New Things To Come

Here is what's to come at Elizabeth Showers.

 

A couple of years ago, I found myself searching for something deeper in my work.  My jewelry was still popular and selling well, my personal life was abundantly blessed, and something was missing.  For the first time in 19 years, I decided to take a step back in my career.  I then had our "End of an Era" sale in the Fall of 2015, which was successful and fun, as I personally directly connected with more customers than ever before!

Since then, as I reflect on my career, I see that staying in the world of jewelry is where I want to be.  I have a passion for creativity, love the art of making jewelry, love rocks and gems, and have 22 years of jewelry experience.

 

I am midway through yoga teacher training, and while my original reason for it was to improve my practice, the culture of this particular training has inspired me way more than I expected.  It has re-emphasized my desire to create a culture of giving back in my business.  Not only does this mean financial giving, but also giving through service.

Alongside this training, I have recommitted to daily meditation and inquiry, giving me more inner space for creativity.

My first tagline was "adorn yourself".  A few years later, I uncovered my purpose of "empowering all women to feel beautiful," shortened to "feel beautiful."

As I relaunch my business, "beauty within" is the new evolution for Elizabeth Showers.  My intent is for this message to remind you of your beauty within yourself, that is already present in the here and now, not found in some future plan, nor in a beauty product, not through your significant other, not through any thing, activity or person outside of yourself.

 

The beauty of my jewelry is to serve as a reminder or symbol to help you remember what you have always known:

your beauty is within.

In supporting this message, we will involve more philanthropic projects with our brand.  In the coming months, you will see I am back with so many amazing new things on the horizon.

Thank you all for being a part of my journey.  I look forward to writing this next chapter with you!

Merry Christmas from Our Family to Yours

 

My Christmas message to you is very simple:

"Feel beautiful" means that my ideal for you is to realize your beauty within yourself, your beauty that is already present in the here and now, not found in some future plan, nor in some beauty product, not through your significant other, basically not through any thing, activity or person outside of yourself.

The beauty of my jewelry cannot make you know you are beautiful.  These beautiful small art objects are here to help you remember what you have deep down always known:

your beauty is within. 

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you!

and here's to your best new year yet!

Vintage is Back

Before my blog post, I have some REALLY FUN NEWS! Though it has been years since we at Elizabeth Showers Studio have sold our Vintage Collection, that’s all changing this Thursday, when we will begin offering a few styles from our classic collection online for a limited time.

During our (incredibly successful) moving sale event last month, my staff was thrilled to uncover a treasure trove of our beaded Vintage Collection!  What a surprise!  Customers ask for these designs all the time, so we were so excited to find them. We hope you’ll be excited about them too.

Be sure to pop in to elizabethshowers.com on Thursday to check out the Vintage Collection!

It’s been great looking back through this collection that meant so much to my career and development. Holding these pieces in my hands really got me thinking about the history of my business, its humble beginnings and its not-so-humble aspirations.

The necklace I have on below (at age 26) is the first necklace I ever made, all the way back in 1997.

Okay, this is actually the first unique necklace I ever made. 

I made my first piece of jewelry in 1996—an anklet made of super-cheap round, smooth amethyst beads. It was nothing special, but it was enough to get me hooked.

That first unique necklace was made of 24kt gold leaf Venetian glass beads, which I popularized in the late 1990s. At their peak, I couldn’t design enough styles using Venetian glass gold leaf and silver leaf beads.  Although very simply constructed, they were so popular and distinctive. If only online shopping had been mainstream then!

I started my business at age twenty-four, driven by a mostly-unexplored talent, blind optimism, and a passion for designing and selling jewelry. Like everyone starting out, I was a portrait of youthful naiveté and cluelessness about how to build a successful business. Though I didn’t have anything approximating a sales strategy, nor anything so straightforward as a written business plan, I possessed an incredible surplus of focus, time, and determination.

My first mission was to make my mark with unusual materials that others weren’t using. When I discovered Venetian glass beads, I understood right away that I had found my breakthrough. Specifically 24kt gold leaf Venetian beads in clear (my favorite) and in colors stuck out like magic in the jewelry scene of those days. They were so distinctive and fresh. I knew I was at the beginning of a fun adventure.

I started selling wholesale at Carol Quist showroom in The Apparel Mart, and southern US retailers started writing orders for my jewels right and left. I was a real designer!

