What inspired you to start your business/brand & where did the inspiration for your product(s) come from? The beginning of A Beautiful Story
Back to the year 2006. A silver factory in Nepal is in trouble. No more customers. 12 jewellery face an uncertain future. It won’t let Cathelijne, the founder of A Beautiful Story, go. She worked in Nepal as a volunteer and knows all these guys personally. Her job in marketing at Sara Lee Douwe Egberts is nice but something is missing. Until one day she realizes “If I can sell coffee, I should be able to sell jewellery too”. And she makes a life altering decision. 

Cathelijne about her adventure as a volunteer
After I finished my studies in Business Administration, I wanted to do something good for the world. My mother called. She had met someone who’d just started foundation and had arranged the whole thing: “You’re leaving next month to set up a computer center in Nepal!”

I got on a plane with Pippi Longstocking in the back of my head: “I’ve never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.” I spent 6 months building a great institute. It still exists. Thousands of students have learnt skills there to increase their chances of finding a job. And for me it was the beginning of something I couldn’t have dreamed of, ever.

...in love with Nepal
I fall in love with the country and its people. I’m captivated by the family atmosphere, doing things together. There is a lot of poverty. Most of the people aren’t wealthy in the materialistic sense. But the way they live together and take care of each other, it’s a different kind of wealth. The kind of wealth we seem to have lost here in western society.

During my stay in Nepal, I discover a silver factory. It becomes my go-to place for gifts for the home front. Beautiful jewellery pure craftsmanship. I visit Nepal every year, and of course I always stop by to see the jewellery.

...distress call from Nepal
Back in The Netherlands, I start a job as brand manager at Sara Lee Douwe Egberts. A great job in marketing. I learn everything about campaigns, developing products, communications, and sales. I oversee a budget of millions of euros, have great colleagues and the job is challenging. It just… doesn’t satisfy me. I realize that I put in a lot of energy to make rich shareholders even richer. Do I still want that?

And then I speak to my mother who just returned from a trip to Nepal. “It’s just so sad, the silver factory is in trouble. There’s not enough work, 12 silver smiths are about to lose their jobs.” It doesn’t let me go. It feels so unjust that these people with their amazing talents won’t be able to show it.

...turning my life around
It became the turning point in my life. One of those moments you decide something that will change everything. I’m turning my life around. I’m becoming an entrepreneur. Again, with Pippi Longstocking by my side: “If I can sell coffee, I should be able to sell jewellery too.”

...the first lucky bracelet
Again, a plane takes me to Nepal. I’m going back to the silver factory. But what shall we make? We’re sitting in a circle, brainstorming with a cup of tea. Suddenly, the beautiful design of the cup catches my eye. The old Dutch saying: ‘Shards bring good luck’ comes to my mind. That’s it! We just need a little bit of luck.

We throw the cup on the concrete floor and every shard gets a place on a bracelet. The first Lucky Bracelet is born. The magazine Happinez picks up our story with a six-page spread about Nepal and the bracelets. And then it happens… We receive teacups from all over the Netherlands. Heirlooms, sometimes complete sets. Entire families want bracelets made from grandma’s rose teacups. I’m smashing the cups to shards in my backyard, then send those shards to Nepal and they come back as jewellery.

...tupperware-aunt

I’m travelling across the Netherlands with the Lucky Bracelets and other jewellery, i'm bringing in my entire network—essentially Tupperware 2.0. One day I’m in a living room in Groningen, and the next in Maastricht, bringing back suitcases full of jewellery from Nepal. Without a clear plan, the pieces end up distributed all over the country.

...across the threshold
I remember my first sales pitch like it was yesterday. It was in Nukuhiva, Floortje Dessing’s store. Completely sustainable, so that seems to me like a good first customer. My husband Henk pushes me to go with my lucky bracelets which I thought weren’t good enough yet. No packaging, no leaflet, no labels. But he says: you can just show the product, it speaks for itself. Two hours later, I return home ecstatic. They loved it and the bracelets are now shining beautifully in the showcases. A week later Nukuhiva calls to ask if I can deliver more. I feel like I’ve created a brand. Even though it’s far from perfect.

...flash forward.
From 2006 till now seems like an eternity. And yet time flew by. Hundreds of stores all over Europe joined. And we have amazing partnerships with great companies. Our collections are in the shops at the Van Gogh Museum and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. And then I’m not even talking about all those great people that make up our team. All motivated for our mission. Together we bring the story further.

It wasn’t always easy. There were major highs but also many major lows. There were a couple of close calls and we narrowly survived a few bankruptcies. But I learnt to keep the faith.

 

What is your biggest motivation?

