How A Hobby Became A Jewellery Business For This Moncton Mom
MONCTON – Stefanie Grana didn’t mean to start a business when she started making jewellery. She was just looking for something to help with the challenges of being a stay-at-home mother.
“I was a stay at home mom with a-year-and-a-half old daughter and always having been a creative type person, I needed an outlet. Being a stay at home parent has its struggles and isolation…so, I started making jewellery just as a way to express myself, just a therapeutic type of thing,” she said.
“And then it just kind of rolled into what it is now, which is far beyond any of my expectations.”
Grana’s company Studs Astray now sells its geometric, quirky jewellery to nearly 20 wholesale clients in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Alberta, British Columbia and the U.S. Demand grows during the months leading up to the holidays.
“We actually just got our first American wholesale account. So I was very excited about that,” the mother of two said.
Studs Astray is run out of her attic at home, and started with the help of funding from CBDC. It started with an Etsy shop and moved on to other social media platforms. The business also sells at trade shows and makers markets.
“I’m not that tech-savvy and when you’re dealing with platforms like Etsy, their algorithms change so much, it’s really difficult,” she said. “So I have found that pushing products in my [Instagram] story and just my own personality through social media – Instagram and Facebook, primarily – has definitely led to at least half of my sales.”
Her social media following are mostly women who relate to her story – young professionals and mothers. Three-fourths of them are from Atlantic Canada.
Grana’s journey started with a jewellery kit a friend gave away four years ago. There were beads, wires and other things that Grana no longer uses in her offerings.
With Studs Astray, she uses polymer clay and resin to make the jewellery. There’s also a limited collection of porcelain earrings that she designed, but were made by a potter.
While a bulk of her products are earrings, Grana also offers keepsake jewellery for weddings and funerals, using the flowers used in the ceremonies. Occasionally she makes necklaces, and she’s starting to experiment with hair clips – those are not up for sale yet, though. A piece of jewellery ranges in price between $15 and $45.
Grana says her jewellery is one of a kind because of her creative process.
“I typically will sit down with the clay and just kind of pick it up and play with it and do whatever speaks to me in that moment,” she said. “So, many of the pieces end up being one of a kind.”
When a customer asks for a pair of earrings that have been sold, she tries to recreate them, “but it’s never exactly the same. I like that.”