Behind The Design | NOUVE

I think it would have been four or five years ago that we had our first order come through from the US. It was for our two stone Toi et Moi ring, Leá, a pear and a marquise shaped stone. And ever since then, we've just noticed that there's an audience there that we haven't engaged with specifically, but there must be something connecting well, because they seem to keep finding us. And even more so, New York specifically. We know that there are a few of our rings wandering around New York as engagement rings, which is such a lovely thought. The US has sort of become our next largest market almost by accident.
When the opportunity came to spend some time in New York and hold a pop-up there, of all the new markets we could look at entering, that felt like the best fit. The decision came about because a company called We Wear Australian approached us last year for more of an event-style appointment pop-up, which is a familiar concept to us. We started doing our residency about four years ago, popping up in cities in a really relaxed, home environment. That concept actually came from the very first appointments I ever held, from my living room when Harry was a baby.

We Wear Australian is a company that helps Australian brands navigate entry into the US, because it's quite complicated with taxes, duties, tariffs, state-level governments, all of those things. We were a little nervous about all of that, but they've been able to help us navigate it together as a team so you feel very supported. We also have a beautiful location on a busy shopping street in Soho. The shopfront looks absolutely incredible, and we're very excited to be going over for the opening in April.
The collection we're launching is called Nouve, it's a take on word new, we thought that felt really appropriate because of the connection between Newcastle and New York. It's the five main new pieces we'll be launching this year as part of our bridal collection. We're launching them in store at the Soho pop-up & partnering with a bridal house for Bridal Fashion Week in New York.

"Entering the US market at the moment does feel a little bit nerve wracking. But I think that despite everything, keeping your brand momentum and pushing forward even when it feels a little scary is really important."

Whenever we start to look at a new design, a new collection, we're always considering what feels modern, what feels beautiful but experimental, and what are we not seeing in the current market. When you're designing in a market like Australia, where there are so many beautiful designers actively creating things, coming up with something that feels genuinely new, minimal, and aligned with our brand story is actually quite challenging. So to come across these stones felt really significant.
The elongated pear, especially to the length I'm talking about, has a ratio of 2, which is more typical of a stone like a marquise. That's something I haven't seen before. I'm not just looking at the ratio. I'm also looking at the shape, because a pear has multiple measurements. Not only does it have a width and a height, it also has incremental measurements as you come down the stone. Fancy stones have so much personality, you can get all sorts of different shapes and styles even within quite strict measurements. So we're really looking at the full footprint of the stone and getting that consistency of shape across every piece.

Then we're playing with proportions, playing with arrangements. In each design, the tip faces down which is a more modern take, because traditionally pears are situated in a teardrop fashion. Our two stone drop earrings have the points facing inwards toward each other. It gives them almost a spade shape. Something I haven't really seen before. We've also got a beautiful pair of studs featuring quite a large diamond, where we've positioned the post at the back slightly off-centre so the pear actually sits lower on the lobe rather than fully centred on your piercing.
And then there's the lariat, which is doubling as a body chain. Two metres of chain from the stone, going up and around the shoulder, underneath the arm, connecting at the back on both sides. The pear can sit in the middle of your breastplate or on your back, if you're wearing a low-cut dress, the diamond floats at the front. If you're wearing a high neck and low back, you reverse it and wear the diamond in the middle of your back. It works almost like a backpack, you put it on and it fastens at the back or the front depending on which way you wear it, and creates the illusion of a floating pear diamond. This feels like a runway moment.

I think there have been a few moments over the last couple of years where the world has felt a little bit unsteady, a little bit unknown. And in business it can be doubly scary, because the weight of responsibility of being a sustainable business, not only in practice but in longevity, definitely weighs heavy on Maddy and I.
Entering the US market at the moment does feel a little bit nerve wracking. But I think that despite everything, keeping your brand momentum and pushing forward even when it feels a little scary is really important. It makes you look hard at how you operate as a business, and that's certainly what we've been doing over the last few months, making sure we've got really strong foundations to weather whatever's coming. Navigating the gold prices over the last twelve months has given us a little bit of insight into what things could look like.