Meeting with Constance L 1/3 introduction

Constance Lepage is a jewelry designer from Lille. Her jewels are thin, elegants and coloured but what differentiates Constance L from other brands is also her desire to offer affordable jewels.

Can you please introduce yourself briefly?

I am 26 years old, I am from Lille, I am verry curious, a traveller, I like to move around but, at the sime time, I always come back to Lille. I am also independant that’s why self-employment suits me very well.

How would you define your creative universe?

My universe is quite wide. I am not inspired by something specific. My universe is quite thin, I always use the same codes but without targeted inspiration. It is difficult to explain. It is always about thin jewels, coloured but not too much. I have multi-generational customers. I am inspired by my trips, by my relatives, it is very opened, I become imbued with it without realizing it because I am inspired by specific things. I am generally quite curious.

What are the codes you have mentioned?

I create costume jewelry, not high-end jewelry, but these are thin and elegant and always affordable. I try to respect a price range, I love thin jewels.

When and how have you decided to launch your own brand?

It was 5 years ago. First, I studied interior architecture then architecture and it happened by chance. I was creating jewels simultaneously, for me, but I don’t wear it. I had many jewels. When I stopped studying architecture – before I graduated – I started to sell my jewels to earn money and it worked.

Thanks to the status of self-employed (auto-entrepreneur), it is easy to create a brand. I created this status thinking that it would be temporary and it worked. I liked this universe, so I continued until I saw what happened thinking that I would start again architecture later, it happened gradually. There was no exact moment when I said «I launch my brand».

Have you learned to create jewelry by yourself?

Yes, I create jewelry since I was very young, like many little girls. Step by step, you test new techniques, I am an autodidact. I have learned it quite late by making mistakes and testing different things.

How did this passion start during your childhood?

I don’t really remember! An outstanding memory is a shop called La Droguerie, it exists in Lille and in other towns. It is certainly not where I started but I remember going there with my sister when I was a little girl. We were buying many things, we were rummaging. During the summer, we were selling our jewels at the beach, we were around 6. I have always made jewels, I don’t remember the very beginning, it was natural especially because I have an older sister, it helped!

When have you created the first jewel for your brand? What type of jewel was it and how did you feel?

The first jewels I sold to a shop was something very special. I was selling my jewels to my friends but it was different because they knew me. It was very weird to sell my first jewels to a shop, 5 years ago. The shop owner called me, I left her 3 jewels to try and 3 days later, she told me my jewels were gone and that she needed 10 other pieces. It was weird because it is was stranger and unknown customers who liked my work while I didn’t know what I wanted to do with this work. It was weird and great at the same time, because not only my mother, my sister and my friends were liking it.

How does your creation process work?

I am inspired by my travels, books, magazines…there is a little bit of everything, many different things. I can be inspired by photographs like I did for my last collection. I have drawn on Moroccan mosaics pictures, you don’t necessarily see it on my jewels but I was inspired by these shapes. I can also be inspired by my personal wishes.

At this point, I want to create very thin jewels, even more than usually. When I feel this kind of desire, I create jewels instead of buying jewels from other brands. I am now making gold plating jewels, more precious pieces, I try it because I want to. It can be related to my travels, some prints, I read a lot, I am interested in the current trendy, I follow fashion shows, fashion weeks, etc. Even if it is not useful for my work, I am interested in it.

I usually work with craftsmen in Paris who do cutting process. I buy ready-made pieces and others that are customized. I draw it by hand and then on my computer, on an architect’s software that way I consider my studies were not useless! Then, I also work a lot with papers that I cut before I produce the pieces, It helps me to visualize it. In my workshop, I have many chains, it allows me to create prototypes. I draw a bit, I create many prototypes that I cut, weld and cut again…I do like that.

To read the next part : Constance L – 2/3 Know-how