NEW YORK — Jewelry designer Ippolita Rostagno sits in her Midtown showroom surrounded by a myriad of things: her golden baubles, a glass arm, a brass doorknob, an embellished leather apron. With feathers in her hair, she proudly gestures that’s it’s all made by hand and all her design.
It’s obvious Rostagno’s mission goes beyond jewelry into a broader vision. The challenge is whether she can realize that vision, which includes introducing a home line, men’s jewelry, handbags and opening her first store — all by a self-imposed fall deadline.
The fine jewelry sector has maintained steady growth in the last year, but few companies have generated increases on par with Ippolita’s business. Sales increased to $21 million last year from $2.8 million in 2002. Projected volume for 2005 is $42 million.
“The numbers are dizzying,” Rostagno said.
Four months ago, the company launched its e-commerce site at Ippolita.com and sales already have reached $600,000.
Rostagno’s keen sense of design has clearly contributed to the five-year-old company’s success. The line’s handcrafted look and use of unexpected materials such as acorns follow in line with trends in the market.
Thin bangles and rings are made from an 18-karat alloy that Rostagno mixes herself and have tiny diamonds set in them. Necklaces range from long chains with various pendants and charms to a strand of chunky turquoise with a sculpted gold clasp. Wholesale prices start at $400 and go up to $3,000. The collection is available in Bergdorf Goodman, 30 Neiman Marcus doors and 30 specialty retailers. This spring, it will launch in six Saks Fifth Avenue flagships.
Growth also has stemmed from the firm’s ability to turn around product within three weeks, allowing it to replenish retailer’s cases regularly and address their particular requests, said Lee Chan, chief operating officer. Chan joined the company last year to strengthen infrastructure and production capacities. Cheryl Joseph, vice president of sales and merchandising, came to the company in January to focus on retail strategies.
Rostagno isn’t interested in designing a second lower-priced line or adding more doors to her distribution to grow. Instead, she is planning to deepen her presence in existing accounts by introducing new categories. For fall, the designer is developing a sterling silver collection for Bergdorf’s and a men’s jewelry line.
Related Articles
You May Also Like
In addition, she is working on a home collection to introduce at the same time. But it won’t be about tabletop and glassware. Rostagno’s version of home is much more exploratory and includes small sculptures of human figures, brass doorknobs that evoke gnarled wood, and a bento box of small objects that Rostagno calls “a starter kit of good taste.” It also is expected to land in Neiman Marcus stores this fall, but prices have not been set.
“This is my idea of home,” she said. “A miniature sculpture garden, sort of to demystify the idea that art is up there somewhere and only a few people partake of it, but actually, it’s something accessible….One of the reasons I’ve been so into home is because I’ve been renovating my house.”
Rostagno’s background encourages her to look at her career more as an arbiter of an aesthetic than a jeweler.
Born in Florence, Italy, to an experimental theater director father and American mother, Rostagno studied art there until she came to the U.S. at age 20. She moved to Los Angeles with hopes of a career in dance, and eventually moved to New York.
“There wasn’t enough of a cultural scene out in L.A.,” she said.
In New York, she went to work at an advertising agency, where she was introduced to fashion as a business. In 2000, she introduced her first jewelry collection.
“I grew up with this ingrained sense of responsibility to the social body,” said Rostagno, referring to her father’s influence. “Because I’m interested in art and artistically inclined, that’s how it’s come out, that’s how I’ve expressed it. Basically, I’m interested in forms of communication.”
Rostagno is ready to communicate her artistic vision directly to consumers. The company plans to open a concept store in Manhattan in late fall, in addition to all the new lines in the works. A location has not been set.
“It’s an experience and a concept that will launch a real new plateau for retailers,” Chan said.
The jewelry and home collections both will likely be available.
Rostagno is looking for the freedom to do something nonsensical, such as creating a necklace collection out of nuts or using a hat or a cake box for packaging.
“In a sense, I want to share my aesthetic, as opposed to growing a brand,” she said.
She’s also out to help other designers achieve a similar goal, for which the company has just incorporated a new organization called the Ippolita Foundation: Art Matters.
“The thing artists lack the most of is time and the financing to take time off,” Rostagno said. “I want to give a large amount of money to one person, sort of like a prize.”
She is completing the legal matters and rules for vetting candidates, but said artists from all over the world will be invited to enter the contest and one will win a large enough sum of money to support himself or herself for one to two years while he or she pursues his or her craft.
“I also do fine art,” Rostagno said, motioning to the glass sculptures around her. “But I don’t bring that into the picture because it’s like, ‘OK, what else do you do?’ But what I’m doing with the foundation is what I wish someone would do for me.”