Indie Jewellery Maker Interview: Louy Magroos

Tell me about you and your brand

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I am Laura Vernon-Taylor, a jewellery designer-maker and I run ‘Louy Magroos’ my small jewellery business that makes women and mens jewellery in Sterling Silver and 9ct Gold.

I run Louy Magroos from a workshop in my home, after finishing my studies at Birmingham Jewellery School I immediately began making jewellery to sell, initially alongside part time jobs, but before long I managed to turn it into my full time career and now almost 15 years has passed and I am still going strong!

My jewellery style has changed quite a lot over the years, but I now focus on pieces that are inspired by classic Art Deco designs with a modern feel. My ethos is to create special jewellery that is worn regularly - I don’t want my pieces to languish in a jewellery box waiting for a special occasion - I hope they are a slice of everyday luxury that is worn and enjoyed often!

Until very recently I was a 'one woman band', doing every aspect of running the business and making the jewellery myself, around 6 months ago my husband persuaded me to let him join the business. He has taken on a lot of aspects of running the business which give me more time to design and make jewellery - something I am really enjoying!

What’s your favourite part of making jewellery?

Creating a new piece and seeing the finished article - the excitement and anticipation I get waiting for some castings of a new wax carving to arrive back with me, or putting a final polish on a piece and seeing it looking all sparkly for the first time, its hard to beat the joy of seeing the finished piece and being proud of what I’ve made.

I’ve been trying to focus more on this aspect of my work, I understand that designing new pieces is where I can excel, so I need to focus on this and spend less time procrastinating over doing my tax return or trying to update the code on my website! I recently started a new initiative I have called ‘Workshop Originals’, I design and create a one of a kind piece of jewellery each month, I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to give myself the space to focus just on designing jewellery, not worrying about whether it will sell, whether I could make it again or how long it takes me to make. I’ve found that the designs I have come up as part of ‘Workshop Originals’ have already started to spark new ideas for future collections

How do your customers usually find you?

I have a small but loyal group of customers that regularly treat themselves or others to pieces from my collections, outside of that I sell on my own website and on other marketplaces online (Etsy, Notonthehighstreet), this means I am often at the whim of the latest google search algorithm, instagram feed suggestions or whatever. It can be really difficult, and erratic, but I tend to find that word of mouth goes a long way to sustaining my business. Word of mouth is such a powerful tool for small businesses like mine.

This year I have also started doing art markets which is not only a great way to sell my jewellery, but also to expand my customer reach - get new followers, email subscribers and hopefully create some new fans of my jewellery that will buy from me for years to come.

How did you find my photography course and what did you learn?

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Photographing jewellery is so hard! I have used many photographers in the past and very few have been up to scratch at shooting jewellery until I found you. I have used yourself for a couple of years now and I am always amazed at how effortless you make it look, so I knew I had lots to learn from you Diana.

Going back to basics on your course really helped me to focus on the types of photos I wanted and gave me more confidence in using my DSLR camera. Taking the time to think about props and how to style my images along with tips on lighting has made all the difference to my photography. Advice on equipment to buy for a professional set up was invaluable, photography equipment is expensive and vast online for a novice to get their head round, but your recommendations really helped me decide on what I needed to make the most difference to my photography. And simple tip which may seem obvious to a professional, made lots of things finally click into place for me.

What is the benefit of brands learning to diy their photography?

I would say the biggest thing for me is the agility you can get from being able to take your own photos, if I go back to my workshop originals initiative - its really important that I can take good quality images of the piece each month and it wouldn’t be feasible to schedule a photo shoot for a single piece each month (especially when I can be fairly ‘fluid’ with when I actually get round to finishing the piece each month). Being confident that I can set up a workable photo studio in my kitchen and take some good pictures that will show off my jewellery makes the whole thing possible.

That’s just one example, there are plenty of other times whether it is product imagery, instagram content or whatever - it is so handy to know that I can create an image at short notice for a specific event, blog post, or product listing.