She’s the Steve Jobs of jewelry who started off working out of garage. Now she is a jewelry rockstar. Jacquie Aiche has become an icon with an emblematic style you can notice from miles away! She offended a few spirits with her ad campaign but she does not really care and Rihanna picked the name of her latest collection. The Eye of Jewelry had the honor of meeting with her during the Las Vegas Couture show.
When you first ask Jacquie Aiche what made her successful, her simple answer goes like this: “We’re in California and we work bad-ass bitches”. That said, the L.A. based designer rocks the jewelry world. She’s like an energy ball passing on energy every second you interact with or next to her. She cannot chose one ambassador as there are too many. She offended a few spirits with her ad campaign but she does not really care and Rihanna picked the name of her latest collection. Jacquie Aiche is a giver… and telling us everything about it.
Most of your collections are super feminine, out of the regular jewelry path and edgy. You are a rockstar in the us – how come celebrity in europe has just recently hit you?
I think it has always been organic… I have been making jewelry since I was 18 – it has been almost 20 years now ! When I first started it was the same thing : it was done very organically.
Jacquie aiche was born in …
2008 ! But before that I was always making jewelry on the side, but I never told who the designer was… I was born and raised in LA – and always worked with turquoises. As a child I used to pain rocks and sell them to the celebrity neighbors- living in the Hollywood Hills. I was always very creative.
What was the trigger ?
The Finger bracelet ! It was back in 2009 and it was brand new ! Nobody had seen it before. I went to Paris in 2010 and slowly but surely I picked up a few cool and trendy places such as Hod or Baby Buddha to represent the brand. As I said earlier, everything was organic even my collections were !
Favorite stone ?
I would say Tourmaline – all of the different colors, shades, and layers and healing properties. And Turquoise for me has always been a thing ! As a whole, I am very in touch with rocks, turquoises and opals !
Teamwork ?
I worked with the same minors I have been working with since the beginning. A lot of times, I come to them and ask to cut the shape that I want but sometimes I must admit that they curse at me because it’s too hard ! They get sick cutting it, they have to cut 160 stones to get 40 … it’s a harder task. But I believe that the people who work with me behind the scenes are as passionate as I am in what we do and we stand for.
Do you make everything ?
I am at the basis of everything ! We are about 15 people and another 15 people to make the jewelry. We have one showroom in LA and no stores anymore ! I was in retail for 15 years and did not want to be out there. I started working in my garage and I still am ! We moved out of the house with my family, but I moved the entire office into that home – therefore I kept the garage. Now I just have a bigger space and I love it !
What is the thing you have not yet explored ?
I can never say never…I never know ! I feel that a door always leads me to something else ! I meet different miners, and different cutters who show me different way to use a gemstone. For example, last season my guy who always brings me some aquamarines brought me some kunzites. I just loved it. I loved the colors and everything about the stone. I feel that each person always brings something else. I get inspired to make something different and that’s what usually happens the following year !
What’s in the pipeline ?
I am in the process of developing interesting pieces for the home where I have started working with double horns decorations for example… When she came by the showroom she fell in love with the piece. Often, when people come to the showroom say that they want this or that for their home. That’s what I have started to do – creating special pieces for my clients ! For example, Rosie Whiteley has my double horns in her living room !
What’s your jewelry mantra ?
I feel that the body jewelry was something that classic jewelers had never seen ! I went from the finger bracelet to the body chain to the foot inklet. Now we are doing the alter bra ! And we have the new piece that Rihanna is wearing on vacation… it’s a really sexy mesh type of bra. I am currently re-creating an old technique that I am putting up-to-date ! I will keep you posted…
Male jewelry ?
I don’t have time ! I am too busy trying to make the women feel good that I don’t have time to take care of my fellow men ! I take care of them by taking care of their ladies. For men, I mostly do bespoke pieces, leather amulettes and wedding bands!
Collaborations ?
We did a collab for Love and Lemons – a fashion website LA based; we also did the Rihanna-inspired temporary metallic tattoo collection and the twin collaboration with Sama + Haya diamond bra which was very big in the Middle-East. Now, I am kind of backing off a bit on collaborations and saving a bit of time for the chain mail !
Why attending the las vegas couture show?
First of all, I do see my everyday clients … secondly, participating into a fair like Couture is my way of supporting the community. I am lucky to do really well on my own thanks to my showroom and the online website but I am still here to support my vendors who supported me since the beginning. It’s very important. I love being here !
Why such an edgy communication?
It’s just me ! We’re in California and we work bad-ass bitches 😉 I feel that with the body chain it’s an addiction. You want one then another than more and more. The way women express herself with her body art is like tatoos or lingerie. They can keep adding things and nobody will see it. I am always about being free and empowering, it’s really about having a woman feel special ! When we first started our ad campaign, everybody was screaming « no nudity » but I am telling you … by the second look they are naked ! The reason ? They feel so good in the jewels!
One muse
Elisabeth Taylor. But each girl takes a different mood of the collection for me and there are so many… Rihanna is my muse for my bad girl side or my super edgy style. Rosie Whitney takes softer my more sweeter side and Emily Ratajkowski is my spirit animal.
Clientele
Mostly girls but since I have Emily – I have men. She brought me a huge market from them. Even the day after our shoot when she snapshat it, we had GQ calling us up to write about the brand !
Latest collection
Mufasa… like the Lion King. Rihanna is the one who named the collection and we just launched at Couture.
Not only she’s cool, sweet and nice in any possible qualifier… but Jacquie Aiche is smart, talented and works her ass-off (she’s the one who said it first!) She does not necessary need to talk. You can feel it. She’s sensual and feminine, her face irradiates kindness, she’s tanned like a Californian girl and looks like an Italian icon. 65% of her business comes from her just by putting herself out-there and 100% of the fashionistas love her collections.
