Above and Beyond

Tu Tram Pham

GLOSS caught up with one blossoming Montreal jewelry designer, Allison Sklar, to discuss how she founded her business at L’Au Dela with the influence of new media.

L’Au Dela’s (which means “beyond” in French) main focus is to produce quality trendy jewelry. Beads are made out of imported glass and semi-precious stones while trendy mall jewelry is often made of acrylic and plastic. The majority of L’Au Dela’s collection uses sterling silver to accommodate sensitive skin.

Allison’s humble beginnings, deconstructing store-bought jewelry and restructuring them as her own has led her to create her own jewelry business.

It wasn’t until she promoted her work on a popular social network that things took off. “When I wanted to start a business, a friend suggested that I start a Facebook group to see if there’s a market for it,” she explained. Putting up photos of her jewelry, she waited for a response. Overnight, 300 members joined her group and immediately demanded where they could buy her jewelry. Her Fall/Winter collection has already sold out by the time we talked to her.

“I do this all on my floor. You should see me in my house, I really need to get a work station,” said the bubbly blonde of her designing methods. None of her jewelry are welded or fused together, her weapon of choice are a pair of pliers to bend and cut wires to create loops and stops.

Creating L’Au Dela’s collections can be a long creative process that involves three to four hours each day, pushing around beads, and getting ideas by working on several pieces at a time. “For this one,” pointing to a heart shaped pendant, “I was scooping up my beads one night and noticed how the color combination looked nice together.” It produced a tanned brass chain with warm autumn colored stones ($30). “Nobody really realizes how long all of this takes!” she chirped.

Allison is a one-woman show; not only does she  make  the jewelry, she does her own PR, works with distributors from eBay, has createds her own website, photographed her work, and established a shop on Etsy, a popular shopping site for artists and designers. All of this while being a full-time student and part-time worker. Despite her Renaissance-like ways, she still remains gleeful and excited when she sells another piece of her work.

“To me, seeing someone wear my jewelry is the biggest compliment. I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel to see my work being worn by someone else.”

http://www.delaudela.com/
http://delaudela.etsy.com