Design of the Times: Lafia Jewellery
Lafia is a fashion forward Canadian jewelry brand, each piece handcrafted in 14k gold. The brand offers a variety of luxurious collections from classic to modern, with new designs added throughout the year. Even better, the brand’s designers Stefanie Hofland and Ruth Sternberg have been friends for over a decade after meeting through their daughters. Lafia was created through the eyes of their daughters and their love for sparkles.
We caught up with Sternberg to learn more about their inspiration, how COVID-19 has impacted their business, what they’re looking forward to at JCK 2021 and more.
How did your journey in the jewelry industry begin?
Our journey began 4 years ago, Stefanie was working in the industry for a many years and wanted to explore designing her own jewelry brand, that was centered around fashionable, quality fine jewelry as an everyday luxury. As close friends for 15 years, and with my own passion for design and high fashion, Stefanie asked me to join her in developing our own jewelry brand and together we established Lafia.
How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your business and, from your perspective, the jewelry industry?
COVID-19 has definitely impacted our business and the jewelry industry. For us as a brand, we remain grateful that we are online, direct to consumer, and have strong relationships with our retailers. We have been impacted in that we are unable to travel to go see our retailers, to meet with new vendors or attend trade shows. We lose on that personal connection face-to-face to meet us as a brand, build on relationships and most importantly for a new vendor or client to be able to touch and feel our pieces, to get a true sense of our quality and craftsmanship.
Zoom calls work for making a personal connection, but far too often in our experience technical issues loom with poor connections and a retailer doesn’t get the true sense of a piece. The industry as a whole has been impacted in this way and for retailers, they are working hard to explore new opportunities with their clients, with virtual appointments, which we understand have been working but also facing the same technological issues and lack the ability of the client to really be able to touch and feel jewelry to make a purchase. For both our business and the industry, we do believe that purchases being made have become more significant, with purchasers investing in quality and craftsmanship and more than ever in a piece that has meaning, or is personalized. We feel the consumer is looking for something with sentiment and a heartfelt connection to their purchase.
How have you been continuing to connect with your customers during times of social distancing, and how has the reopening of the economy and stores gone for you so far?
We have been continuing to connect with our customers and retailers on social media channels and reaching out by email. Social distancing and local public health regulations has limited piercing events, which we have been known for. While regulations have been opening up again locally, as a brand, we are not sure in the face of the pandemic that this is something we will be doing in the near future, as safety is a priority. It has also been important for us to check in with our retailers on how they have been managing during the pandemic and how we can work to support each other. As a brand, we have tried to continue to give ourselves visibility in the industry participating in JCK Virtual and exploring digital opportunities. As a result of quarantine travel restriction returning into Canada, it has moved us to develop a deeper client base locally, which we had not been as focused on prior to the pandemic.
How much do you rely on social media and other digital platforms to connect to your customers, and how do you do so?
We largely rely on social media and digital platforms, more than ever in this time, it allows us a global reach while there are so many travel and event restrictions in place. Social / digital platforms are a great tool for connecting with customers, from Direct Messaging to WhatsApp and ichat on our website it really allows our customers to reach us directly in real time, to answer questions and assist them with their purchase.
What was the initial inspiration for your brand?
When we started Lafia, we were inspired to create a brand that reflected the modern woman in design and quality, creating jewelry that can be worn for the everyday. We design with the idea of building a jewelry wardrobe and to keep our prices within a range so that our customer can build by layering from across our collections or simply with a beautiful statement piece.
What else inspires you when designing?
We take inspiration from many areas depending on the collection. Fashion, architecture, geometric shapes, nature and color, these elements have all inspired us when focusing on design.
Can you give us an idea of your design process?
Stefanie and I both work on the design process, and we discuss new designs regularly. We talk through design what makes sense for our brand, which leads to drawings and CAD images. We work with scale and cost when it comes to stones and want to make sure the finished price of our piece makes sense for our brand and customers and then set that piece into production. We like to wear a finished piece to know that we love it as much as our customers will.
How long does it typically take to create a piece of jewelry?
The process in creating a new piece usually takes us up to one month depending on the detail, sourcing stones, and making a cast or sample and if we need to redesign any elements. It’s a process we enjoy seeing come to life.
How would you describe your brand using only three words?
Feminine, Luxury, Everyday
How do you personalize your jewelry and designs?
As a brand, we personalize our pieces with our signature butterfly logo, which we add to our bracelets and necklaces at the clasp. The butterfly is symbolic to us for its beauty, and strength and we have learned how much meaning it holds to so many people and organizations. We believe our designs are centered around clean, contemporary design that is reflective of our brand across our collections. We allow customers to personalize our jewelry in their selection of 14k gold color and stone selection to make our piece their own.
You have several different collections. Do you have a personal favorite?
Our favorite collection is the Straight & Narrow Collection. We have been building on this collection adding new pieces in heavier lines as jewelry trends are getting bolder. We love the mix of the finer pieces with new larger ones. We also love this collection as we offer these pieces in gold and then with both diamonds and semi-precious stones; they look great together as a cluster of bracelets, which we wear all the time.
How about a favorite piece?
We have had many favorite pieces, but right now our favorite pieces are our new Large Line Necklace and Bracelet. We love the bolder lines and we are currently working on these pieces in diamonds to launch in November. I’m sure the diamond pieces will be the new favorite!
Are you partial to any stones or hues?
We work a lot with diamonds, both black and white. We both love black diamonds, they look great with a t-shirt and jacket or with a lbd. We do work with semi-precious stones and are working on new pieces with sapphires. Sapphires are a strong stone and come in such a variety of beautiful colors and hues. We love a punch of color in our jewelry wardrobe.
What do you think sets your jewelry apart from other companies that specialize in fine jewelry?
We have had great response from both our customers and retailers, in their ability to personalize our pieces. The ability to select color of 14k gold, selection of stone, or chain lengths, the customer really feels like they are making the piece their own and our retailers makes sure their selection fits their boutique and clientele, and we believe this does set us apart.
We are also proudly Canadian from start to finish. We design, source and manufacture everything locally in Toronto. We use the finest materials and all of our products are hand crafted with love in Toronto.
Can you tell us a bit about the collection or pieces you plan to exhibit at JCK 2021?
For 2021, we are really excited to be working on a piece that will be giving back to charity and representing unity with love, hope and peace.
We are also working with some fancy shaped stones and designing new pieces around these shapes that will be ready for us to showcase at JCK 2021.
We continue to build on our Straight & Narrow and Rainbow collections. These collections are designed on clean lines in various sizes, with diamonds and semi-precious stones, the pieces are super easy to wear and are perfect for layering.
What are you most looking forward to at JCK 2021?
The human interaction and ability to build relationships is truly what we look forward to most. We loved the ability to bring our Get Pierc’d ear piercing events to JCK Tucson and have such a fun and well received interactive experience. Realistically, with a virtual show, we are looking forward to showcasing Lafia at JCK and connecting with the jewelry community.
Don’t miss amazing brands like Lafia and more at JCK 2021! Pre-register for the show, taking place June 4-7, 2021 at the Sands Expo & The Venetian.