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The sisters behind a jewellery brand beloved by celebrities both at home and abroad have revealed how they turned their “hobby” of designing jewellery to sell at Salamanca markets in Tasmania into a celebrity-loved jewellery empire.
Hannah, 33, and Rachel Vasicek, 28, from Hobart, have almost always had a fascination with jewellery.
Growing up in a small coastal town in New South Wales, the girls recalled there “wasn’t much to do” and so when their mother booked them into beading classes to entertain the girls during the holidays, it wasn’t long before they were “hooked on design”.
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“When we moved to Hobart in Tasmania as teenagers, I applied for a casual stall at Salamanca markets to support me through high school and called the jewellery I was making handmade by Hannah,” Hannah tells Best Picks.
“When Rachel finished school, we decided to re-brand the business I’d been working on as Francesca and decided to really give it a shot.”
Work at the Francesca jewellery stall was nothing short of gruelling.
“Every Saturday, we would go down to the markets at 5am and wait on a list to see if we would get a stall,” Rachel says.
“It was a hard slog in the freezing cold Hobart climate, and for 11 years, we traded at Salamanca with no weekends off!”
The girls do, however, credit their success and growth to their hard work during these years.
“Every Saturday, we had the opportunity to share our designs and business with a mass of tourists who would stop to hear our story,” Hannah says.
“We created customers who in turn created customers by telling everyone they knew about us and our joruney. Having the exposure to people from all over the world was incredible and to this day, we still have people saying they remember us from the markets.”
In 2016, business really took off, with Hannah and Rachel opening two bricks and mortar stores in Melbourne and Hobart and winning the Telstra Business of the Year award for Tasmania.
These days, Francesca is one of Australia’s most-loved jewellery brands, a million-dollar enterprise with a huge e-commerce arm that regularly tops best-selling lists.
“To this day, despite recognition in awards, the biggest pinch-me moment has to be simply walking down the street and seeing people wearing our jewellery or carrying a Francesca bag,” Rachel says.
“Something that really stands out to Hannah and I is usually when we board a flight and you see women’s arms reaching up to the overhead compartment and seeing an iconic Francesca bracelet stack. It makes us so happy.”
The best-selling item on the Francesca Jewellery website is by far and away the Francesca Jewellery lockets – which is what they have “become known for”.
“We have sold over 40,000 since launching them four years ago and we put it down fundamentally to a personalised connection with the design,” Rachel says.
“We removed the pain point that has existed for generations with no one knowing how to put an image inside a locket; we take the issue away by doing it for our customer. Customers can upload their image in store or online, and we do the rest.”
Francesca Jewellery also puts giving back at the heart of everything they do, with Awareness Bracelets raising money and awareness for charities nationally. They have given over $1 million to charity over the past six years.
This week, Francesca Jewellery is launching their latest collection, You Beauty, which is a collection “inspired by the meaning of true beauty, found in nature and human nature”.
“This collection aims to provoke conversations around ‘what true beauty really is?’ with pieces reflective of the Australian landscape,” Hannah says.
It’s the biggest collection launch yet for Francesca, and features everything from stunning Aussie-influenced earrings to bracelets and necklaces.
“The colours featured throughout the collection are blue to represent the vast seas that surround us, green to represent ancient forests, white to represent the way light is reflected on the water, and amber to represent the golden hues on the horizon when the sun rises and sets,” the girls say.
“In the true nature of giving back, as part of the You Beauty campaign, we have announced to pledge one per cent of employees hours worked to volunteering in the community going forward, highlighting the beauty in human nature.”
For more information and to shop the stunning new collection, head here.
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