How Covid-19 Gave This Urban Planner From Iran The Push To Launch Her Dream Business
SAINT JOHN – It was while growing up in Iran where Simara Pira first discovered her love for making and designing jewellery.
“I started painting and designing and I also made some handcrafts when I was about 13-years-old. I sold all of them to my mom’s friends,” she remembers. “I always loved art and jewellery design has always been one of my biggest interests.”
As she grew older, she put that dream aside to pursue a career in urban planning and engineering, which allowed her to mix a practical trade with her passion for art. For years, she had her own company, leading a team of engineers.
But a decade, a move around the world, and a global pandemic later, Pira’s dream of creating and selling her jewellery has become a reality with her new online company, Gillary.
Gillary offers artistically designed jewelry, all designed by Pira herself.
“I’m inspired by nature, flowers, birds, animals, everything, even historical architecture. All of them inspire me to create unique jewellery,” says Pira. “Our brand name comes from the Gilar, which is an Asian bird with stunning colourful feathers and wings. There is a story behind the name of all of my products.”
Pira and her husband, Milad moved to Saint John in 2015 to “start a new journey” and for Milad to pursue his PhD. After noticing how welcoming the city was to newcomers and their businesses, Pira decided to revisit her old dream.
“As a newcomer, it’s not really easy to start your business immediately,” says Pira. “So three years ago I started searching and researching all the dimensions of producing unique jewellery in Canada from scratch, including sketching, 3D modelling, learning about relevant software and platforms and also high-quality stones and materials, vendors, and so many other aspects.”
Then this year, with Covid-19 sending the country into lockdown, she decided to officially launch the online business.
“The pandemic gave me a lot of free time and I used my free time to move forward quickly. My initial goal was to run an online business,’ she says. “Seeing people use e-commerce platforms during this pandemic more than before encouraged me to work harder and focus on my business and finally I announced my brand as a unique website, Gillary, for my customers.”
Gillary offers several lines of necklaces, earrings and rings. The lines include names like “Wings to Fly”, “Lucky Star, and “Paisley.”
“You can also see my signature in all of my designs,” says Pira. “Which is the first letter of my name in Persian.”
When it comes to the jewellery’s production, Pira works with different manufactures in Canada, Europe, India and China, depending on the piece and what metals and stones are needed.
“As we all know, producing jewellery is not a one-step process, so I’ve done my best to employ the best in the market,” says Pira.
“Before entering into the production process, my main focus was on contacting national and international specialists in this field to use their expertise, opinions and ideas in order to make high-quality jewellery with high-quality stones.”
Gillary sells individual pieces, but also offers a service called Gillary Club.
Gillary Club is a subscription service where for 84.99 a month you will receive a piece of jewellery for the brand each month to own. This could be a ring, a necklace or a pair of earrings valued up to $175.
Models like this have become popular in recent years with things like makeup (think of Boxy Charm or Ipsy) and lifestyle products (like FabFitFun), but it’s not quite as common for jewellery.
“When this idea came to mind, I realized there were a few subscription plans in the jewellery market, but all of them are actually rental plans,” says Pira. “To the best of my knowledge, [Gillary Club] is the only ownership jewellery plan.”
Since launching this year, Gillary has shipped orders internationally with the majority of customers in Canada and the United States. Looking ahead into 2021, Pira says she would like to grow her reach in Atlantic Canada and see Gillary carried by some retailers.
“I would like to invite retail jewelry stores and gallery owners and shopping centres to have a cup of coffee, chat and consider our partnership opportunities,” she says.
Launching a new business is always a risk, but launching one during a global pandemic is even riskier. But it’s one Pira says she’s glad to have taken.
“Honestly, starting a jewellery business for me was a huge risk, but I took it. Now I am on the path of growing my brand and making a global business from Saint John and that’s my honour,” she says.
“It was my dream and my dream I can say came true.”