{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Episode 211 Part 1: Canadian Artist Colette Harmon on How Her Over-the-Top Jewelry Got its Start","description":"What you\u2019ll learn in this episode: What the difference between an artist and a designer is The barriers that can make it difficult for solo jewelry artists to enter the retail market, and how Colette overcame them What Colette has discovered about her creative process by working with George Brown College psychology students on a research project Why it\u2019s important for artists to avoid looking at trends in stores and on social media too frequently How a spontaneous haircut sparked Colette\u2019s creativity and paved the way for her future business About Colette Harmon Colette Harmon\u2019s one-of-a-kind accessories are a dazzling blend of crystal, mixed metals and semi-precious stones. With an appreciation for meticulous craftsmanship, the metal meshing and intricate beadwork in each of her statement pieces are an audacious departure from mainstream minimalism. Born in Sisters Village, Guyana, Colette studied fashion design in Toronto before apprenticing as a belt and handbag designer for a leather goods manufacturer. Harmon soon founded her own eponymous label, whose name became synonymous with maximalist glamour. Harmon\u2019s modern approach to vintage flair has earned her a devoted following of customers, fans and fashion stylists from across North America. Her pieces have been sold in Saks Fifth Avenue and Holt Renfrew Canada, and her work has been featured in Elle Canada, Flare, Martha Stewart Weddings and Nylon. She currently focusses on one-of-a-kind couture creations for select clientele.    Additional Resources: Website Twitter Photos Available on TheJewelryJourney.com Transcript: Colette Harmon has seen many trends come and go over the course of her career, but she has never let that influence her work. She has always found an audience for her one-of-a-kind jewelry, even when her hallmark maximalism is supposedly \u201cout.\u201d She joined the Jewelry Journey Podcast to talk about why she defines herself as an artist; how she nurtures her creative vision; and how her job as a leather accessories designer led to jewelry (and how that experience may come full circle in the near future). Read the episode transcript here. Sharon: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Jewelry Journey Podcast. This is the first part of a two-part episode. Please make sure you subscribe so you can hear part two as soon as it\u2019s released later this week.   Today, my guest is Colette Harmon, who is speaking to us from Canada. Toronto to be more specific. I have to say I\u2019ve never met her, and I\u2019ve never seen her jewelry in person, but it\u2019s my kind of jewelry. It\u2019s over-the-top kind of jewelry. You may have seen it on a celebrity on the stage or screen, but if you\u2019ve seen it, you\u2019d remember it. I couldn\u2019t find a lot of information about Colette, so I\u2019m going to let her tell you her story. Colette, welcome to the program.   Colette: Thank you so much, Sharon. It\u2019s a pleasure to be here.   Sharon: I\u2019m so glad to have you. It took us a while to connect, to actually make this happen. Are you a designer? How do you refer to yourself? A Canadian designer?   Colette: That\u2019s a good question. I don\u2019t think of myself as Canadian, but I am a Canadian designer. I think of myself more as an artist as opposed to a designer. To me, a designer is someone who\u2014can I start again?   Sharon: Yes.   Colette: Let me start again. To me, a designer is someone who creates things that can be worn by the masses, who is able to distill things and make them very simple so that everyone can wear them. Like you said, I\u2019m more over the top. I don\u2019t think about the masses. I create for myself. I create things that I, myself, would wear. I don\u2019t really think about it, and I don\u2019t really want the masses to wear my pieces. I want them to be unique. Maybe not one-of-a-kind, but limited editions. I don\u2019t want to see my pieces everywhere on everybody. When you\u2019re creating things that will be liked and appreciated by many, many people, it becomes distilled and watered down. To me, it loses its soul and its energy. Others might not think that, but that\u2019s how I think of myself.   Sharon: I just wanted to ask you, you\u2019re from Guyana. Am I saying that right? Guyana?   Colette: From Guyana, yes. I was born in a little place called Sisters Village, Guyana.   Sharon: When did you come over here? Were you young or a child?   Colette: I came at the age of five. I came with my parents, my mom and my dad. I have two brothers.   Sharon: So, you came with your family.   Colette: Yes.   Sharon: And when did you start designing jewelry or other things?   Colette: At a young age. I think I got my creativity from my mother. My mother was very creative. She was very musical. She sewed. She sang. She played piano. She was very creative. I think that\u2019s where my creativity comes from. As a child, I was always drawing. I was very much in my head and my own little world as a child. I was always drawing and creating different things. I studied clothing design and thought I would be a fashion designer, a clothing designer.   