6, I wanted to audition for a nationwide classical music competition hosted by a radio station at the time. I recorded a Prelude by Bach and an Ecossaise by Beethoven and we sent it in to be considered, knowing I was well under the cutoff age of eight years. A few weeks later I received a letter in the mail, thanking me for participating and stating how they much appreciated my recording; unfortunately they also took the age limit rather seriously and encouraged me to try out again later on once I was eight. They initially negated me because of my age, not my skill level. My mother, a classically trained pianist and my teacher for most of my life, took it upon herself to talk to the organizers and ‘argue my case’. I don’t exactly know what she told them but it worked and I got the green light to compete! In that moment I remember I felt huge, today I’d describe that feeling as capable and confident. I had changed their No into a Yes because of what I could do. Long story short, competition day came, I played and came in second place out of all contestants. Core memory type of stuff.

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
The saying ‘you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’ really resonates with me: do your work and give it your best, take the shots, and eventually something will work out. Enjoy the ride with passion, persistence and patience. Don’t sweat the little stuff too much, pivot when needed and move on. Finding joy in the process of things, rather than only in their achievement, is something I’d say to my younger self and to the current version as well, some truths need frequent reminders.

So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What do you believe is true but cannot prove?
Believing by definition is something you cannot prove, if you could prove it, you didn’t have to believe it any more. That being said, there are areas of life that are real yet not tangible. Look at love for example, you can’t prove you or someone else is in love; it’s an emotion yet it can feel more powerful than a scientific paper. We don’t have to understand everything to appreciate it.
Broadly speaking, anything to do with taste and art falls in that category I think. You may listen to your favorite song and to you it’s the best song ever written. You can’t prove it and objectively speaking you know there are other great songs but your truth remains the same, right? Perhaps believing is individualistic, proving is for bigger questions that concern us as humanity.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
I’d change the question to ‘can you give something your best…’ and the answer would be a definite yes. “Everything you do, is worth being done well” (F. Mendelssohn) is a great quote I picked up as a child and it’s stuck with me through the years. As a musician/artist/creative you must have an appreciation for details; thoroughness becomes part of your DNA. This dedication (or obsession) leads to the best results. There’s no sense in cheating yourself, I use shortcuts in the kitchen, not in my work. From my experience, creating something of substance is a pretty solitary activity. It’s just you, your idea and later on its execution. It’s a privilege to turn your creative vision into reality. That in itself is a rewarding process, regardless of the recognition after. Having said that, good things eventually get noticed and will stand out from the abundance of all that’s surrounding us.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.Bangelle.com
• Instagram: @bangelle.jewelry

Image Credits
6 Corners Studio