What Access Looks Like in Jewellery

There is a moment that happens almost every time Stephanie and I are together looking at jewellery. Somewhere between appointments, conversations with designers and seeing new collections in person, one of us will stop and say, “I know exactly who this is for.”

It happened more than once during Vicenzaoro this September.

Sometimes it's because a piece reminds us of a conversation we've had with a client months earlier. Maybe she's been looking for a particular necklace, mentioned a milestone that's coming up, or told us she wants something different but hasn't quite been able to describe what that means. Other times, we simply see something and immediately think of the woman who would wear it.

That's one of our favourite parts of what we do.

With Stephanie based in Italy and April in Ontario, Linked by Brilla has naturally grown between two places. Vicenzaoro is one of the times each year when we're together in Italy, meeting with designers and brands we've come to know, discovering new ones and seeing collections before deciding what, if anything, feels right for our clients.

From the outside, those days can look like a lot of beautiful jewellery.

They are.

But the part that matters most happens before a piece ever reaches a client.

More Choice Isn't Always Better

Vicenzaoro brings an enormous part of the international jewellery world together in one place. There are established Italian houses, emerging designers, new collections and more jewellery than anyone could meaningfully take in during a single visit.

We don't try to.

We arrive knowing the women we're looking for.

That changes the experience entirely. Instead of walking through the show asking what we should buy, we're thinking about conversations we've had back home, pieces clients already wear, requests we're sourcing and gaps we've noticed in their collections.

The women we work with aren't short on places to buy jewellery. They can walk into a beautiful store almost anywhere or spend an evening looking through hundreds of pieces online. What they often don't want is more choice. They want someone who understands their taste well enough to narrow that choice thoughtfully.

For many of our clients, time is every bit as valuable as the jewellery they're investing in. They don't want to spend an afternoon moving between display cases trying to figure out what deserves their attention.

They want to know that when we say, “You need to see this,” there's a reason.

That's the difference.

Sometimes We're Looking for One Person

Not every sourcing conversation begins at Vicenzaoro.

Sometimes it begins months earlier, sitting across from a client in Ontario.

She might tell us she's been searching for a particular necklace and hasn't found it. She might have an anniversary approaching or want to mark something that matters only to her. Sometimes she doesn't know what she's looking for at all. She simply knows everything she's seen so far isn't it.

We remember those conversations.

So when we're sitting with a designer in Italy and something catches our attention, we're not necessarily thinking about whether it belongs in “the collection.” Sometimes we're thinking about one person.

That is where concierge becomes very personal.

We aren't limited to what happens to be sitting inside one jewellery case. We can reach into relationships we've built with designers and brands in Italy, elsewhere in Europe, Canada and North America and begin looking with a particular person in mind.

Sometimes we find exactly what we imagined.

Sometimes we find something completely different.

Sometimes the right answer is already much closer to home.

The point isn't where we find it. It's that we know who we're looking for.

Relationships Change What We Can Offer

One of our favourite parts of returning to Vicenzaoro is seeing designers we've come to know over the years. The appointments don't feel like walking up to a counter and looking through a catalogue. We catch up, talk about what they've been creating, see how collections have evolved and spend time with the pieces in person.

That matters to us.

A photograph can show us what something looks like. It can't always tell us how a bracelet sits on the wrist, whether an earring feels comfortable after more than five minutes, how a necklace moves, or whether the craftsmanship feels as beautiful in your hands as it looked on a screen.

Those are the things we pay attention to because eventually we may recommend that piece to someone who trusts our opinion.

When we tell a client why we think she should consider something, we want that recommendation to come from experience. We want to know the collection, understand the designer and have a reason for putting that particular piece in front of her.

That trust has been built over time, on both sides of the relationship.

From Ontario to Milan

This September gave us an opportunity to experience the other side of that relationship in a new way when we hosted our first Linked by Brilla pop-up in Milan.

What struck us wasn't how different it felt.

It was how familiar it felt.

The conversations were the same ones we've had around tables in Ontario. Someone tried on a piece she never would have chosen for herself and looked in the mirror differently. Someone came back to the same bracelet more than once. Someone wanted to know the story behind a designer before deciding whether the piece felt right.

Different country, same experience.

It reminded us that what we've been building was never really about where the jewellery is sold. It's about how someone experiences choosing it.

Whether we're sitting with a client in Kitchener Waterloo, sourcing something specifically for her, or meeting with a designer in Milan, we want to understand the person before we start suggesting pieces.

Because the more we understand you, the less you have to search.

What Concierge Really Means to Us

Concierge can easily sound like convenience, and convenience is certainly part of it. But that's not what we believe makes it valuable.

The real value is having someone who knows your style, understands your life and has relationships within the jewellery world that allow her to look beyond what's immediately in front of you.

It's being shown fewer pieces, not more.

It's being able to say, “I've been looking for something, but I don't know exactly what,” and knowing that's enough information to begin.

It's also trusting that we'll tell you when we don't think something is right.

Our job isn't to convince you to add another piece to your collection. It's to understand you well enough to recognise the pieces that deserve to become part of it.

There will always be somewhere to buy jewellery. What we're building is a relationship with someone who knows where to look, what to look for and, most importantly, who she's looking for.

If you've had a piece in the back of your mind, you're approaching a milestone, or you simply haven't found what feels like you, you don't need to arrive with a photograph, designer name or perfectly defined idea.

Some of our favourite searches begin much more simply.

They begin with a conversation.

Tell us about you. We'll know where to start looking.