Isabel Herrera Jewelry: Profile by Writer and Contributor Emily McGinn
If you stumble across Isabel Herrera’s Instagram page, you will find a variety of one-of-a-kind earrings, rings and necklaces, all handcrafted and tailor-made. This is Herrera’s specialty — and a skill she has been mastering since before she came to the United States.
Originally from Mexico, Herrera recalls that her grandfather owned silver mines there. As a result, she was in contact with high-end jewelry from an early age. This eventually inspired her to study jewelry making.
Herrera studied jewelry making and design in Florence, Italy, for eight years before returning to Mexico to build her own high-end jewelry business, which she described as having a “David Yurman style,” inspired by the American jeweler known for pulling silver into mainstream luxury jewelry designs. She ended up finding success, opening up multiple stores in Mexico, including one in Mexico City, and one in Barcelona.
However, things changed for Herrera once she married her husband, who was from the U.S., and she became a mother.
“In 2009, it started to be very difficult for me to go back and forth with a baby and schools and then another baby,” Herrera says. “So I decided to sell my company in Mexico.”
Herrera was at a turning point. Without her business and now based in Southern California, she set her sights on the American market, snagging a degree in gemology at GIA in Carlsbad along the way. In 2012, she registered her brand in the U.S.
“I was very sad at the beginning [after selling my business], but then I got over it, and I went back to my original trade, which was what I learned in Italy — just gold, diamonds, exclusive design, and it fit really well with my new American lifestyle,” Herrera says. “Because [as a mother] it's a difficult lifestyle — you have to cook, clean, be a mother. It's a lot, and so doing exclusive design was really good for me, because I could work while the kids were at school or napping.”
Slowly, she began to acquire both international and domestic clients seeking high-end jewelry. Though it is a different brand than her original chain of stores based in Mexico, she finds creativity in the variety of pieces she works on.
“I produce whatever the client wants. That's why it's so different,” she says. “I always have my own little style for what I like, but it's very tailor-made [for the client]. So some people like something very simple, and some people want color, stones and more exotic combinations.”
Now, Herrera has a design studio in Lunada Bay Plaza where she meets with clients (by appointment only). Projects can take days or months to complete, depending on the complexity of each piece. As she works with clients, Herrera presents sketches and technical design ideas, which the client then approves before it goes onto production.
Herrera is also known for doing jewelry remodeling. Clients will bring her pieces of jewelry they own or inherited that are dated, and Herrera uses the materials in the original jewelry piece to redesign the piece for a fresher, more modern aesthetic.
Though Herrera runs a successful business now, it was not always an easy journey. For example, she had to adapt to a new jewelry market when she started her brand in the U.S., which meant she had to find high-quality gem suppliers and jewelers, and understand the fiscal rules and regulations regarding gold under U.S. law.
“There are a lot of rules in my field because gold is a currency,” Herrera says. “I had to learn about the ecological protections, because we use a lot of very toxic chemicals. You cannot just throw them away in the toilet. There's a process. Just like the medical field, you have to save them in special containers. So it was more learning. Learning takes time, and meeting the right people [takes time].”
Although she had to navigate a new market, Herrera has found success, especially here in Palos Verdes, where she has developed a sizable clientele.
“The nicest part was actually meeting the clients,” she says. “It's so personalized, I need to understand [my clients’] lifestyles. I need to understand what they like, and make sure that the design that I make is suitable for [their] activities. I get to meet the people, and then it's nice — it’s like you make a friend, and then people start to recommend you, and then they invite you to coffee. That’s the nicest part of the job.”
Check out some of Herrera’s designs on Facebook and on Instagram.
Bio:
Emily McGinn is a journalist based in the Los Angeles area. She enjoys reporting on and writing about a variety of topics from lifestyle to news, especially in her areas of specialty, environmental science and political science.
