Gabriella Khalil, the creative director of ventures such as hotel Palm Heights in Grand Cayman and Manhattan’s creative work hub WSA, has found inspiration in designs by jewelry brand Erede. “They work a lot with form, texture and a lot of linear lines,” she explains of Erede’s aesthetic appeal.
It was fitting, then, that Khalil came to connect — and collaborate — with founders Talia Shuvalov and Jeramie Hotz on the brand’s latest collection, after meeting over a year ago. The women got talking about their familiarity with one another’s work, and discussions evolved into plans to collaborate on jewelry pieces under the Erede label. It was Khalil’s first time designing jewelry, and her first time collaborating on a product range under her own name.
With Khalil, Shuvalov and Hotz knew it was a good match when they cross-checked their mood boards. “There was a lot of overlap. Not so many images, but they were all in the same world,” Khalil says. Commonalities included vintage furniture, interiors, and both Khalil and the Erede team included Art Deco teapots.
Erede’s unusual approach to collaborations — tapping Khalil, known for her work in interiors — is just one way the founders are looking to build a next-generation jewelry brand. Coming from outside the industry, the founders are flipping the script on what “future heirlooms”, as the brand calls them, can look like and be: vintage-inspired and built with modern technology; a solid investment without breaking the bank, like a natural diamond cut would.
While the brand does sell some natural diamonds, its goal is to offer a fresh, modern take on lab-grown jewelry that fuses with a traditional aesthetic. “We were really focused on developing vintage cuts on lab-grown raw material, which is not something that was really in the market — and is still not widely done,” Shuvalov says, adding that about 95% of the brand’s customers shop lab grown. Erede customizes the stone for the design, rather than the other way around — a perk of using lab grown, she adds.
Photo: Fujio Emura
Photo: Fujio Emura
Erede’s pieces run from $1,050 for a stud and $1,600 ring to $16,500 for a hinged diamond collar, with its most recognizable pieces being diamond signet rings, with various cuts of stones embedded in corrugated gold. Khalil’s 12-piece collaboration provided the opportunity to try something different, including mixed-metal stackable rings and angular, diamond-adorned neck collars.
The collection spans a lower price point than Erede has offered previously, starting at $550, and bringing in silver and gold vermeil for the first time, as well as an onyx color. For Erede, this was partially born of a desire to experiment with more materials, as well as a response to the brand’s Australian consumer, which makes up about half of its base (Aus and the US are Erede’s two largest markets). Given the Australian dollar is weaker, though Erede’s prices are competitive in relation to fellow US brands, it’s a tougher sell among local options, Shuvalov says. “We’ve built a brand there [in Australia], we have a lot of people who support us there and we felt like this collaboration, targeted to the Australian market, could do better in a more accessible price range.”
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