The Wandering Jewelry Maker January 17, 2010
Posted by ppantoomano in : Bangkok, Business, Entrepreneur, Interview , trackback
Name: My name is Marion Carsten. ‘Marion Carsten’ is also the brand name for my jewelry line, which is a registered trademark.
Business: I am a jewelry designer – creation, retail and wholesale. Our slogan is: Fine, contemporary jewelry for women and men.
The main part of my business is designer jewelry (exclusively own creations) made of sterling silver, gems and pearls. In my own Shanghainese stores I also carry a small gold collection. Being a trained goldsmith (3 yrs of technical college and work experience), I also do custom designs for individual and corporate customers (e.g. the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Resort in Sanya, China).
Next to two own retail outlets, where I sell my complete collection, parts of it are meanwhile sold in several stores throughout China, in Bangkok, in the US and very soon in France.
Many of our customers are ‘wanderers’ like me: expatriates, globetrotters, business travelers or foreign correspondents. Over the years many emails reached us with the question “can I order?” For this reason we recently launched our ‘online-boutique’ – www.marioncarsten.com.
How long have you been in business?
As employee 4 years: I was working in a goldsmith atelier as craftsman in Germany. This atelier was specialized in custom-made fine gold jewelry and was working for rich individuals and brand names like Cartier and Bulgari.
I started my own business in China in 2003 with a small retail outlet in Shanghai – this makes it nearly 7 years as entrepreneur in this business.
Where are you from originally?
I am German, married to a French, and I have two lovely daughters.
How did you start your business?
When we moved to China in 2001 I bought the necessary tools and machineries to equip a small jewelry-making atelier at my new home. I tried to continue to do what I had been doing back in Germany: fine, handmade, high-end jewelry – the whole with rather medium success for various reasons – mainly because I lacked a ‘name’ and the necessary network. But also because of the cultural lack I had to face. There was a market for designer jewelry that was clear, so I decided to give it a next try and created a more affordable collection of designer pieces made of sterling silver. As I felt meanwhile more comfortable with my environment I found a good Chinese manufacturer to produce the jewelry up to my quality standards, and I partnered up with a Shanghainese lady to establish the retail business. The start was however rather humble in a 15 square meter warehouse on a parking lot in a commercial street. But I was lucky and eventually it worked out pretty well. Today ‘marion carsten’ jewelry is pretty well established ‘name’ in Shanghai and there are some resources to further step out.
What are the top 3 advices you would give to entrepreneurs?
Entrepreneurship requires in general, next to THE IDEA, a big deal of
- Endurance (good resistance to frustration) and flexibility: keep going and keep your fighting spirit even if things don’t work, as they should (and this happens very often). Some of your ‘great ideas’ will prove to be rather useless or not doable for various reasons. So stay flexible: keep your ability to change plans according to circumstances, to grab opportunities and to learn.
- Optimism and a sense of risk: be aware that you can loose all the money you put into this venture. If you want to keep a peaceful mind grant yourself a budget, which doesn’t ‘hurt’ too much if it is gone. But also keep on thinking that it will be fine and any person working with you on this has basically the interest same interest as you: things will work out. Continue to have fun with what you do.
You will need these ‘qualities’ anywhere you want to set up a business. You might just need a little bit more of it if you do business in a foreign country as you depend somehow more on your own talents and as you act in an environment which you don’t ‘master’.
Something that worked for me pretty well but I am sure you can’t ‘generalise’ it: Don’t think too far ahead. In my case as an expat trailing spouse this would have been: “I will stay only 2 or 3 years – this is not enough to create a sustainable business, what will happen if I move?” With these kinds of thoughts you will never start. It is for sure perfect if you can ‘pack your business in a suitcase’ and if you are a good planer. But you can not plan everything and especially the beginning of a business seems daunting – so many things to be done at the same time, so many possibilities/ways of how to approach it, lack of information, just to name a few. You will have the impression to handle hundreds of ‘loose ends’ – just start somewhere or with one thing – anything else will follow.
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