How I ended up in jewelry was, when I graduated from school, there was a job advertised. I went to a school called Seneca College in Toronto. When I graduated, there was a job in the paper for an accessory designer; it was a belt designer. I had taken a course in college\u2014I think it was just one semester\u2014an accessory-making course. So, when I graduated, I saw the ad and thought, \u201cI can make those.\u201d So, I applied and got the job. I did that for about a year, year-and-a-half.   Then I left that job and started creating my own belts and handbags. One day I was doing a market show, and somebody asked me if I could make a pair of earrings to go with a belt they had purchased. I didn\u2019t know anything about jewelry, so I just cut little squares and circles and covered them with leather. Looking back, they were horrible, but at the time I thought they were great. That\u2019s how I got into jewelry. I never had any intentions of being a jewelry designer; I never thought of being a jewelry designer. That\u2019s how I started. It just sort of happened. I have no idea. It wasn\u2019t something I thought about, but I ended up becoming a jewelry designer.   Sharon: Do you have a lot of stylists as clients? They\u2019re women, I presume. Are they stylists?   Colette: When I started doing jewelry, I started out wholesaling. I had an agent that would carry my pieces, and I sold to people like Holt Renfrew. I sold to Saks a little bit. I don\u2019t know if you\u2019re familiar with it, but there was a chain store here in Canada called Lipton\u2019s. I sold to Lipton\u2019s. I sold to better ladies\u2019 boutiques. I got into doing custom pieces because it was very difficult wholesaling as a one-woman show. It was always very challenging getting paid on time, getting paid at all. When you\u2019re small, I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s true for everyone, but with me, people like Saks, they would sometimes take six months to pay me if I got an order. It became very difficult waiting for money. So, I was doing wholesaling and custom work for a bit, and I segued into doing all custom.   Sharon: Did you leave manufacturing belts to have your own business?   Colette: I slowly moved away from the belts and got into jewelry. I can\u2019t remember exactly how or when it happened, but one day, I ended up being a jewelry designer. I never thought about it. I didn\u2019t plan it. Belts go in and out of style, so I guess there was a period where they weren\u2019t selling as much. Belts weren\u2019t in style, so I moved more towards jewelry. I guess I decided that I liked creating jewelry better than I did belts, and I just ended up in that field.   Sharon: I want to make sure that everybody knows that the jewelry you make is made with real stones and\u2014I call them costume things\u2014things that aren\u2019t real, feathers and all kinds of things. Do you have an inventory?   Colette: Yes, I have quite a bit of stuff. I love to mix different things. I don\u2019t follow any rules. I mix semiprecious with crystal and metal. Sometimes there\u2019s sterling silver, and occasionally I\u2019ll use a little bit of gold. A lot of it is plated. A lot of the metals are plated in either gold or silver. My strength is mixing, the way I combine different elements. I think that\u2019s what my strength is. Some people only do semiprecious or only precious, but I like to mix and combine high and low things. I work with whatever I like. If I like something, I\u2019ll use it. It has to speak to me. It may sound silly, but I think everything has an energy and they speak to you. They don\u2019t speak to you in words or in language, but they have an energy and a feeling. I use what I like, what speaks to me.   Sharon: Do you create these pieces before there\u2019s a need, before somebody comes to you and says, \u201cI need a piece,\u201d or do you create them when they say they need a piece?   Colette: I do a bit of both. Someone could come to me and say they\u2019re going to an event. They might have a dress they need something to go with. A lot of times they just say they want a necklace and the colors and materials they would like to use, and they let me be free and do whatever. I prefer to work that way. I prefer to have creative freedom. A lot of times, someone will come and have something in mind, and I say, \u201cThat won\u2019t work,\u201d and they won\u2019t listen. So, I do what they like, and you finish it and they say, \u201cO.K., you were right.\u201d I find a lot of people can\u2019t visualize; they can\u2019t see it. It usually turns out O.K. when I have creative freedom. I can\u2019t create something that I don\u2019t like. I have to like what I\u2019m doing.   Sharon: What do you say if somebody says to you, \u201cI want it this way,\u201d and you think that\u2019s not going to look good? What do you say or how do you deal with that?   Colette: I usually tell them. I\u2019m usually very honest. Then I\u2019ll do what they would like me to do. It usually turns out that it doesn\u2019t look good, but that doesn\u2019t happen very often. It usually works out pretty well. The people that come to me know what I do, so they know what to expect.   Sharon: Can you tell us a little about the people that come to you? Are they women? Are they stylists?   