Falconiere
Who: Juniper Rose
What: Jewelry
How:

What did you do before launching your own line/what is your fashion background?
My fashion background is clothing.  I went to Parsons but the majority of my career was in Los Angeles, where I designed for Earl Jean, owned my own contemporary sportswear line, (carried by Barneys, Steven Alan, etc) and finally, ran the international design office for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s kids line with a London base.

How did the line come to be?
I was disenchanted with clothing and was looking for something new to do.  I was working on writing a young adult, fantasy novel, and I found I was spending a lot of time defining what the characters wore & more specifically, their jewelry.  The book was all about fallen Kings and Queens and the children they left behind to grow up wild.  Their jewelry was a combination of the heir-loom pieces that had gone to tatters, combined with scraps of cloth and elements of the forest all woven together. 

What has been your biggest challenge?
Right now it’s the loss of power!  One week to go until the show & the week after that is Coterie, and I am currently without power due to the hurricane.  Other than that, I would say my biggest challenge is to find a balance for my line that has both creative, editorial appeal, as well as being commercial.  My natural inclination is for the over-the-top, show-stopping pieces, but I am always challenging myself to also come up with the more wearable options.

What’s the ballsiest thing you’ve had to do to for your business?
When you have your own business, everything you do is ball-sy.  At every step, except for the creative expression, it would be a million times easier to work for someone else, get a steady paycheck and be able to leave things behind at the end of the day.  When it’s your own thing, you can never work enough.  You can never do enough to keep things going.  When their are mistakes or problems, they all come down to you to work through.

Where do you see Falconiere five years from now?
Five years from now, I’d like Falconiere to be an established brand for luxury costume jewelry.  

What advice would you give to an aspiring designer?
Get as much experience as you can working for someone else, and then if you have the guts & something that’s just got to get out creatively, try working for yourself!