25 Feb 2021
Buenos Aires-since 2012, Colombian designer Ana Carolina Valencia is dedicated to jewelry and accessories, with great success her brand has a presence in more than 12 countries and is currently presenting her new collection Tropical. Her professional history goes far beyond the last decade: she graduated in business management and international business, studied fashion design and came to have three women's clothing stores in Cali, her city, until she made the decision to leave everything and restructure her project.
From clothing to jewelry
"for 10 years I had the experience of working in clothing design and making, as well as marketing. I had my own shops in Cali and decided to make a change," says the designer in dialogue with fashion United.
Both personally and from the workplace, he realized that he needed to reorganize the brand and dedicate himself to the jewelry and accessories sector he had always liked: "my priorities changed: the birth of my daughter led me to click on my professional career. The shops were extremely absorbing and I spent a lot of time there, having a little daughter. I wanted to continue with my passion to design, but at the same time have independence and flexibility to manage my time. From the labor point of view, the processes were very arduous and exhausting, especially when they had to produce for three stores. Besides, sometimes there were problems with fabrics or inputs, or sizes... Then all the experience I had gathered during those 10 years helped me make the decision to put the focus on jewelry. In that area there were no carvings and I could sell internationally. Besides, there were also no drawbacks with fabrics or prints, so they were like small reasons that I saw to make the decision. " From that moment on, Valencia closed its three stores and started working on what was to come. "I restructured the way to sell, the way to get to the customer, and I thought: I'm going to expand my market and distribution channels. In addition, I must have the chance to reach the final customer as the wholesale customer," he recalls.
Restructure a brand
Nine years ago Valencia launched the brand of jewelry and accessories that bears its name. His proposal reflects a super feminine style since for Valencia the empowered woman is one of his main themes of inspiration when it comes to creating. "all the collections have a high degree of femininity and when they ask me for proposals for men I find it very difficult to design for them," he says and adds: as for the DNA of the brand, we have been building it since the years and it is becoming stronger what has to do with the craftsmanship and the filigree that is the jewelry technique that we use. In our collections the pieces are made with bronze base and gold bath. " All the pieces designed by Valencia are handcrafted at the brand's workshops in Cali.
Valencia has been able to position its brand during these years and has managed to expand internationally. "there are several distribution channels: we have our national website and our international e-commerce through which we sell and ship worldwide. In addition, we have a presence in more than 15 countries. We sell a lot in Latin America, the United States, also Europe and the Middle East through multi-brand stores and concept stores. "
Tropical
Valencia created its last collection during the pandemic: "it is a call for us to value everything we have around us and to flourish and be resilient to get ahead. The proposal is inspired by my city, Cali, so there is a lot of color, "he says. The collection is divided into five capsules in which there are functional pieces and mix and match proposals to be used both day and night.
This versatility and flexibility in jewelry style is a faithful reflection of her work as a designer where the change proposal was always on the order of the day: "obviously it wasn't easy, closing shops was hard after 10 years, but I knew something new was coming. You're stronger to adjust quickly to change and move forward. "
Photos: Ana Carolina Valencia
