Aiming to fill a hole in the fine jewelry marketplace with help from technology, Los Angeles-based Iconery launches Tuesday with the promise of low barriers to entry and fast-fashion speed-to-market for gold and diamond baubles. Using 3D printing and e-commerce, the company is both manufacturer and online retail destination for women seeking fine jewelry from new and established designers.
Iconery founder and chief executive officer Ivka Adam, a former mobile marketing executive at eBay, said, “Our core value proposition for designers is the idea of efficient, small batch manufacturing.”
Using 3D-printed jewelry molds, which allow each piece to be made to order in as little as three days, and production facilities of a large-scale manufacturing partner to keep costs down, Iconery gives new designers a way to launch into fine jewelry without huge capital investment, and established jewelers a turnkey production solution.
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Adam enlisted New York-based fashion editor Andrea Linett as creative director, charged with recruiting designers and creating the site’s look and curation.
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Linett reached out to fashion designers Melissa Coker of Wren and Daryl Kerrigan of Daryl K. to create their first jewelry collections, as well as established jewelry designers such as Paige Novick, James Colarusso, Marla Aaron, to act as ambassadors and create exclusive pieces for the site. Iconery will also offer classic pieces such as hoops and micro-pave bands under its own label.
Iconery’s business plan is two-fold; Adam wanted to offer affordable small-batch manufacturing as well as a multi-brand, online destination for fine, on-trend jewelry.
“We don’t care where our designers sell their jewelry, it can be through their own retail channels or e-comm sites, but we also offer a curated retail platform,” said Adam. At launch, 100 percent of Iconery’s products will be sold on the site but Adam projects that within a year, 10 to 25 percent of the business will be off-platform or wholesale.
Linett has given the site a look that shows customers how to wear various pieces together or search for specific styles. Each designer has his or her own landing page, and eventually, the ability to upload their own designs and biographies.
Retail price points on the Iconery site will range from $95 up to $4,000 with a sweet spot of $200 to $500.
“We have a mentality similar to a Zara, because we can work with designers to update their collections rapidly and remove styles when they’re not selling, but women keep fine jewelry much longer than they do clothes or other accessories,” said Adam.
Said Linett, “Women who want newness and quality are constantly buying stuff on shopbop.com, so why not Iconery? It’s less of a quick a fix, more of a small investment.”