Marla Aaron is rethinking the traditional business model of the fine jewelry world. Move over jewelry cabinets and velvet covered display boards, the fine jewelry vending machine is in town.
The approach maybe unorthodox but the popularity of the concept is undeniable. After rolling out her first full service fine jewelry vending machine at The Brooklyn Museum last year, Aaron has restocked the machine and it can now be found at The William Vale, Brooklyn’s newest full service hotel, exclusively for this summer.
Expect a stylish-come-industrial amalgamation of chain, hardware and then some more chain in the collection. The signature design that started with one lock has now expanded into an entire collection which Aaron notes is meant to be worn in infinite ways and used as “jewel tools”. There's a sense of architectural brutality and it's beautiful.
To Aaron the vending machine was a natural evolution, as a brand that started out direct to consumers, she values that relationship she has built up. This combined with the need to reach consumers in an innovative and new way was what lead Aaron to the vending machine medium.
How would you describe your aesthetic? Far-reaching, wildly unhinged, light-hearted. It may seem strange to say but functionality plays a starring role in our aesthetic.
What are your influences? Influenced equally by antique jewelry from every era, industrial landscapes, the way stuff works, color--anything could influence the work and it is unlikely to be other jewelry. The best example of this is the development of our earrings which exist because I was trying to make an earring that was light and convertible.What makes our locks special is their weightiness which is the precise opposite of what makes earrings special. I was on a zipline one day with my children and in seeing the way that we "clicked in" to the different sections of the line literally gave me the idea for how our earring mechanism could work. Our convertible earrings are a literal translation of this into fine jewelry.
What/who has had the biggest impact on your career? Openness. I think being open is the most important part of success and by that I mean--other points of view. I always start from a point that I don't know what I'm doing and I'm trying to figure it out. I truly feel I have no idea what the right way to do most things are so I'm open to finding the best way for my company. For me. This has served me well in my work life prior to starting my company and even more so now.
You’ve reinvented the customer experience via the vending machine - what does ‘customer experience’ mean to you? It means everything and by everything I mean we have a specific way we speak to customers across every dimension of our business. There is not one interaction with our customer that is not an opportunity to engage them in our jewelry. This means we are constantly evaluating every element of that experience. Whether it be the captions on our Instagram posts or the entire "opening experience" of our packaging, to what happens when a customer makes a return, we are constantly thinking about all of it. The vending machine is this experience on steroids. A customer encounters our vending machine in an unexpected place and somehow we have to pique their interest enough to engage with our machine and perhaps even buy something. We hope we manage to do this through the visuals on the machine, the video content and of course the buying experience which culminates in them reaching into the suede lined pocket of the machine to retrieve our boxed and ribboned jewelry.
Who is your customer? Because we have such a significant online business, we have lots of data about our customers and what we have learned is that the people who love our jewelry cut across every demographic preconceived notion we might have had. Essentially they range in age from 18-60 with the bulk being between the ages of 25-45 and they are mostly women who are buying (and in many instances collecting) the jewelry for themselves. We know of more than a few women who own more than 40 of our locks.
Where would you like to grow your brand? Our jewelry collection will continue to iterate in ways that I hope will surprise our customers. And we will make more vending machines hopefully for use in other countries. We will continue to seek out retail partners in different markets who are aligned with us--strong independent stores that create extraordinary experiences for their customers--those are the stores we want to be in. And perhaps some of our own stores...
Find out more about the designer on marlaaaron.com
