The entrepreneurial inspirational story of a post-90s girl starting a jewelry business

Huang Kexin’s studio is in the garage of her home in Xuyuan Community, Wukang. She started from quitting her job to make pearl skulls, and here is She sits in the office for several hours every day. There is no air conditioning or fan, and there is no one to disturb her. She is only accompanied by a Su Mu named "Wangcai". That's it, she's been working for almost a year.

The garage is used as a studio

27-year-old Huang Kexin graduated from Zhejiang Gongshang University majoring in graphic design. Like most girls, she loves beauty and likes to buy various products. I grow gadgets, and my shopping cart and favorites on Taobao are full of them. After graduating in 2013, I worked in an advertising company in Hangzhou doing brochure, exhibition board design and product design, mainly doing some renderings on software.

Her work is smooth and her life is not stressful, but deep down, she is still a restless girl. She is eager to start a job of her own and express her ideas.

As the saying goes, "If you never forget, you will have memories." One day in the spring of 2015, Huang Kexin suddenly saw a set of photos on Weibo. It was a pearl skull ring carved and made by Japanese jewelry designer Shinji Nakaba, and she was immediately attracted to it.

“I looked at those photos over and over again for a long time, and I felt that it was incredible to be able to carve a small pearl into a lifelike skull, and I even thought I could do it myself.” Huang Kexin is a hobbyist. Girls who are crafty make a lot of crochet, colored clay, and beaded dolls in their spare time.

After thinking about it for several nights, she thought she could give it a try. "You should try more possibilities while you are still young. If you fail, you will have to redesign it. But if you don't have the courage to give it a try and don't try, that is the biggest failure." Huang Kexin said. At the end of June, she resigned and went home to start preparations.

Designers are all careful people. Huang Kexin found various pictures of skulls and various pictures of skull jewelry on the Internet. There are estimated to be hundreds of them to learn the structure and design of skulls. modeling.

"I originally wanted to buy a 1:1 skull model for reference, but I was afraid of scaring my parents, so I just looked at the pictures." She bought an engraving machine, pearls and some tools on Taobao. .

Although Huang Kexin is petite, she is very courageous. She has been doing her own ideas since she was a child.

Although her parents were not very supportive of her in this matter, they still respected her choice and gave her a lot of help. There was no room at home for a studio, so she worked in the garage. The family car could only be parked in the open air, and the original roller shutters were replaced with glass doors.

Coincidentally, just before working on the studio, a stray dog ??got into the garage to escape the heat and never left. She raised stray dogs.

“I was lean and not very hairy when I came here, but now I’m growing really well. Thanks to him, I’m not too bored when I’m alone in the studio.”

Initial success in product sales

In August last year, everything was ready to start carving the first pearl. Huang Kexin bought ten pearl clams and cut them open to get the pearls.

"It took me more than half an hour to open the first clam. There were more than 20 beads inside. I picked a big one and started carving it." She carefully picked up the drill and carved it bit by bit. , don’t dare to drive too fast for fear of hurting your fingers.

After a whole day, she finally carved out a rough image, and she was as happy as a child who got a big red flower.

Although the first one is a bit rough, it is still a good start. Every day after that, pearl skulls were born in her hands.

However, my fingers were accidentally injured several times: “Once, I was driving the speed faster and the drill needle was very thin. When I was carving, I accidentally slipped it on my finger and pricked it deeply. As soon as it entered the flesh, the blood flowed out, and it hurt so much that I almost shed tears."

"If you just carve a shape and don't have high requirements for details, then I can do it in an hour or two. I can carve it. But to carve it like that designer, with rich details and the texture of jade, I haven't yet reached the level.

Huang Kexin said that there are still many areas for improvement.

After carving dozens of pearls, Huang Kexin picked out some pearl skulls with good quality, made them into rings, necklaces, etc., and then carved them herself She took a photo and posted it on Taobao to see if it could be sold. At first, no one paid attention to it, and the "ding dong" on Wangwang didn't come.

One day, she posted the photo. On her Douban account, a person with the ID name "Jin Zhuancai" became her lucky star.

"I originally bought skin care products from this person. She is a celebrity on Douban. , the products they sell are also reliable. I have been buying them for many years and have become good friends. After she saw the photo, she shared it with me. She also bought a skull bracelet herself and put on a buyer’s show.

She has tens of thousands of fans. She immediately attracted many people to buy my rings, and the stock was sold out in a short time. " Huang Kexin said.

Since then, she doesn't have to worry too much about the sales of her works. So far, nearly 150 orders have been sold in one day, and more than 200 pearl skull ornaments have been sold in one day. "Basically, I can earn enough to work for a month, which is not bad. I thought I would be able to rest on my laurels. "She said happily.

Building her own jewelry brand

In order to better make pearl skull jewelry, Huang Kexin also spent nearly 10,000 yuan to study silver jewelry in Shanghai in June this year What’s even more impressive is that she not only learned the craft, but also “copied” the teacher’s workbench in her own way.

There is also this in her manuscript. The sketch of the workbench. Although it is called a "sketch", every line is clear, and the size and length are clearly visible.

There are many styles of jewelry that Huang Kexin can make, such as rings, necklaces, etc. She can make earrings and bracelets, and each item can be made into various styles.

Next, she also plans to go to jewelry workshops in Beijing, Hangzhou and other places to learn skills and techniques. Style, come and get to know more like-minded people, discuss and cooperate with each other.

Huang Kexin was pleasantly surprised to find that the work she did before also brought a lot of convenience to her. Now, every one of them is sold. The pearl skull jewelry will have packaging designed by herself. The wooden box with simple labels is particularly artistic.

Moreover, the design of the Taobao store also matches her packaging design, with a unified style. .

Currently, Huang Kexin is designing her own brand LOGO and will apply for trademark registration to build her own jewelry brand.

Her successful business is inseparable from good venture capital. platform, she will also pay more attention to the improvement of style design and material quality, and gradually create high-end handmade jewelry to enhance the value of her works;