Design Walkthrough – Anaïs Paris

Following a soft launch to the jewellery trade at this year’s Jewellery & Watch Show in Birmingham, HD Group will announce the release of its third, and possibly final, brand later this year. The brand, Anaïs Paris, is inspired by the ‘floating locket’ concept which according to Adryan Cresswell, head of commerce at HD Group, has been gaining traction globally. However Cresswell points out that HD Group has developed the concept differently from its competitors, creating a completely new brand dedicated to floating lockets instead incorporating it into existing product ranges. He comments “We feel this is a beautiful new way of wearing and collecting sentimental jewellery and therefore required to be a standalone brand rather than an annex to existing product ranges.” Building on the popularity of charms, the brand will feature sterling silver lockets and chains, genuine gemstones and sterling silver charms. Each silver charm will be set with two gemstones that will reinforce the meaning of the charm itself. Launching with 10 locket designs, various chain selections and around 100 charm options covering key sentimental letters and shapes, the range aims to appeal to the rapidly growing consumers of charm and collectible jewellery. The brand aims to add a new offering to the sentimental jewellery market, moving the the popular bracelet charms away from the wrist and onto a pendant and chain. Cresswell says: “Our brand portfolio is quite scientific in a way. We divided the silver jewellery market up into three key segments; classic, fashion and sentiment. Hot Diamonds sits in classic and Emozioni fits in fashion, but until Anaïs Paris we had no effective solution to address the sentiment segment of the silver jewellery market.” This difference in the brand, when compared with Hot Diamonds and Emozioni, will drive a distinctive brand identity from tone of voice, model shots, packaging and pricing strategies. The brand hasn’t been officially launched yet, however Cresswell said a soft launch at this year’s Jewellery & Watch Show at the Spring Fair drew a positive response from retailers. He said: “Anaïs Paris received a great reaction from retailers at the Spring Fair. Many retailers were aware of the floating locket concept and, as it happens, agreed with us that it warranted a branding identity all of its own.” The launch of the range in June is expected to mark the company’s last new brand for the foreseeable future, with HD Group looking to “carefully nurture” its three brands. The roll-out of Anaïs Paris will be “cautious”, with the idea that all retail partners who stock the brand will want to nurture it just as HD does. The brand launches in June with around 60 points of sale, before its ambitions of ultimately increasing to around 200 UK stockists. The range: The company will be launching 10 sterling silver locket designs. The design of the brand is a floating locket concept, which means they are transparent. This enables the charm inside the locket to be showcased. There will be around 100 charm options covering all sentimental ranges, such as letters and hearts, along with various other designs. Every silver charm is coupled with two genuine gemstones. The brand will also have an “adventurous” and extensive range of chains. The company said that it has learned through its Emozioni brand the importance of a “vibrant chain selection”.