Marina Pecorino
Managing Editor of Content & Statistics
At this year’s Exposition, Tawapa won the multiple booth award with their dark unicorn themed display. I had the opportunity to interview Phoebe, owner and designer for Tawapa, about how their processes and ideas have evolved during 20 years of producing jewelry for the industry. Manufacturing and distribution to over 200 countries is a huge job, and it sounds like Tawapa is constantly fine-tuning their processes to meet demand and introduce new designs.
Marina: Tawapa has been producing jewelry for our industry for 20 years. How have the manufacturing and order processes changed in that time?
Tawapa: 20 years is a long time. Everything has changed, and then changed back, and then changed again. The manufacturing process used to be much much simpler. In the beginning we only produced carved jewelry. Ideas were communicated to the carvers via my drawings. I started Tawapa in 1996 working with the carver who was making buttons for my clothing line at the time. I loved him, but the industry grew quickly in the beginning; he began taking on a lot of clients and our quality and security were compromised. So I started the Tawapa carving workshop in about ‘98 or ‘99. Building our own workshop made it possible to hire a team focused only on Tawapa. This meant, better quality, consistency and prices. It also gave steady jobs to a small team who really got to know our product and our vision. These are the guys who still carve all of Tawapa’s organic jewelry. Our relationship has been long and prosperous. It’s been great growing up together.
We are now, clearly, more focused on metals which is a huge shift in manufacturing (and designing). I started the Tawapa metal workshop about 7-8 years ago. This was the next major milestone in our production capabilities. I learned so much in this process and was once again able to provide solid jobs to a strong team who could grow with us. Here we have our master wax carver who works beside me on new designs. She is, incidentally one of the only female wax carvers in Bali. She is highly skilled and can work sometimes up to one month on extremely complicated designs. Her finished waxes go to casting and then come back to the workshop for finishing. Besides our wax carver we have 2 amazing sample makers. These guys make hand made samples that don’t need cast pieces for the design. They are also the ones who finish our “masters” for casting and who consistently help me problem solve; they are our engineers. Their skill surpasses most silversmiths I have met, so their time is precious.
Next we have our production team. These people are piecing every item of jewelry together with their hands, their bench, a torch and some solder. Our team is stellar and coincidentally predominantly female, which is very uncommon in the jewelry business. They come to us with different degrees of skills. It’s been amazing to watch these women excel, deepening their skills while sharing, teaching, and learning from each other. The intent is that everyone who works for us learns greater skills for the future while they become experts working piece by piece on Tawapa jewelry.
Using metal is infinitely inspiring to me. Every day and every year I learn more about the process, while creating new processes and transforming old ones.
Regarding the ordering process, we have gone from producing stock and selling what we have, to primarily taking orders and filling them, to finding a happy medium. Producing quantity and quality to fill orders in a timely fashion is an inherent challenge in this business where everything is handmade in small facilities. Through the combination of in-house stock and taking orders, we are able to hone in on this great conundrum and continue to fill orders better and faster.
Marina: Tawapa is woman-owned and operated. Has Tawapa chosen to always employ only women and why?
Tawapa: This has been a natural evolution of the company. We do not exclude men. We love men 🙂 I think energetically, the environment Jenella and I have created over time is more feminine, and therefore we attract females. I know that in our production studio, since we have balanced the gender scheme, it is a much gentler environment for everyone to work in. Incidentally, this choice was not at my request, it just happened naturally.
Marina: Tawapa offers a huge selection of designs and materials, which must require a lot of space and a wide variety of skills. How is quality control handled within the manufacturing process.
Tawapa: As I mentioned earlier, we have a carving workshop and a metals workshop. We also have started sampling ourselves here in Los Angeles, which helps speed the whole process along.
We have at least 3 stages of QC. The carving workshop quality controls everything they produce, then they deliver to the metal workshop. Here, we have full time QC people dedicated to checking the quality while also checking and testing and double testing everything that is produced in the metal workshop. Next, all of that jewelry lands in our studio in Los Angeles, where we have 1-3 people checking every single piece of jewelry that comes through here…. again. It’s a very important process that takes a lot of time and employs several people.
Marina: Where do you guys find inspiration for new designs and jewelry lines?
Tawapa: I am inspired by everything all the time! It’s limitless. But I like to focus on a few important topics every year or every season.
We did a large collection of geometric inspired jewelry a couple years ago. This year I was inspired by gothic and deco stained glass. I mean, it is infinite, and this inspiration is what drives me.
Marina: Tawapa has released all sorts of new designs within the last year. Which new designs are the Tawapa pirates most excited about this season?
Tawapa: Oh wow… so much! To begin with, we are excited about horn again for the first time in awhile. The simple sophisticated geometric shapes that are a long way from previous “tribal jewelry” are really changing our current outlook on carved jewelry. I wear horn again! Besides that, the bondage eyelets are super innovative and new. (We love all the new eyelets.)
We are thrilled about all of the septum jewelry and push pins. The black nano coating has added a refreshing new look to everything. A few favorite designs would be the Minona, Valkyrie Shield, the Owl, Origami Weights, Unicorn Weights, and Notre Dame (inspired from the window of Notre Dame). We are also excited about the inclusion of stone in so many of our new designs.
Marina: Where does Tawapa find inspiration for the Conference booth displays?
Tawapa: We LOVE creating displays! We spend way too much time, effort and money on it, because we enjoy it so much. This year that unicorn (previously a horse) came to us magically, and we sort of built the display around her, deciding that matte black was this year’s color choice. I’ve also been really inspired by street art lately. I’ve been learning screen printing, so some of that carried over to the overall look of the campaign. Every year is different depending on current inspirations. #currentmood Going all white a couple years ago was a bold move for a dark industry that I think everyone found surprisingly refreshing.
Marina: Does Tawapa have any suggestions about how to handle and display your jewelry in the shop?
Tawapa: Be innovative with your materials. Think outside of traditional “displays” and use unusual items and materials for your displays. Creating multiple levels is really important to us. The key is to create a visually stimulating display that maintains an essence of simplicity so that it does not overwhelm the viewer. It’s a thin line. You need to wow your customers with an amazing display that doesn’t take focus away from the jewelry, but rather, draws them in and makes it easy for them to digest, and want to buy.
Marina: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the Point readership?
Tawapa: We are just really humbled that we are still here after 20 years! It has been an exciting ride. It is awesome to be 20 years in and feeling more inspired than ever. We are so grateful to all of our shops, piercers, friends, and community who have stood by us all of these years. I think that in this industry more than most, there is a very symbiotic relationship between all of us. All of us at Tawapa love and respect the relationship we have within this greater community that goes beyond manufacturing jewelry. It is a relationship that has withstood the test of time… and it feels great! So, thanks, you guys! We love you!
