We love showing you the creative process behind our designs. From the initial sketch, to the final piece, there are many small yet crucial steps (and also mistakes!) along the way.
So here is our first limited edition collection of 2023. It is available to buy on the 2nd of February at 6pm. It will be available once only.
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October 2022
Inspiration for the Nostalgia Collection came from the playfulness of '90s fashion, with retro-inspired textures and chubby silhouettes - think jelly shoes and love hearts.
After several iterations, the final sketches of the collection were completed.
We wanted to center the collection around a large statement gemstone (the largest we've ever produced!)
The only struggle was deciding on which gemstone to use. Rose quartz or perhaps Rainbow Moonstone were on the agenda.
To us, the Rainbow Moonstone looked more characterful. It has a beautiful, unique adularescence, which gives a blue moonlight-like glow.
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November 2022
Sample production (Nov 2022) - This ring isn't actually being released but will be available in our Sample Sale in February 2023 so keep an eye out.
We ethically sourced raw Rainbow Moonstone from South Africa and the samples entered production.
Something was missing. Our new collection so far included iconic chubby hoops, but we wanted to push the boundaries further by adding a pop of colour.
We sampled two options, a blue to mimic the Moonstone and a deep pink. Vivek, our main point of call at our factory sent us images of resin samples. Deep pink was the obvious option, perfect for every skin tone and beautiful against both Silver and Gold.
This is that pop of colour we mentioned
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December 2022
The samples landed!
Quick as a flash, we had them out on the kitchen table.
Analysing and critiquing, we deliberated over the details. It's always the most exciting thing seeing the samples in the flesh for the first time, sometimes they're exactly as you expected but more often than not small tweaks are required before we're happy to put them into final production.
We showed the collection to friends and family to see how the pieces suited different people. We tried on the lengths of the chains and adjusted the dimensions accordingly.
We are proud to be picky. Once happy, we put our final order in.
The pieces were handmade one by one.
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December 2022
'Where and how were the pieces made?' We hope you ask.
Our Nostalgia collection was handcrafted in a very small batch in Jaipur, India. Small batches mean attention to detail can be paid to each piece.
The artisans we work with are incredibly talented. Each is an artist in their field, whether that be gemstone cutting, soldering or plating.
The factory is certified by the Responsible Jewellery Council which is the World leader in setting sustainability and ethical standards in the jewellery industry.
Their primary strength is crafting gemstone-oriented jewellery. They are our perfect fit.
We are very proud that each of our pieces leaves a positive impact on the people who create them.
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January 2023
We took our pieces to London for a photoshoot.
Picture this. We woke up at 2:30 am in preparation for the 1-hour drive to York to catch the 4:30 am train to London.
We don't know about you, but we weren't aware trains ran that early...
Halfway to York. Straight into Yorkshire's largest pothole.
Our tyre started slowly deflating!
Luckily, Ben is the calm one in our relationship, at least we weren't both worried! Somehow, with great determination to ignore our car warning lights, we reached York station, jumped out of the car, and hopped onto the train.
'That's a problem for later'
At 7:00 am we arrived in London, with our hearts pounding by this point, we found out that our studio was closed due to a booking error, and our model was 45 minutes late due to train issues.
'A problem for now'
To capture the retro 90's aesthetic of our new limited edition collection Margot, our wonderful photographer, brought two film cameras.
The first was given to her by her family. This one took all of Margot's baby photos and produced some beautiful film photos for us.
We love the effect it brought, a stunning grain that we think looks pretty cool with the 90's inspired Nostalgia collection.
The second was used to capture the behind-the-scenes of this caffeine-fueled shoot.
This year, we are pushing our creative boundaries. Something which we are so blessed to easily be able to do as such a small brand.
Limited Edition
Every Nostalgia design is Limited Edition. It will drop once, and once only.
The fashion industry has a huge waste problem. To ensure we are not part of this, we are now dropping the majority of our collections as limited edition; Every design will launch in very small quantities so no stock is left over after a drop. We're happy to be a little bit different. This big change delights us, and hopefully you too. Your piece of jewellery is truly unique.
For example, we are launching our Nostalgia Pendant Necklace in the following quantities: 21 Gold, 12 Silver. It is important for us to launch in such small quantities for our limited edition collections to ensure we definitely match availability to demand.
We can't wait to chat more to you about our new way of doing things. Launching limited edition collections allows us to be creative and put even more time and care into each launch.
A big thank you to Diana who modelled our new collection so beautifully and brought the retro creative to life.
Despite Yorkshire's largest pothole trying to get in our way and other complications (which are now, a pretty funny story) we shot some of our favourite photos yet AND managed to get home in one piece, with only a tyre replacement to worry about.
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We're waiting for the big day that Nostalgia launches, to see if our work has paid off. The collection launches at 6pm on Tuesday 2nd February, once we have quality checked every single piece and prepared signed postcards for every order we recieve.
When you have such a personal connection to something you create, it can be a little nerve-wracking to put it out into the world. We really hope you love it as much as we do.
If you would like any more information on the collection, please pop us an email at hello@millygrace.co.uk, we absolutely love hearing from you.
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Thank you for reading,
Emily & Ben
