To understand the history of Kyveli Design you have to go back to my youth in Athens Greece. I was born and raised amongst jewels, mostly diamonds, and pearls. I remember when I was 4 I how fascinated I was by the big vault in my father’s office.
He worked in the office trading pearls and diamonds together with my mother. In those early days of the eighties, there was not a lot of government oversight on the diamond and pearl trade and I always imaged my mom and dad doing somewhat dangerous and mysterious work, especially when they were traveling abroad.
As a kid in Athens, I figured my mom and dad where secret agents, playing in casinos and dealing with international men of mystery. Later I realized it could not be far from the truth and they spend most of their time abroad sitting and waiting in dreary offices to inspect shipments or to broker a new deal.
My mom’s ambition was to start her own line of jewelry and sell these to her already large group of clients in the jewelry business in Greece. As Greece was not yet part of the European Union the market was very closed of, free of international competition. Her designs were made to her instructions and she started selling these pieces to jewelry stores and brands across the country.
The designs already had a classic look and feel, but looking back at them now, makes them prototypical Nineties designs. A lot of glitz and glam and a now holds barred approach to the Nineties interpretation of what a classical design should look like. It took almost 20 years of designing, making and selling jewelry before the current line of Kyveli Design was produced.
As I grew older I got more and more interested in technology and considered the jewelry business to be old-fashioned and “offline”. I studied to be a lab technician and worked in an actual laboratory until I came across an online opportunity as many of us did in the early ‘00s. I jumped into a start-up with some of my friends and we failed spectacularly at what we set out to do.
Unwavered, I decided to continue my studies abroad. The current economic climate what it was at that time and I felt trapped in Athens and even though I had rarely been outside the city even, I packed my bags to Amsterdam, for a post-HBO study of marketing.
As I explored expat life in Amsterdam, studied like hell and started my own website building company I kept getting pulled into my parents business. While visiting during holidays we had long talks and for the first time, my parents gave me insights into how they started the business and how much work and energy went into making it a success. I guess that rubbed off on me.
After several months of traveling back and forth and formulating a plan, I made a decision. I would take my mother’s designs and my father’s connections and start my own brand of jewelry. Based on the classical and tested designs of my parents I knew I could make an impact on a market that loves new collections every season, but also appreciated the classical heritage that all jewel designs have. I picked my designs, started a production line and here we are now. 2019.
Together with my business partner Rutger we are working hard to make the legacy of my parents into an online business, selling classical and quality pieces.
