Monica Sordo grew up in Venezuela and was surrounded by the materials used in her designs in her father's design workshop. She went to school for fashion styling & merchandising in Milan. She worked at Marie Claire Spain as an accessories & fashion editor and in PR at Christian Louboutin before founding her own line. A lot of inspiration comes from her background and growing up in Caracas, Venezuela. Architecture is a huge inspiration for her.  When she was a child, she loved playing office and being the boss wearing her mom's high heels and her father's briefcase. She wanted to work in fashion as an editor. All the people she worked with always told her they could see her starting her own brand.  From her past work experiences, she was able to start her jewelry brand. She knows the needs of an editor and also how to work with press. Working as an editor involved a lot of boxes and garment bags. You get to meet talented people, get to discover creativity, get to travel, go to fashion shows & events. There is A LOT of work behind it. She loves when she gets to shoot her campaigns because she gets to style again when she was an editor. She is a designer and creative director.  Traveling constantly & attending the shows was an important way to discover new talent when she was an editor. She loves to travel and be in constant movement. She finds inspiration in everything she sees. It is a melting pot of experiences. Sometimes she doesn't even realize where the inspiration comes from and something will later remind her she referenced that when designing.  Christian Louboutin is an amazing human being. She worked with them when they were landing in the US and growing. She was a PR Assistant. She learned about wholesale and market week. So many boxes were coming. She never saw so many shoes in her life. As an editor she was used to fashion week and presentations, not market week. Buyers have a budget and they come to invest in the next season. She came from being a well-known editor in Madrid. She hasn't worked in English before, so she needed to now send work emails. It was challenging and interesting. It was a great time for the brand.  After 2 years of working at Louboutin, she decided to start her own brand. Her father had an industrial workshop and loves creating new things. Her mom always wanted to work in fashion, but she worked in finance. She is a jewelry designer as well as Monica. Monica has the workshop, she has her mom and she wanted to do something on her own. It was organic. It took her time to research and find her own style. Monica has the faith in herself and the strength to do what she does today. She worked with her mom's jewelers to get started. Everything is possible. You need to find a way to make it functional. Design isn't an easy road. You have to do a lot of research. Her first store was FiveStory. Monica has a strong point-of-view. This is important, because you don't want your brand to look like other brands. She is influenced by Art Deco and Pre-Columbian civilizations. Her pieces are all one-of-a-kind because they are hand cut for each of the pieces. The natural stones will have different colors which adds a big value to the pieces. She loves architecture, monumental, feminine and flirty. It is an interesting mix.  They work mostly with brass with inlay work and all-natural stones. Most stones are sourced naturally in Peru, Ecuador or Brazil. When you cut the stones, anything can be happening inside, more of one color, may be glassy or full of lines. They innovate with their artisans and create new styles with them.  It is important to know how the calendar works. It is really challenging, because the timing is set and not flexible. You need to be organized and make sure your team understands the importance. You have to divide your season into having time to design and develop while selling the collection you designed before. Need to understand you need to be flexible with yourself. Need to make it happen. It is challenging to have the collections ready on time. Monica is good at visualizing. She loves designing while moving, for example on the subway. She loves the rush, movement, energy and all the people inspire her. She has her best ideas walking around. She is designing constantly. 3 months before market, it is time to sit down and design. To make her pieces, she needs to sit down in the workshop with her team and talk about weights/lengths, position where the post is going to be, etc. Lots of manual work in the workshop. The real artist behind the pieces are the artisans. You have the raw materials, sometimes you work around the metal. They have to cut the stones in the exact size. She sketches the pieces and designs on a computer. It is important to understand why so your whole team knows you have to be on time, or the pieces will be cancelled. Monica frequently travels to Peru. She does the curation for a store for the Mario Testino museum. When something is new you need to be with the artisans. Once it goes into production, it is a lot easier. It took her a long time to get where she is. Now she and her artisans are on the same page.  As a designer, Monica wears a lot of hats. Managing lots of people has been a challenge. Teamwork is important. There isn't a normal day.  You are always against the clock, because everything should've been done yesterday. You try to meditate as much as you can and go through your day. She does a little bit of everything in the office. She works as the Creative Director, Product Manager, Casting Director - cast models for the campaign, book your tickets for Paris - find the perfect showroom, etc. Receiving shippings, opening boxes, quality control, etc. Monica doesn't get bored. She doesn't like numbers. She tries every morning to make a list of what she wants to achieve and try to stick to it. She tries to not multitask too much.  She started her business when she had some experience in the industry so she could know what steps were most important. Having a good product with exceptional quality is key for you to grow, especially when you have limitations. If you don't have big investments from the beginning, it is important for your product to be good. If there is a lot of money, it may be easy to push a product, even if it isn't so spectacular. She wants to understand the market she wants to be in and determine her target client. It has been key to grow organically the capability of her workshop so she can expand to more stores. Gives you time to build things strong.    Monica Sordo is part of the CFDA as a Latin American designer in the US is a dream come true. She likes to share her experiences with other designers. Meet other designers and embrace and support each other.  When starting your line, keep your expectations low. If you have a good product quality and design wise, and you know where it belongs, you have the first step done. Consistency is important. Need to develop your collections and evolve, so the product is strong and mature enough to be in the global market. Need to give yourself time to find your unique and strong look. 

https://thestylethatbindsus.com/industry-interview-with-jewelry-designer-monica-sordo-on-switching-careers-and-starting-her-own-brand/ https://www.monicasordo.com https://www.marie-claire.es http://christianlouboutin.com http://fivestoryny.com http://cfda.com