Simplexpression is Live
For the past three weeks Dana and I had worked tirelessly well past midnight to launch our collaborative online jewelry store: Simplexpression.com. While she handcrafted and took photographed each piece, I touched up the images and put the web site together.
With Simplexpression, our goal is to create simple, elegant jewelries that are not only visually attractive, but also comfortable to wear on a daily basis. To reflect on our products, we wanted a clean, classy site with ease of use. The layout lets the products speak for themselves. We also integrated PayPal to handle our transactions for a smooth, secured experience.
Dana is obviously the creative mind behind the works. I am not sure how she comes up with the design, but she always strikes the perfect balance between shapes, colors, tones and textures while still manages to keep the piece simple. The labor goes into each piece is intensive, yet the final product is just stunning.
One of the fun tasks of the project is to come up with the name for each piece. We listen mostly to jazz in our design process. So we figure why not name them after the jazz ladies. All we have to do is matching up each piece with a female jazz artist based on her style and personality. For example, we honored this necklace after Billie Holiday because it shows Billie’s dramatic lifestyle. She was like the brilliant, orange centerpiece that still lid up inside the ring of darkness. We named this piece after Anita O’Day because its rhythm and its flow correspond to her dazzled sense of time and improvising virtuosity.
What makes this project so special to us is that we get to put our skills together as a couple even though we have different career paths. Because this project is a result of love and passion, we make our products affordable so that we could share them with you and hope that you would take pleasure in wearing them as much as we do in crafting them. So head over to Simplexpression.com and check out our small but expanding collection.
I wish you both with luck but I doubt this online business of you will be successful.
ABC, I had similar doubt at first, too, but after checking out the site I find the designs are quite catchy. I would actually consider purchasing a necklace for someone as a gift. However, the prices are a little high. Nowadays, you can get these jewelry accessories rather inexpensive at the malls. Excellent collaboration though D&D :)
Thanks for the feedbacks. As far as success goes, we aren’t expecting much since this is a small, fun project.
Price wise, our is lower than most of our competitors and we use the finest materials available such as Swarovski crystals, semi-precious gemstones, gold-filled, sterling silver. A piece like this takes about five hours to complete. Each of the wiring is done by hand. It’s very labor intensive. So if you add up the amount of time and creativity go into each piece, it’s not expensive at all.
Great work, D&D.
I sorta know what effort goes into making something so personal; both the jewelry and the website are really classy.
Success is how you define it: if you get some joy out of your work, to me, that’s success.
I agree with James, the price is a little high for a typical off the shelf jewelry so why don’t you raise it? :)
Seriously since your products filled such a niche market I think you are underselling your creativity. Some people buy your products because they are cheap, other buy them because they are expensive.
Yes HmL, getting the site up is already a success. As long as I get to create a web site :)
Hoang, like I said in my post, we want to make our product affordable but that doesn’t mean they are cheap :)
Happy New Year, folks!
I actually think it is a great website and I love simplicity. I am hunting for a all torquoise simple necklace.