The Jewellery Brand Designed to Empower Women
Your designs are absolutely stunning! Where do you get your inspiration to create such artisanal pieces?
So many places! Art, nature (a lot from nature, we love anything celestial and nautical), vintage jewellery, current trends, and other women. We love to see how other women style their jewellery and we are always asking what our customers are wanting to see next. Italy and Sicily are also a huge source of inspiration as we love their maximalism vibes when it comes to fashion.
How do you want customers to feel when they wear your designs?
We want our customers to feel that they are wearing something special and made with love and consideration. Nothing at Soru is mass produced and each piece is handmade with love.
You founded Soru in 2013, before the ‘Instagram revolution’ hit. How did you find building a brand in this time? How have you found social media to aid you?
Instagram was just beginning to take off which was brilliant because it wasn’t over saturated. It was great for us because we had no budget at all for advertisng, so Instagram was our only tool to get the brand name out there. It was a task familiarising ourselves with it, social media was completely new to us. Our business grew from Instagram, we created a community and it was beyond beneficial for the growth of our business at that time.
All of Your photos are unfiltered/unedited. Why is this important to you?We don’t edit our social media images because they are snapshots of what’s going on in the world of Soru and they are real. We want our customers to see the true beauty of the jewellery, as it is, unfiltered because if they purchase that would be what they are getting. As for images of ourselves, we don’t have the time or inclination to edit those, we are as we are! |
The Princess of Wales is a fan of your designs! How did it feel when you saw your pieces on her?Completely amazed. It was the most wonderful day, we were literally jumping around. She is an amazing woman, a huge icon and ambassador, I don’t think I could think of anyone else I would want to see more in our jewellery. It was totally unexpected too, which made it all the more special.
Kate Middleton wearing The Baroque Pearl Double earrings, £145 |
Your pieces are lovingly handmade in Italy & turkey. Why is it important for you to highlight this origin?We are at a point where consumers want to know the journey of the goods they are buying and that they are made in a fair and sustainable way. Most fashion jewellery and semi precious jewellery is made in Asia so that fact that our jewellery is made in Italy and Turkey is very unusual for this industry. |
How have you found the response to this artisanal design process via instagram?People love it! I think it makes each piece all the more special and our customers agree. Not only because its sustainably made, but also because each gemstone piece uses natural gemstones so no two pieces are the same, our customers are getting an original piece of jewellery. |
Instagram is such an incredible tool for building businesses and working with creators. When did you experience a lot of growth?We have done several collaborations with Laura Wills AKA The Fashion Bug Blog and have always seen growth and engagement whenever we work with her. She’s so lovely to work with and we would now call her a friend, she was the first influencer we worked with too. We recently did a collaboration with Something Navy founder Arielle Charnas, so we could gain more exposure from the US and this has been great too, we gained lots of US followers which is our aim.
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Soru has been worn by royalty, celebrities and influencers for years. What is it about your designs that you think makes it versatile for everyone?It really is so versatile! I honestly love the fact that SO many different women of all ages wear our jewellery, this is what makes my job such a joy. I feel it can be styled in so many different ways, take the Soru hoop earrings for example (one of our best sellers) these look great worn with jeans, summer dress or a full on evening attire, and each styling gives a different overall vibe. |
What has been your best selling pieces, and why do you think they sell the best?!The Baroque Pearl Double Sided earrings that the Princess of Wales wore have been a continual best seller since she wore them in 2016. Other best sellers are our classic gemstone hoop earrings that we update each season, our Santina crosses that have a baroque Sicilian feel and our Charm collection because it is so versatile and you can add to it each season. |
What struggles have you faced with running Soru?Each phase has its own struggles. To begin with it was learning everything from scratch, how to build a website, navigate social media etc, the whole business we built ourselves with no budget. We worked long hours into the night and sometimes we wondered if it was worth it (it definitely was). Then as you grow you take on staff and suddenly you are a boss which is a whole new ball game! As the business grows it takes up more time and being a business owner you find you’re always ‘on’ so taking time to be mindful of this is important.
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What advice would you give to business owners going through a tough time?You learn during tough times. All businesses go through tough times, it’s normal. Think logically, stay calm and adapt to the climate. |
What’s next for Soru?We really want to grow our business in the US and bring out a fabulous fine jewellery offering that is affordable and versatile.. which is in the works… so watch this space! |