THE JOLY sisters and Wakefield natives are founders of Lovewell, a company that manufactures and sells necklaces that can be layered. Lovewell founders, from left: Renee Dorney, Angela DeFrancesco and Natalie Joly.
By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — Pssst — all girls going to the prom in June. Have you bought your dress yet? Shoes? Jewelry?
If not, then you might want to check out the Lovewell necklaces now for sale at J’Adore consignment shop on Main Street.
Lovewell is a line of handmade bead-bar necklaces that are meant to be layered, either with other Lovewell necklaces or with other pieces you love.
Natalie Joly, along with her sisters Renee Dorney and Angela DeFrancesco, daughters of Debra and Jim Joly (he owns Boardwalk Realty), launched the Lovewell business last November with three necklace lines that fit individual styles — Boho (free spirit), Moto-Rock (colorless metals, crystals and glass) and classic (pearls, gold, silver and traditional colors most girls love).
By mixing and matching the Lovewell styles and and metals, each wearer will reveal her own style and personality.
Lovewell shoppers can mix and match or buy single strands in choker or midi-length styles to get the perfect layer. Genuine stones such as rose quartz and amethyst, as well as black Swarovski crystals, are used in designs and can be layered with beaded pieces in bright yellow, blue, orange, red, lime green and several other colors.
Natalie Joly said that the concept for Lovewell jewelry originated at their family vacation home on Lovewell Pond in Fryeburg, Maine.
“It seemed fitting to name the brand after its birthplace and we also love what the word exudes,” she said. The Lovewell motto appears on the back of a little booklet about the company’s products: If you do well what you love, everything else will fall into place.”
Said Angela: “Lovewell is a vision the three of us have had for years; in fact, we had the name Lovewell before we actually finalized our product.
“We wanted to be able to use our sister power to create a unique brand with a cohesive product line that could really play up our individual styles. Most important, we wanted our image and product to be something in which most girls could relate to and afford — and continue to come back for more.”
Angela said that after she and Renee graduated college together in 2009 they went straight into their respective careers in finance and engineering. At the same time, they found themselves looking for a creative outlet outside of their daily jobs so they decided to draft the Lovewell Business Plan from scratch.
“We have had countless conversations on the direction of our business, product development, social media and marketing strategy, sales and outreach, to name a few. In the end, everything comes down to the concept of one little bead-bar necklace that, when carefully designed and made, will provide the perfect layering accessory,” said Angela.
Getting Lovewell off the ground has required a lot of time and hard work, yet somehow it never feels like work, she said.
“I genuinely enjoy all facets of co-running this business — from the financial spreadsheets to the production and inventory, marketing ideas and especially hosting parties and trunk shows. The best part about it is that I’m spending much more of my free time with my sisters in a social, creative and productive way.”
Renee said that for her Lovewell is really about two things, the first being a creative outlet and the second being an endeavor that she has ownership of.
“From the aspect of creativity, obviously designing the jewelry, choosing beads, pairing styles, etc., is a huge piece of the creative end of Lovewell. But a less obvious aspect of the creativity that goes into this is the branding, marketing and merchandising and that’s what I really enjoy. When you tell people you went to business school, I think the boring lightbulb kind of goes off in their head but there’s a huge aspect to business that is super creative,” said Renee.
“It’s so much more rewarding and motivating to work on something that you are putting your personal stamp on, so to speak. Now that we are in full swing with this and approaching retail stores and networking and telling people our story, I have been so pleasantly surprised by how well received it is to ‘sell’ yourself.
“What I think we all really enjoy the most is the entrepreneurial effort that has gone into this. Like any business endeavor, there are highs and lows. The great thing about doing this with two other people is that we all have our own strengths and perspectives, which lend to more capabilities and the highs are more fun to celebrate and the lows are easier to laugh off
“We are a business rather than just crafters,” said Natalie. “One day we hope to see our line in places like The Paper Store. Our necklaces make great gifts, too, because they appeal to all ages.
“We have a very large backlog of new necklaces designs, styles and lengths that we will roll out over time.”
Stay tuned and watch for new Boho, Moto-Rock and classic looks on www.lovewellbrand.com.
