Imagine a virtual jewelry marketplace connecting designers with retailers, personal shoppers and fashion stylists. In this digital realm, users can view and discuss jewelry collections or order them via private messaging, with all of the buyers’ details constantly monitored and updated to keep accounts current.
Earlier this year, a new project called NouvelleBox made all of that a reality.
Created by London-based luxury jewelry executives Darren Hildrow and Valery Demure, NouvelleBox is a global digital marketplace that members pay a small fee to join. The myriad business opportunities it offers jewelry-industry stakeholders online make it a particularly fitting enterprise for these uncertain, pandemic-altered times.
“Jewelry brands need to go mega-virtual in order to reach the international market,” says designer Stella Flame, one of the platform’s members. “NouvelleBox does this by presenting us with great distinction to the world’s retailers, stylists and personal shoppers.”
The project is the first of its kind, according to its founders, as it is both a virtual showroom and a place where industry members can do business with each other. Among the independent jewelry brands that have signed up are Nak Armstrong, Joanna Dahdah, Flora Bhattachary, Bea Bongiasca, Nada Ghazal, and Milamore.
As for the founders themselves, Hildrow is a jewelry business strategist who has directed showrooms and worked with designers such as Jade Jagger, while Demure has operated her eponymous London showroom — as well as seasonal ones at Paris Fashion Week — for over a decade. She also founded and curates jewelry site Objet d’Emotion.
“While NouvelleBox uploads designer collections, jewelry buyers can view and raise purchase orders from line sheets that are easily created through our site,” Hildrow explains. “We serve as a virtual tool for multi-brand jewelry showrooms, stores and designers.”
A useful feature of the platform, says Demure, is that it “streamlines the order process for brands that are represented by showrooms, and their account managers can continue their communication with stores as usual, working on behalf of designers to introduce their brands to the stores. All orders...are processed through the NouvelleBox marketplace.”
As this makes it easier for retail partners to place seasonal orders and replenish stock, “many people are enthusiastically signing up with us,” she reports.
Take, for example, Paul Schneider and Lauren Eulau, co-owners of Twist Jewelry. While they operate freestanding Twist boutiques in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington, they also sell jewels through their website.
“NouvelleBox offers tremendous value for our industry,” Schneider says. “Because Valery and Darren have carefully vetted NouvelleBox designs and designers, you never have to worry about missing something crucial, such as a collection being derivative of another designer, or having other potential downsides. NouvelleBox presents pre-qualified, highly original jewelry that embodies quality materials and considerable artisanal value.”
Once a brand becomes a member, it gets promoted in NouvelleBox’s magazine — the first issue of which was in the works as of press time. Other initiatives include signing up gem dealers and writing a monthly newsletter for jewelry buyers, alerting them to new designers that have joined.
“Our platform can help people in the jewelry industry build strong relationships digitally so that we can all continue to grow during this pandemic and beyond,” Hildrow says.
nouvellebox.com
Article from the Rapaport Magazine - May 2021. To subscribe click here.