Episode 152 Part 2: Why More Is More for Jewelry Designer Jessica Kagan Cushman

What you’ll learn in this episode:

 

How Jessica built her accessories business, and when she knew it was time to step away from it  What it was like growing up in a creative household with Vladimir Kagan, a leading mid-century furniture designer, and Erica Wilson, the “Crewel Queen of Needlework” How to build a #neckmess that tells a story How to make the most of Instagram, Etsy and other selling platforms Why a Victorian jewelry padlock inspired Jessica’s most recent work

 

About Jessica Kagan Cushman

 

Jessica Kagan Cushman is an independent jewelry and accessories designer who launched her career in 2004 with a line of hand-engraved ivory bracelets. Her line later expanded to necklaces, rings, earrings, and other accessories that were sold at Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, and other high-end retailers. 

Today, Jessica is known as the creator of #neckmess, a jewelry trend combining multiple necklaces, charms, and chains to tell a story. Jessica’s latest endeavor is a line of antique-inspired padlocks and connectors that serve as the building blocks of #neckmess.

Additional Resources:

Jessica’s Instagram Jessica’s Etsy

 

 

Transcript:

Jessica Kagan Cushman is a jewelry and accessories designer who struck gold not once, but twice: first with her hand-engraved ivory bracelets decorated with sassy slogans, and then with #neckmess, a style of jewelry wearing that layers multiple necklaces, charms and chains. She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about what it was like growing up in her exceptionally creative household; how Instagram and Etsy have helped her business thrive; and how to build the perfect #neckmess. Read the episode transcript here. 

Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the second part of a two-part episode. Today, my guest is Jessica Kagan Cushman. She’s a well-known jewelry and accessories designer who today may be most well-known for her development of “neckmess.” If you haven’t heard part one, please go to TheJewelryJourney.com. Welcome back. 

 

Is it all through Instagram? How did you sell before Instagram, or were you doing this stuff?

 

Jessica: Before Instagram, I had a salesforce and showrooms. I had people selling my stuff all over the place. I had my things placed in showrooms. I had a sales manager and people who worked with him. I never really had to do my own sales, except when I was at Bergdorf’s, all the designers would go and do personal appearances and I was behind the counter. In terms of doing wholesale sales, I had a team who did that. We did a lot of tradeshows. We did 20, 25 tradeshows a year all over the world.

 

Sharon: Was it Covid? You were online before Covid, right?

 

Jessica: No, it wasn’t Covid. It was before that. It was long before that when I decided I wasn’t interested in having that type of business, where I was spending most of my time managing employees.

 

Sharon: Yes, that happens. 

 

Jessica: Exactly. That stopped being fun.

 

Sharon: Managing people takes time and patience.

 

Jessica: It does. It’s fine if that’s what you’re doing, but I wanted to be making things and be creative. That’s why I switched. I had a website for my bracelets and bags and things like that, with stuff in a warehouse. I had a fulfillment center that would manage all of that, but again, I was still dealing with stuff I didn’t want to be doing. So, I closed that down and streamlined it. Then I just started selling through Instagram, which became a fantastic tool.

 

Sharon: What are your secrets for being successful on Instagram?

 

Jessica: That’s something that evolves all the time. The new algorithms have really put a damper on sales for small businesses. It’s hard. It used to be much, much easier—I would say six to eight months ago—to have people see your posts. Now there’s a different algorithm and they have different criteria for what they use to push your stuff out there. I think they’re really pressing for people to do Instagram Shopping, where people shop through the site. I haven’t investigated it, but I believe there are some fairly onerous rules and they make a percentage. To me, the Instagram/Etsy interface does work. There’s a lot more stuff I should be doing, and I could do relatively easily, but I’ve been sort of lazy about it, like making posts shoppable. You can make the posts shoppable without having to do Instagram Shopping, but it’s work I don’t want to do.

 

Sharon: Based on the way things are now, you first have to scroll past all these shops to get to individual people. I liked it the way it was before.

 

Jessica: Yeah, me too. It was better, at least from a small business perspective. I know a lot of jewelry dealers have had similar complaints about it.

 

Sharon: Why do you think people are attracted to your bracelets and charms and all of that? Why do you think that is?

 

Jessica: They’re all part of the same thing, and I think it’s self-expression. The bracelets are language and words, so they are your wrists literally speaking for you when you’re wearing one. The charms and neckmesses are basically the same thing. It’s a way to tell your own story and express yourself in an individual way.

 

Sharon: Tell us about the custom orders people ask you for, if they don’t see what they want.

 

Jessica: Well, I will say now they do. They’ll see it. I just made an amazing, engraved bracelet for a customer because she saw mine, reached out to me and asked me to make one with a saying of her choice on it. It’s all triggered by something I post. People don’t come to me and say, “Oh, I need an engagement ring,” or “I’m looking for a sapphire bracelet. Can you make it for me?” That’s not the sort of stuff I do.