Colette: Mostly women. I do work with stylists. If someone\u2019s doing a shoot, they might want me to create something, or they might pull from something I have. I don\u2019t keep a lot of inventory. It\u2019s mostly women that are going to an event or party. The past couple of years, there haven\u2019t been very many parties, but they come to me if they\u2019re going to a ball or a fundraiser or just for their everyday lives. They just want me to create something unique. People come to me because they want something different. I don\u2019t pay attention to trends or what everyone is doing, so when they come to me, they know they\u2019re getting something different.   Sharon: How do they hear about you?   Colette: Mostly through word of mouth. I\u2019ve scaled back the marketing. It\u2019s mostly through word of mouth.   Sharon: Do they see someone else and say, \u201cWhere did you get that?\u201d and then they find you? How do they find you?   Colette: That happens. They might see someone else wearing one of my pieces. They might see something in a magazine. When I do editorials, people will call me. I\u2019m in Toronto. I\u2019ve had people call me from Vancouver after seeing something they like that they would like me to create for them. As I said, most of the pieces are either one or a limited edition. There might be pieces I\u2019ve done when I can\u2019t recreate them exactly, but they might be in different colors. Maybe that color is for a particular client or whatever material is not available, so it\u2019s similar, but not exactly the same.   Sharon: What surprised you most about having all these requests?   Colette: I guess the most surprising thing is that there are actually people that love what I do. I don\u2019t know if surprising is the right word. I guess it\u2019s pleasing to know there are actually people that love it. I was known for these charm necklaces I\u2019ve been doing for years. I had a woman that has maybe 30 of them.   Sharon: That\u2019s a lot.   Colette: I guess it\u2019s surprising and pleasing knowing that there are people that really love and appreciate my work.   Sharon: Do you have other collectors besides this woman with 30 pieces?   Colette: I would say I have maybe five people who\u2014I know you\u2019re familiar with Carole Tanenbaum. She has quite a few of my pieces. Should I say their names?   Sharon: It\u2019s up to you.   Colette: There\u2019s a woman named Nella Rosmand who has quite a few of my pieces. I have a client that lives in Yellowknife. Her name is Lisa Tousar. She used to have a store in Yellowknife. I think she\u2019s closed it, but she\u2019s bought a number of pieces. I had a boutique for a while. She bought a lot of pieces. She loves my work. There are maybe five or six people that have quite a few pieces.   Sharon: Do they wear them more than once?   Colette: I guess so. I guess they wear them. A lot of what you see on Instagram, what you mostly see, a lot of those are\u2014I put the really over-the-top, elaborate pieces there. But I do simple pieces as well. They\u2019re not always as elaborate as that. I also do some more subdued pieces.   Sharon: Your Guyanian and Canadian background, what influence does that have?   Colette: It\u2019s actually Guyanese. Guyanian means people probably think I\u2019m from Ghana. Guyanese is the term. I came when I was five and I\u2019ve been back twice. I don\u2019t know if being Guyanese has\u2014maybe it\u2019s something that\u2019s subconscious, but it\u2019s not something I think about because I grew up here. I grew up within a multicultural city, so there are influences from many places, I think. I don\u2019t know if Guyana specifically has an influence on my work, unless it\u2019s subconscious. I\u2019ve had people say that my pieces look very African. I\u2019ve had women from Africa say that it reminds them of it. But I don\u2019t think it\u2019s something I think about or do intentionally; I just do.   I\u2019m doing a project right now with George Brown College here in Toronto. One of the professors, Leah Barrett, approached me about studying my creative process. I chuckled to myself because I don\u2019t really have a creative process. I could sit down and sketch something, but once I start to make it, it turns into something completely different because I get ideas as I go. As I said, the materials speak to you. I create as I go along. If I have something in my mind from the start, when I finish it, it\u2019s something completely different. I don\u2019t really have a creative process. It sounds silly, but I just play. That\u2019s what I do. I play.   I have to be honest. There are pieces I\u2019ve created over the years that I don\u2019t like, but a lot of times, those are the pieces that sell first. It\u2019s like, \u201cOh my gosh, I don\u2019t think anyone will ever buy that.\u201d That\u2019s the piece that goes first. I\u2019ve sold a lot of pieces off of my neck. That\u2019s happened quite a bit over the years. I remember once being at a party at a hotel in Toronto. I was in the washroom, and a woman said, \u201cI love your necklace,\u201d and I said, \u201cThank you,\u201d and she was like, \u201cI want that necklace.\u201d I didn\u2019t want to sell it, but she insisted. She wrote me a check in the washroom and I sold it to her. I actually regret it because it was one of those pieces I could never make again, but I find that people always want what I\u2019m wearing. I\u2019ve regretted selling a couple of pieces over the years because I could never make them exactly the same again.   Sharon: That\u2019s interesting. You\u2019re your own best model in a sense.   