Roxanne First’s Dreamworld Has Opened
LONDON — British jewelry designer Roxanne First was approached at the end of last year to set up shop on Chiltern Street, an affluent area with neighbors such as Andre Balazs’ luxury hotel and restaurant, Chiltern Firehouse, fashion label Casely-Hayford and lab-diamond brand Kimai. That original deal fell through, but she was determined to find another space, one that made sense for her fun, quirky jewelry that uses beads, metals and colors.
“We were now geared up to take a store because we thought it was the next step for the brand,” she said in an interview.
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The London-based designer has now set up shop on 97 Walton Street, a stone’s throw from Harrods, where she started her career on the marketing team.
First’s store is 700 square feet and also serves as an office.
“What’s fascinating about Walton Street is that a lot of British entrepreneurs started there,” she said, naming Anya Hindmarch and Jo Malone, whose perfume 154 was inspired by her store on 154 Walton Street — the fragrance has become First’s go-to scent.
Interior designer Lucy Barlow of Barlow & Barlow Design helped curate the space with First. The two women were mutual friends prior to the project.
“Barlow & Barlow’s work is very colorful, very flamboyant and very out there. It felt like the perfect fit for us as I wanted the store to feel like you’re walking into someone’s apartment, where it’s just a very chic, bright home that allows you to experience Roxanne First in a physical sense,” explained First, adding that the space will allow customers to immerse themselves in her world rather than just experiencing it online or on the shop floors of Liberty, Selfridges, Harrods, Matches, Net-a-porter and Mytheresa, which the brand is about to launch with.
All of the cases in the joinery were made bespoke for the store; First found a vintage ‘70s Sputnik lamp in Spain; tiles from Morocco; a central table that feels like a dining table for the jewelry to be displayed in, and artwork from artist David Matthew King, one of which she bought from a gallery and the other was a special commission featuring text that reads “You are a color of a sky I will never get over.”
A corner of the shop will play as a pop-up store area for emerging brands that align with the Roxanne First ethos to showcase their work — the designer residence, from ready-to-wear to jewelry, will rotate every six weeks.
The store will give First’s brand the opportunity to carry their full line of products.
“For me, Roxanne first has always been a very collaborative brand. We’ve had some amazing collaborations in the past and I wanted a platform to hero other brands and products that I think are amazing and perhaps don’t yet have their own store,” she said.
First’s store staff will be responsible for all the spaces including the rotating designers. She said they will take a percentage of the sales, but less than a wholesaler would.
The direct-to-consumer arm of the business has grown by 595 percent since its launch in 2019 with personalized sales growing by 861 percent since the inception of the brand’s online personalized necklace builder in 2020. Direct sales accounts for 70 percent of the business, meanwhile 30 percent is attributed to wholesale.
Prices for the brand start at 65 pounds for a jewelry box, and run up to 10,000 pounds.
First recently did a commission for an eternity ring for around 55,000 pounds, which she hopes will drive in more conversations around larger pieces and working with clients from concept through to execution.
The designer reveals the number of repeat customers is very high, with a majority of them starting out with a purchase of gold hoops and working their way up to diamond letter necklaces.
In the next five years, First has her sights set on breaking into the U.S. market. The brand is stocked with The Webster and other smaller boutiques. There has already been movement with American customers via the brand’s website, but First hopes that the physical store will raise the brand’s profile.
The U.K. is her biggest market to date, followed by Ireland. First has self funded the business without any external investors.
“With having a brick-and-mortar store, the stockists we have in the U.K., we’re in a very strong position to raise next year,” she said, detailing that it’s part of her U.S. strategy and the demand from stockists such as Net-a-porter who place in “pretty big orders.”
First’s family are South African diamond dealers and her mother is Italian.
“I’ve always been surrounded by women wearing lots of jewelry and more is always more in their minds. I’ve always been obsessed with diamonds and jewelry, but when I was younger, I never knew how to make that a career path,” she said.
It wasn’t until when her friends were getting engaged that she began helping them design their engagement rings.
“We don’t do engagement rings anymore because I think the market is quite saturated. It’s not where our focus is because we’ve introduced things like semiprecious beads and working with sapphires. We’ve really embraced color in the collections, but if someone wanted us to make an engagement ring, I wouldn’t say no,” First said.
The designer has just launched a collection with eyewear brand Jimmy Fairly, working on three colorful styles in violet, vert green and pink with matching chains to go with them. The pieces will be stocked at the brand’s London stores and a few stores in Paris.
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