 

Sharon: Do you see neckmess growing, or are you onto the next thing?

 

Jessica: I’ll always be wearing a neckmess. I feel like it’s here to stay, because it doesn’t have to be an enormous wad of things. You can wear two little charms and call it a neckmess. So, it’s not going anywhere.

 

Sharon: That’s interesting. I was making some notes to myself before we started. I think of the neckmess as something that skews younger.

 

Jessica: No, I don’t think so, actually.

 

Sharon: You know better than I do.

 

Jessica: Based on my clients, it runs the entire spectrum. Even starting with my bracelets, I had customers in every age group. It also depends on what you’re putting on there. If you’re doing a neckmess with seven antique diamond charms, that’s limited to how much you can splurge.

 

Sharon: I know you mostly through Instagram, but it seems like you’re showing more individual charms as opposed to the neckmesses or a grouping.

 

Jessica: It depends on what kind of ratty sweater I’m wearing on a particular day and whether I’m feeling too lazy to go change and put together a presentable-looking top to put them on. It also depends on the charm. If there’s something really special, I think it’s nice to show it on its own, but I try and do carousel postings. You can post up to 10 pictures in one post, but I’m never sure how much people actually scroll through, and I’m not sure that’s a metric you can see in Instagram. I don’t know if they tell you that.

 

Sharon: I’m so used to it now that when there isn’t something to scroll through, I’m going, “Well, I want to see different views.”

 

Jessica: That’s great, but I don’t know to what extent that’s true for everyone. Some of my customers have messaged me and said, “Can I see this from a different angle?” and it will be something that’s in the post; you just have to scroll through. As I said, it would be an interesting metric to see if people do scroll through. For all I know, you can see it, but I just haven’t looked.

 

Sharon: I’m curious about the mechanics. If you don’t have your shop, are people direct messaging you and saying, “I want that charm”?

 

Jessica: They direct message me. It depends on where they are and what payment methods they have, but I invoice them. More and more, I’m trying to get stuff loaded into my Etsy shop because that way it’s there. People don’t have to message me; they can just go and look at it, see how much it is, see the description, and I don’t have to be online for them to get details about it. It’s a process loading stuff into it. It’s very easy. Etsy is very user friendly. You can do everything from your phone. There really is no excuse; it’s just time-consuming.

 

Sharon: It is time-consuming. Like you say, it’s filling out all the descriptions and putting it online.

 

Jessica: Lining up the descriptions and measurements, filling out all the different fields, taking all the pictures and a video and getting it loaded. For some reason, you can’t load a video from the Etsy app; you have to do that from a desktop. It’s not perfect, but it’s really easy. I just need to do it.

 

Sharon: It sounds like it’s working for you, but you’re making me tired listening to you.

 

Jessica: Yes, I know. It’s exhausting.

 

Sharon: You talked about managing people. Managing customers and clients can be a pain, too. Did you make a decision to say, “O.K., I’ll do that. I’ll manage the ones and twos as opposed to 10 people”?

 

Jessica: Yes, it’s much easier to work with my customers than it is to be working in an office with a whole bunch of people who require attention and managing.

 

Sharon: Do you wake up jumping out of bed full of ideas? How is your creative process?

 

Jessica: I do get ideas at night. I keep a pad next to my bed, and I’ve gotten very good at drawing on my iPhone. In the Notes app, you can actually draw with your finger, which is a very cool thing. I do that a fair amount, or I’ll try and make lists so I don’t forget it by the time I wake up. Then I go into my studio, and I usually get about a third of the way down the list. 

 

Sharon: It seems like each thing would be generating 20 more things in terms of ideas.

 

Jessica: Absolutely, that’s true.

 

Sharon: Do you see being a jewelry professional as what you’ll be doing for the next 20 years?

 

Jessica: Yeah, I think I’ll always be doing it, but I’ll probably be doing it in different ways. We’re about to go away for essentially all of February and part of March. I’m taking stuff with me so I can be creating while I’m away, but I’m hoping I can do a lot less so it’s not my daily focus while I’m on vacation.

 

Sharon: Do you preload things online so a few things are coming up while you’re gone?

 

Jessica: No. I’ll take stuff with me, and I probably will put my Etsy shop into vacation mode, but I’ll keep posting and letting people know I can’t ship for a while if there’s something they’re interested in.

 

Sharon: I’m sure you have regular clients, but do you have collectors? Would you say you have collectors?

 

Jessica: Oh yeah, definitely. I have lots of clients who collect all the different padlocks and the new ones when they come out. They’ll string them together as a bracelet or use them in different ways. I definitely have collectors who collect my work.

 

Sharon: In general, I’m always interested in what people think and what their interpretation of a collector is. What do you consider a jewelry collector? Not just of your jewelry, but what makes a jewelry collector?

