Last month The Jewellery Room launched outside of its hometown for the very first time, choosing London as its destination.
Founded by the two Danish sisters Pernille Møbjerg Knudsen & Charlotte Møbjerg Ansel-Henry, the mission of The Jewellery Room is to bring jewellery design into the big international fashion arena.
As such, The Jewellery Room has become renowned in Scandinavia for taking place alongside its Fashion Week, and this is a legacy the founders behind the exclusive jewellery event want to have around the world as the business expands.
“We want to bridge that gap because trend forecasts and trend-wise, jewellery is taking more and more space in the international catwalk shows,” explains co-founder Knudsen, adding: “Also it’s a fact that more jewellery brands market themselves in Vogue, ELLE, Marie Claire etc., consumers look to fashion to be inspired by jewellery, so I feel it is natural to bridge that gap and show it as a natural part of the fashion scene.”
The decision to launch in London was down to two characteristics – language and the logistics of the city’s Fashion Week.
“Choosing London is definitely because we felt it was a perfect way to expand out of Scandinavia so to speak, and have our first international footsteps,” shares Knudsen. “London has a large international reach, we speak the language and the Fashion Week is fairly gathered.”
In London, The Jewellery Room showcased a mix of local and international brands over two days at Somerset House, a venue just a hop, skip and a jump away from London Fashion Week.
The founders had positive dialogues with London Fashion Week organisers, and together they decided it was best for The Jewellery Room to take place close to the event’s main venue.
“They supported the idea of making London more of a jewellery destination and having more jewellery at London Fashion Week. The positive feedback we are always getting from the events that we have done in Copenhagen is the fact that there is no other focused jewellery space in any fashion week, and we feel jewellery is becoming more and more a part of the fashion world.”
Brands showcased at the London room included Italian brands Nanis and Maria e Luisa, which have both launched into the UK this year, award-winning designer Sarah Ho, British brand Robison Pelham, and new company’s looking to enter the UK such as Ole Lynggard, Tamara Comolli and MaryLou Jewellery.
The Jewellery Room founders aim to show brands that do not look alike but complement each other. It’s not a personal choice, but looking for jewels which are unique and denied.
“It’s about choosing brands that have a story to tell and actually differs,” explains Knudsen. “We try and put the brands together in a mix of upcoming brands, established brands, fine jewellery brands, and contemporary brands. We believe it is important to have the high end and the more contemporary in the same room because that is also an important part of the end consumer, you mix Channel with Zara when you dress, and jewellery is the same. You have your expensive pieces but it is also fun to buy a big pair of i.e. red earrings just because it matches your dress that day.”
Knudsen reveals doing The Jewellery Room in London was a learning curve, with the founders noting some cultural differences between press and buyers in the UK and Copenhagen. They also received several emails from people wanting to visit on Monday and Tuesday of London Fashion Week, so looking ahead they may try and extend the duration of the show.
The duo looks forward to taking what they have learnt from this year’s event and showcasing once again during London Fashion Week next year, however, they have decided to just focus on the September edition.
“The follow up from the fashion week has been very positive and we have definitely put jewellery more upfront on the fashion agenda – and this is only the beginning. Quite a few brands got great retail and press leads and we have followed up discussions with the BFC on how to collaborate in the future, so this is also positive.”
“Mostly we have had a lot of positive feedback from the press who love the online pressroom, where we have gathered a selection of brands for direct press download – meaning they only need to go one place to find more than 40 brands in one place, a One-stop-download for their Jewellery features.”
Looking ahead, the founding sisters want to expand internationally. On the backbone of exhibiting in London, other European fashion weeks have been in touch with The Jewellery Room, but for now, the focus will remain on the home market and London.
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