2020 08 - MUJER EJECUTIVA

SUCCESS STORY: Calista, design that tells stories

By Selene Ramirez

The creativity, talent and desire to start a business of two sisters came together to create Calista, a proudly Mexican jewelry brand.

Sisters Laura and Regina Hernández, owners and founders of the jewelry brand Calista, undertook this project taking advantage of each other's talents. According to Regina, the oldest and avid in the administrative area, she always wanted to have a business, however, she lacked the creative sense to build a product that could be marketed. Fortunately, Laura's talent was that ideal complement.

Laura, who studied design and had already been involved in the jewelry world, approached her sister to create this alliance that would lead them to create “the perfect equation.”

“At first everyone went their own way, it wasn't until at a meeting that she (Laura) expressed her frustration to me that she was getting stuck with the business part; I continued with this concern to undertake. So we started talking about it, organizing, I left my corporate job and we started with the marketing plans, business lines, and brand creation. Laura was already very advanced in the concept part; That's how we started,” Regina remembers.
A story to tell
According to Laura, the goal was never to create pieces just for the sake of it, but rather she wanted them to tell a story.

“The inspiration behind the entire Calista brand are mythological stories from around the world. Mythology has always attracted my attention. I believe that throughout history humanity always uses certain stories to try to explain phenomena, events or feelings, all through these fantastic stories. So what we try to do with the brand is find a story that catches our attention and convey it through certain key elements in our pieces,” he says.
The idea is, adds Laura, to create a sentimental bond with the client that goes beyond the aesthetic, adding value to the design and being a differentiator.

For her part, Regina comments that, from her trench, she has ensured that all of Laura's creative ideas are transmitted correctly to her audience.

“We want to make sure that all of that background is well communicated to our clients,” he adds.
Facing the crisis
Without a doubt, in this and other types of businesses, technology has played a fundamental role in the transformation of markets in the pandemic. In the case of Calista, it has marketed through the Internet from the beginning, which is why for the Hernández sisters, assuming this change derived from the crisis was a little easier, since there were previous bases.

“Since we started, we already had a page; However, we were clear that the national market was not developed enough to be able to live 100% on the Internet. Because of this we had a plan to develop little by little (…) in fact in March we started marketing on Amazon (…) so this transformation did not catch us at zero, but we have had to move much faster,” says Regina.
This reaction and advance of digital commerce has made it clear to them, according to Laura, that it is time to invest in these sales channels. That is why for now, its plans for the short and medium term are focused on marketing its products 100% online.

“We are even considering that when this happens, we will be largely focused on online sales through different platforms, whether it be our website or Amazon,” they point out.
Finally, the sisters point out that a fundamental part of their future plans is to make the quality of Mexican jewelry visible.

“The pandemic opens up many possibilities, so when everything goes online, borders are erased and we have tried to take advantage of this to expand internationally and contact platforms, stores, buyers in other countries. So far we have had several achievements and we have some projects in development; but we are already selling in Belgium, we entered the United States with Amazon and we have a show room in Los Angeles. All this because one of our important objectives is to bring and make Mexican design known to other countries,” they concluded.

Read the note here: https://mujerejecutiva.com.mx/101-empresarios/caso-de-exito-calista-diseno-que-cuenta-historias/