Making a difference in fairmade jewellery

Dare to dream big. Not because I want to become rich but because it’s my sincere dream to have a positive impact on many people’s lives. All over the world we produce the most beautiful things, from jewellery to bags, interior accessories and everything that fits within our vision. We collect the most beautiful stories and make people happy all over the world. Happy with the lucky jobs they have or happy with the lucky tools they buy.

my motto as a compass
I’m being led by my heart. I’m a Friezin but a dreamy one. And I like to keep my feet firmly on the ground. My motto in life is the Fries saying: ‘sinne en wille kinne yn protte tille’. Which translates as: sun and warmth can carry a lot. In other words: if you’re having fun, you can keep something up longer than if it doesn’t bring you joy. That has always been the motto for A Beautiful Story. As challenging and as hard as it was sometimes, if it makes your heart beat faster, you’ll find a way.

What are your brand’s values?

our core values are our compass.
The way in which we work, says everything about our attitude towards life. The core values are our compass: for the products we make, for the people who work for us, for what we tell the world. We work from those values

Connection
There can be no happiness without connection. We feel connected to the world, to each other, to our agents, to our retailers, to our producers, and to our clients. From this connection flows compassion. We are loving, attentive, and personal. And we treat each other as equals.

Dare to be
Yourself. It’s the most beautiful thing. To accept yourself, with all your flaws. Stand up for who you are, for   your principles. Stick to your neck out. Dare to make mistakes and dare to own up to them.

Believe in magic
Think happy thoughts and you can fly. We’re pretty down to earth but Peter Pan taught us to also believe. We believe that everything you pay attention to, will grow. You will come closer to fulfilling your dream if you pay attention to it. Every. Day. Again. And again.
 

Never give up
You’re thinking happy thoughts every day. You’re paying attention to your dreams. But you are still stuck. That happens sometimes. But we never give up. We do not despair. We hold on to our dream and to our principles. But we are not donkeys. We are not stubborn or rigid. We are realistic enough to let go. To slightly change our plans. We’ll get there, one way or the other.

 

What has been a highlight whilst creating and building your brand?

Co-creating with so many people around the world. Using all talents to make a positive changes.

 

What advice would you give to business owners, creators, designers and brand owners just starting out?

Two things:

• Be Bold. Just begin, you never know how things are turning out, you can never outline the whole journey before you start. Have faith that you will figure out the missing pieces along the way.
• Spread your story: I learned to always share my dreams and stories. When people know them, they can bring them closer. So many times I experienced that people helped us, because they remembered our mission.

 

At the Spring/Summer edition of Top Drawer, will you be launching any new collections and if so, can you give us a sneak peek?

We proudly present our new autumn winter 2024 collection: Embrace Life. The warm colors and gemstones of our newest jewellery cover you with love. From the Colors of the season to Mix & Match and our bestseller Classics. They cannot wait to spread love and stories with you.

This season we introduce Timeless Treasures. A sophisticated new collection with high quality pieces, designed to last. Handmade with our new producer in Jaipur, the gemstone capital of India.

Discover the beauty of our collections and ask for the stories. Don’t miss our special fair offer on our latest Timeless Treasures line and spin the Wheel of luck. We are ready to brighten your day with a little magic.

What is your personal favourite from your new collection?

My everlasting favorite gemstone is Carnelian. It helps me to be creative and courageous. And it boosts transformation. Like the caterpillar that turns into a butterfly. As an entrepreneur in a highly competitive market, I need this energy to find the way forward. So coming season you will see me every day with a bunch of Carnelian jewellery to remind me of my powers!

 

If applicable, how do you operate your brand sustainably?

The foundation of our company is social empowerment. Our focus has been on creating jobs in Nepal and India. However, over time we started questioning: what happens further down the supply chain? How can we make sure that we do the best for both people and nature? The solution is a transparent supply chain. This is not an easy task. But we get closer. Step by step.

The CSRD legislation (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) in Europe requires large companies to be transparent about their supply chains. For us as a small company, this does not apply. But with our mission, we feel the urgency to work on this anyway. Besides, we have partners in our supply chains who do have such obligations. We look at the raw materials and materials we use: what do we know about them, what are they made of, where do they come from, and how are they produced? When developing new items, we are critical. Can we trace the materials? Have they been recycled?

This is not always easy. We also find it important that our jewellery lasts a long time and can be recycled. We are continuously improving quality and reusing (unused or returned) materials. To encourage long-term use, we also have plans for a collection in a higher segment.

Highlights 2023:

• We are more aware of our role in the jewellery supply chain and the way we can influence it.
• We have taken a critical look at the traceability of our materials. We can now set more realistic goals and take steps. Currently, we can trace 100% of our producers and 76% of our material suppliers.
• We finally have an alternative to single-use plastic. Therefore, we can reduce plastic use by 25% in 2024. By 2025, we will reduce plastic use by 75%, and if we do need to use plastic, it will only be recycled plastic.
• In 2023, tracing gemstones has become more than a project for us: it is one of our key impact pillars for the coming years. We have sourced the first 800 traceable gemstones from mines we have personally visited.
• In 2024, we will launch a traceability tool on our website. We did our first footprint research which confirmed focus points to work on for the reduction and offsetting of our CO2 footprint.

 

For all information read our impact report 2023: https://abeautifulstory.aflip.in/impactreport-2023