Colette: Well, I make them for me, to be honest. If I wouldn\u2019t wear it, I couldn\u2019t make it. I think that\u2019s one of the reasons why I started creating my own leather accessories. I felt very restricted when I was working for\u2014it was a company called Princeton Leathers. I always felt like I was in a box, and I just found it very difficult creating. There were two lines, one that was a luxurious line and one that was more simple. They would give me two findings and say, \u201cO.K., now come up with something.\u201d I was doing a dozen of these, and I found it very restrictive. If I won\u2019t wear it, I can\u2019t make it.   Sharon: Where do you get your ideas, if it\u2019s not from somebody who shows you something and says, \u201cI want something done this way\u201d? Where do you get ideas from?   Colette: I don\u2019t actively look for ideas. It\u2019s just things you see and it\u2019s collected in your subconscious. A lot of times, when I go and buy materials, I buy what I love, just pieces that I like. Sometimes they might be sitting on my desk for weeks and I have no idea what I\u2019m going to do with them. Then one day, you might walk by and an idea just pops up in your head. I don\u2019t actively look.   That\u2019s one of the things I don\u2019t like about social media. You\u2019re seeing all of these things. I try not to look at other people\u2019s jewelry, but you see it and it does influence your work when you\u2019re looking at so many different things. I try not to look at it too much because I always want to be true to myself when I create. I don\u2019t like looking at other people\u2019s work too much because I find that it does influence you, whether you know it or not.   Sharon: Where do you look? Do you walk in the stores? Do you go downtown?   Colette: You know what? I was actually speaking to a friend the other day\u2014he has a manufacturing company in India\u2014saying that we should go out and see, because I have no idea what\u2019s in the stores. I don\u2019t pay attention to what\u2019s in or what\u2019s not in. Even at George Brown, in speaking with the students I\u2019m working with, they were telling me that minimalism is back in style. I have no clue. I really don\u2019t. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s in or what\u2019s not. I don\u2019t pay attention to any of that. I never really liked rules. If you love something, then wear it. Who cares if it\u2019s in or if somebody else likes it? It doesn\u2019t matter. You\u2019re the one that\u2019s wearing it. It\u2019s how you feel in it. What other people think has no bearing. I\u2019ve never understood that. This is in style or that isn\u2019t in\u2014if you like something, if you love it, then wear it. Who cares? I\u2019ve never paid attention to rules.   Sharon: What was the context of them saying that minimalism is back in style?   Colette: I can\u2019t remember what we were speaking about, but they were saying that maximalism is out and minimalism is in. You know how fashion goes in waves. I think that\u2019s like when I was doing the belts. I guess we were going into a period where belts weren\u2019t in style anymore, so people weren\u2019t really buying. Eventually I started doing more and more jewelry pieces. That\u2019s the thing; if you like belts, then wear belts. I guess with the wave of fashion and the way the system works, then the buyers aren\u2019t buying. But I never really paid attention to what\u2019s in.   Sharon: You closed your store. Now do you work out of your home or your studio?   Colette: I have a home studio, yes. I work out of my home.   Sharon: Do you have to go out and sell?   Colette: No, but I\u2019m planning on opening up a showroom where people can actually buy things. I\u2019m thinking about coming full circle and doing a line of leather belts and accessories and a little bit of jewelry as well, but I\u2019m thinking about creating some leather pieces.   Sharon: Is that for stylists or is that for anybody who wants to come and look?   Colette: For anybody who wants to come in.   Sharon: Do they give you an idea of what they\u2019re looking for most of the time? Sometimes they do and sometimes they don\u2019t, as you said. But do most people coming in say, \u201cI want something big,\u201d or \u201cI want something more muted\u201d? What do they say?   Colette: You mean if someone came in and they wanted me to create something for them?   Sharon: Yes.   Colette: Sometimes they might come with a picture from a magazine or something and say, \u201cI really like this,\u201d in terms of style or size or whatever. So, I would create something with that feeling or those colors. Sometimes they bring a swatch of fabric to match, or sometimes they have an actual garment they want me to create something to go with. They might see something on my Instagram or on another person, something they saw someone else wear. It works in many ways. But if I were to create belts and bags again, I would do a line of pieces and people would just buy from what\u2019s already created.   Sharon: Because it\u2019s easier?   Colette: Yeah, because it\u2019s easier. It would be easier. With the belts and bags, they would just buy from a line that\u2019s already created.   Sharon: I can see how that would be easier than picking out jewelry or creating something to go with a garment.   We will have photos posted on the website. Please head to TheJewelryJourney.com to check them out.   ","author_name":"Jewelry Journey Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/thejewelryjourney.com\/","html":"