La Raffinerie Interview!

Last week, I had a chance to interview Julia, the owner of La Raffinerie, a Montreal-based company that produces beautiful hand made necklaces and earrings. Before La Raffinerie, Julia worked as a business adviser, but realized that she rather start her own business instead! She had been making jewelry on the side, but a year-and-a-half ago, she made a decision to focus full-time on her craft, and she hasn’t regretted it one bit! With her beautiful statement pieces in stores across Canada, and her recent collaboration with Anthropology, La Raffinerie is doing better then ever!

Julia, tell us, what do you love most about your job?

I like not doing the same thing every day. Sometimes I’m doing more creative stuff, like designing new models, and other days I take on the more marketing aspects of the job, which I love. Actually, I used to teach marketing, so I love marketing and all the social media, so every day is different. I’m not a nine-to-five person! (Laughs).

Where do you get your inspirations?

When I travel, that’s a big inspiration for me. I wish I could travel each time I design a new collection, unfortunately that’s not usually the case! The last collection was inspired by Mexico since I’ve always been very influenced by Latin American culture. For the spring 2013 collection, the colours of Brazil inspired me! Colours are another big source of inspiration for me, I like to mix different colours together and then develop my designs from there.

Tell us about your latest fall/ winter 2012 collection.

This season the collection is called Chic Gypsy because I’m very inspired by the bohemian look.

And I love burgundy, which is- well, I’m lucky, because this season it’s everywhere! – (Laughs) so I developed a theme around that.

What kind of materials do you work with to make your jewelry?

I used to make very vintage-looking jewelry but because there was a lot of that in the market already, I started to develop techniques using ribbon. So it’s textiles that’s wrapped, and I use semi-precious stones.

Describe your personal style…

It’s casual, urban/bohemian. But it has to be comfortable!
I often wear a lot of darks, but with more colorful accessories, which is why I always make my necklaces very colorful! I also love mixing and matching prints.

Since you used to work as a business adviser, what advice can you give to entrepreneurs starting their own business?

It’s better to start part time at the beginning! Sometimes people invest a lot of money right away, but it’s good to first test your market. However then you have to make a decision as to when you’re going to take it to the next step, because its when you take that step that you find out if the business is going to work or not. You don’t have to invest that much in the beginning.
And then find your own style. For example, there’s a lot of vintage inspired jewelry out there, but maybe there’s something you can do to spice it up and be unique. It’s a competitive market. And there’s always the forever 21s out there making 5$ necklaces! (Laughs) That’s why if you make your product more unique, it’s harder for people to copy it!

Finally tell us about your other project- A La mode Montreal?
When I started La Raffinerie, three years ago, I also started the website A La mode Montreal, a website about fashion trends and good places to visit when you are in Montreal. Sometimes I also talk about my experiences as a designer. It’s basically les coup coeurs mode de Montreal!

What made you want to start A la Mode Montreal?

I’m a big fan of Refinery 29 and in Montreal at the time we didn’t have anything like it in French, so I decided to start the website.

Check out A la Mode Montreal: http://www.alamodemontreal.com/
Shop La Raffinerie necklaces: http://www.onzeshop.com/en/indie/