Mollusc - Jewelry Made with Natural Stones
Mollusc is a newly founded startup by Mariam Tsikolia, which makes accessories with natural stones. CBW had an interview with its founder.
"Jewelry is the most important accessory for me. Natural stones also have an important meaning to me. Generally, love and interest in minerals were the main indicators to create different, diverse jewelry with natural stones. Since none of the raw minerals are identical to each other, it makes my job more interesting.
I was always wearing my accessories, however, I did not think of turning this hobby into business due to the lack of time. Nevertheless, my friends have a huge role in this process. With their advice, I created a page, but at first without any business plans.
This is a page that allows you to create your own different style and be distinctive."
She noted, that she has a difficult time realizing that her hobby transformed into a small business.
"At the same time, the challenges are growing. I had a little experience in business and currently, I'm in the process of developing myself, which is no less interesting and enjoyable for me.
As for the ideas, they are probably the main contributing factor for me. They help me to create jewelry that will be acceptable and pleasing to me in the first place. While most Mollusc models are unique, there are models that we take to order and are made by the customer’s desired design.
We use the stones our customer wants. However, even here I can not create jewelry that I won't like. It is desirable for the cooperation of the customer and our tastes to coincide. We often come across identical items in the market. The main idea for me was, and always will be, to create as different a product as possible. It's hard, but we have to try - diverse ideas help us overcome this challenge."
The brand appeared on the market 2 months ago. For Mariam Tsikolia, the main challenge is not to lose personality, individuality.
"The main challenge is to be distinctive on the market and not to lose your individualism."
"While social networks work really well in terms of the pandemic, users trust the page, it is still difficult to work remotely. However, for small businesses, I think it turned out to be less difficult as it is still manageable to engage people and raise awareness of the brand. This challenge is more or less faced by both consumers and manufacturers, although it is a difficult process that will hopefully end soon."
As for the working process, the founder of Mollusc says that it is interesting, and at the same time, challenging.
"Creating a product and then introducing it to the customer remotely is a tough challenge. However, the main motivation is a happy and satisfied customer. Our models are exclusive, most of them have no analogues for the simple reason that it is very difficult to find two identical unprocessed minerals in nature. This makes the process more enjoyable and allows us to create a different product every time."
Currently, the collection of Mollusc includes rings, necklaces, bracelets. They also are working on brooches, which is a special accessory for the autumn and winter period. In the near future, earrings will be added to the collection.
"Our future plans definitely involve developing ourselves as a brand. We plan to add different accessories, use more rare and beautiful stones, and improve the quality of products."
