Published on: Wed Nov 19 2008
Dracaena Jewelry was my first small business. I started it while I was in my last semester at FIT. I designed a wax model of a multifunctional jewelry piece, had it cast in white metal, plated in rhodium and then I assembled the finished pieces by hand. This was my first collection, affectionately known as the “Trifoil” Collection. I designed a pretty website and set it up to accept sales online using Yahoo Shopping carts (completely customized to my own preferences). I put everything together into this nice leather-bound portfolio and began trudging around NYC stopping into shops who might like to sell my jewelry. I visited around 30 shops, and well, I didn’t really make any sales. One of the shops was very nice, and told me that there were some concerns with the quality of my models. He pointed out how some of the designs had rough patches in the metal which might bother the wearer, and also my clasps were just plain clasps. There was nothing to really stand out. . So the first stage of Dracaena jewelry ended without any sales, as I re-considered how to make it work. At this time I had just graduated with my Associates of Applied Sciences and was working towards moving to Florida for my husband to go to college. But that would be the second adventure of Dracaena Jewelry.
