As Portland heads toward the first ever sustainable fashion week, we turn the spotlight on yet another Portland social entrepreneur, Lucina jewelry’s, Shauna Mohr, who in two years has built a company selling modern jewelry designed and made here in Portland of fair trade and ethically sourced components from around the world. Lucina’s modern jewelry features ethically-sourced gemstones, hand-forged silver, and natural elements like the bright red choclo beads and hand-carved tagua (a nut grown in Ecuador that is referred to as “vegetable ivory”…prior to plastic, 20% of the buttons in the US were made of tagua).
On the eve of a trunk show at Greenloop (8005 SW 13th) this evening, Friday, October 5 from 6-9 PM for Portland-based fair trade jewelry company, Lucina, ultra had a conversation with Lucina owner, Shauna Mohr.
What prompted you to start Lucina?
Well, I had a daughter. My daughter Ingrid was born in 2004. I’d been working for the ten years before in strategy and management consulting and in the specialty coffee industry. I’d done my Masters research on specialty coffee in Costa Rica. I traveled a ton, and most recently had been working as consultant in specialty coffee, specifically fair trade and organic coffee.
I was interested in unlocking new markets for very high quality hand crafted goods. I’ve always loved jewelry and fashion talent. I wanted to find an opportunity to accomplish social mission in away that appealed to people based on product alone. I wanted products that didn’t look like what people would expect when they hear “sustainable” or “fair trade,” goods that had a design sensibility that resonated with our target demographic, namely our friends in San Francisco, in LA, in New York. And that didn’t exist.
How did you initially find suppliers in Ecuador and Columbia of elements like the choclo beads and tagua?
For a little while, I worked in Portland for an importer of specialty coffee. 10% of that is sexy, fabulous travel, mountains of Nicaragua, Peru. But the bulk of that work is investing in relationships with suppliers, investing money, infrastructure, technology for people in rural areas to help them get their goods to market.
I looked at some importers of fair trade handcrafted goods. I talked to some people I knew in fair trade coffee and asked, “Do you know these people?” I needed to find out who was reputable. There is no independent certification of fair trade handcrafted goods. I looked at a lot of different goods. Fabric looked to ethnic to go season to season. Then we found these choclo beads. And over time it’s grown. We added silver elements from Bali. Most recently we were trying to find out if there were any gemstones out there that are being done ethically. And we found Women for Women International in Afghanistan.
And how did you connect with your designers, Ronda Kelly and Scarlet Chamberlin here in Portland?
I started looking for designers who might be interested in using their passion for design to create products that had an additional meaning. Ronda and Scarlet popped up really quickly. Ronda was a neighbor, and I showed her the choclo beads and other samples, and she got really excited. Friends introduced us to Scarlet.
Because part of your business is about supporting women in the developing world, I’m curious how are you balancing family and working?
All of us have had to …I had to let go a lot of my past conditioning, perspectives, on what work is supposed to look like. Going to an office, having a set schedule. It’s not even an option . A lot of moms find that . You have to create something new. We did have an office downtown. We have now transformed how we work, a network of home offices. It works because we focus on a shared vision of what we are doing, who’s doing what, and when it’s going to be done. We haven’t figured it all out yet. I’d say it’s an ongoing inquiry. I have a 6 month old baby girl now too.
How important do you find the story of your jewelry is to the people that buy it? Or are they just buying a beautiful thing?
We have two sets of customers. All of our house accounts, the people who came to us, found us and asked us if we can carry your line. This has taken off since April. We were featured in Ideal Bite, an eco living, light green living newsletter. We all the sudden were getting one inquiry a week with people saying, “I’m opening up an eco boutique in San Diego, Boston, Aspen.” They are all about the mission. I couldn’t find anything that I love, and I love your line. We have other accounts… I don’t know that they care.
But where we get most of our energy is from people who really dig our mission. They become partners. Greenloop? Aysia [Wright] gets what we’re about. It’s a gratifying experience. They’re excited about it.
What’s next for Lucina?
We’re actually looking at that now. Lucina is committed to being a source for inspiration and transformational change of what a fashion and jewelry company can be. Can we look at the way we do everything , the way we do business, can we make more of an impact in everthing we do? I see us working more closely and investing more time and energy in people whose missions are aligned with us. I’ve been working environmental stuff for 15 years.
We’re part of a broader awakening in apparel, jewelry, accessories: fabulous design, product, story behind it and reaching out and working with retailers and other partners who want to be part of creating a different world. We want to be part of that in a positive, inspiring way. If we could be a force of good, do something that works for everybody, what would that look like?
WHAT TO DO NOW?