Tootsie’s in Dallas was the first retailer to sell in my hometown. Susie Calmes, the buyer there at that time, is a friend of my mother. She called me and said, “When do I get to see your collection?”

I said, “I need more time to prepare for you. Maybe we could meet in a couple of months.”

She said, “Okay, I will see you this Tuesday.”

It was totally nerve-wracking. It would be an understatement to say that Susie has good taste and high standards.

Tootsies in Dallas

Naturally I was terrified of her reaction to my work. But I’m still so grateful to Susie. I’ll never be able to thank her enough for pushing me to be ready before I was. I showed up with my jewels in Ziploc bags with no price tags, and she bought almost everything I took with me that day.  What a life-changing and affirming experience! It really was an occasion to remember.  Thank you, Susie!

All that was just the beginning of the uncertain road that eventually led to my selling at Neiman Marcus, and onward down the path to a lasting business. 

Some of those early pieces I still love as much as the day I made them. In some others I can see the beauty and the good instincts, but they don’t represent me in quite the same way. But all of them are a part of me, part of the work that has led to this moment in my trajectory.

This is me modeling my jewelry!

I’ll talk more about the progression and development of my business in a future post.

In the meantime, please remember to stop by elizabethshowers.com on or after this Thursday to take a look at the pieces that started it all for me.  You just might find the perfect thing you didn’t even know you were looking for!

Feel Beautiful!
Elizabeth

Sweet Memories of My Jewelry Career in Dallas

Dallas has been home for my entire adult life. I went to college in Dallas, at SMU. And not too long after, I started my business here at the age of twenty-four. It began in my humble $450/month, all-bills-paid apartment in Preston Hollow. Those apartments don’t even exist anymore, but I can still remember moving my sofa out to make room for my first employee. We worked together in the living room for a year before I finally leased my first office space in the Bishop Arts District in Oak Cliff.

 

That was 1999, at the dawn of the Bishop Arts' revitalization. That same year, Neiman Marcus picked up my collection. I thought life couldn't get any better.



My first office is now a restaurant, Café Veracruz



Earrings from the collection I was selling at that time,
 now we call it our Vintage Collection

In 2002, I leased a warehouse-style space on Monitor Street, north of the Design District, and hired my first sales person. Then I hired another. And another.

That office is now a gallery (pictured below). And they still have the security bars that I had installed!

 

We were in that space for five years before relocating in 2007 to our current showroom overlooking Turtle Creek. That’s when I launched my first 18k yellow gold collection, followed a few years later by my first semi-precious silver collection.

Turtle Creek in Dallas

Our showroom overlooking Turtle Creek

I live in Fort Worth now.  I bought my first house in Dallas in 2007, and had great fun making it my own style and giving dinner parties there.  I sold my house in Dallas and moved west in October of 2013, see my blog post here.  

An article in PaperCity on my home in Dallas

These past couple of years, I've kept my business and showroom on Turtle Creek, and I’ve been commuting, sometimes spending the night in Dallas to make the transition a little easier.

Now, after a lot of thought, I've decided to relocate my business at last. We are moving in two weeks!

“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining where we are.”

- Oprah

I can hardly believe it. I’m sad to be leaving Dallas, but I’m excited about finally jumping in with both feet, and truly living and working in Fort Worth.

Many of you know that I grew up in the small town of Hillsboro. After that upbringing, in many ways Fort Worth seems like a perfect fit. It has a calm, small town feel—as much, anyway, as any city with nearly 800,000 people could. The city is absolutely filled with incredible things to see and do. I’ve fallen in love with its energy and spirit. And I get the best of all worlds—the small town feel and the big city adventure. I’m excited, and, you know, life is good.

Elizabeth Showers' earrings from past to present

Looking back at every phase of my life and business, I can also trace the trajectory of my evolving style, tastes, and skills. A focus on vintage, then stones, learning about metals, gold, silver. Learning about myself and what I could do, where my own creativity could take me. Every new place and experience has informed and deepened my work in a way that now seems like a critical part of my artistic development.

I know this new phase and locale will have the same effect. Every time I take a leap, I’m rewarded. I hope you’ll continue to follow me as I make this one.

Stay tuned for details on another major leap in my life! (hint: Molly from A Piece of Toast leaked it here!)

“Every day is a journey, and the journey
itself is home.”

- Matsuo Basho

Feel Beautiful,

Elizabeth