 

Jessica: Passion, I think. They’re passionate about jewelry and they love it. I think anybody can collect it, obviously. I don’t know that you can necessarily define what makes a collector, but for me, it’s the fascination with the design, the uniqueness of the design or the way something is put together, the engineering behind it.

 

Sharon: Does it have to item-specific?

 

Jessica: No, it can be anything.

 

Sharon: Do you think a collector has to say they collect bracelets or lockets? I have a lot of jewelry, and somebody said to me once, “You’re not a collector. You’re a shepherd of the stuff,” and I thought, “Well, I’m all right with that.” Somebody called me a collector once and I was like, “I didn’t know that I’m a collector. I’m an enthusiast.”

 

Jessica: I think some people say they are guardians of jewelry. You can’t take it with you, so you’re gathering it up and eventually it will get disbursed, unless it all goes to one place as group. But I think anybody can be a collector.

 

Sharon: What do you think is next for your business? What would you say is your next step? Is it day by day?

 

Jessica: It’s day by day. For me, my goal is to get things online more, get things into my store so I can be a little more hands-off in terms of Instagram and having to communicate. That’s a time-consuming thing. It’s one of the cool things about Instagram because you can reach out directly to people, and I think people feel very connected to the creators. 

 

Sharon: That’s true.

 

Jessica: It’s very cool, but by the same token, from my perspective, it takes up a lot of time answering DMs. It is time well spent because I love connecting with my customers and talking to them and finding out what they like, but it’s time taken away from doing creative stuff.

 

Sharon: The DMs on Etsy, are people asking for a different variation?

 

Jessica: No, they’ll just ask questions about the piece, like how much it is, how big it is, what it can go with, what kind of stones they are. Any number of questions.

 

Sharon: I noticed recently you posted some of your things from your personal collection. You said you were trying to reduce it. 

 

Jessica: Right.

 

Sharon: Is there a touch of angst, like, “Oh, I’m sad”? 

 

Jessica: When I sell things?

 

Sharon: When you sell your own things, things you’ve collected personally.

 

Jessica: All of it is personal. I only buy things and collect things that I like and would wear myself. I don’t collect things that fall outside my areas of interest. I will buy certain things specifically to sell, but for the most part I buy something I would want to wear myself. Usually I am fine when I’m selling stuff I have collected. There are maybe five or 10 pieces over the years that I regret having sold, but normally not. I’m fine. I’m happy to see them fly out into the world to make other people happy. 

 

Sharon: Tell us about one of those pieces you regret having sold.

 

Jessica: The most recent thing I sold that I’m like, “Why did I sell that? That was so stupid,” was a very simple, rose-cut diamond Victorian bracelet, but it was a great stacking piece, and it looks good with other pieces in my collection. I’m seeing other ones, but they’re ridiculously expensive now because it’s a hot item, and I’m wishing I’d held onto it. That’s the sort of thing.

 

Sharon: It sounds like a beautiful thing. Somebody got very lucky.

 

Jessica: It went to a very good home. I know it’s well appreciated where it is. 

 

Sharon: That makes it easier then.

 

Jessica: It does make it better.

 

Sharon: When you’re traveling or on vacation, is your mind filled with, “I should do something with that”?

 

Jessica: Yes, usually it’s whatever I happen to be looking at. When I’m on vacation, I’m collecting stuff I can use.

 

Sharon: Is your family saying, “O.K., mom, enough”?

 

Jessica: Yeah, always. Now my daughter is grown and married and has her own family, so it’s just my husband and me. I’ve got him relatively well trained. He’s much better about letting me go off and toddle around and look for something. He’s like, “Fine, go ahead. I’ll read a book in the car and wait for you while you go shopping.” 

 

Sharon: He’s probably joining my husband there in the car. How did you come up with idea for the lockets?

 

Jessica: It was really based on wanting to wear the charms in an organized way. They allow you to wear things so they don’t bunch up. They kind of spread them out, and you can connect pieces of chain. I would buy old watchchains or small pieces of chain and put them together. You would have to do it using modern findings or antique ones, but there was never just the right thing that would put them together and also be a decorative piece and part of the story. I bought a couple of antique padlocks, a Victorian jewelry padlock, and I was able to study that to see how it was put together and made. I also bought, when I was passing the flea market, this very cool double-ended padlock. I was like, “Oh my God, that’s brilliant! That would work. I’m going to miniaturize that.”

 

Sharon: Double-ended meaning you could open it on either side?

 

Jessica: On either side. That’s what most of the padlocks I’m making now have, either two or three attachment points so you can attach two pieces of chain and charms and keep everything neat and tidy.

 

Sharon: It sounds fabulous. I’m thinking your head must be spinning when you wake up because you’re so creative, and you follow those ideas and energy. I really appreciate your taking the time to share them with us. Jessica, thank you so much. It’s been so great to talk with you.

 

Jessica: It was my pleasure, thank you so much.

 

 

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