THE TALK: Made in Italy is Still a Precious Asset
Re-discover the value of authenticity through real content: according to Maria Luisa Pianegonda, the founder of Maria e Luisa Jewels, that is the re-starting point
How has this crisis changed your way of doing business?
This pandemic has forced our timing to slow down, highlighting some of the jewelry industry’s dynamics that were too often oriented by mere profit without taking the human factor into account. Maria e Luisa Jewels has always focused on people, which is why it makes jewels meant to be travel companions, not items of consumption. Luxury cannot and must not be fast, it needs attention, quality and workmanship. We have invested in these values in the past and they are what we are investing in now and will invest in in the future. At the company level, nothing has changed. Our aim has always been to give people and families value and quality of life. We are working remotely as much as possible because we think that happy people make greater professional, qualitative and human contributions to the company and the families themselves.
Have you introduced any initiatives to reduce the impact of this situation caused by COVID-19 to a minimum?
We are planning new sales strategies and, in the meantime, we are trying to further relations with the final customers by increasing social activities.
What worries you most about the future?
If you want to be a champion, you have to train every day. We have to do the same. We need to be ready and to have innovative ideas that we know will attract and generate interest and emotion. Doubts arise with every new day and this new crisis also poses the same questions: will I be worthy of future challenges and change?
How are you proceeding with your production and distribution activities?
The year began in the best of ways. Obviously, with this emergency, both production and distribution have stopped. Now we have to help our customers to sell the stock in their warehouses. Now more than ever, being active on the social channels and giving visibility and space to collections is absolutely vital. That’s where the store is now, on a screen. We have to understand the potentials and opportunities and act quickly. This is what we are asking our commercial partners to do because jewels are dreams and dreams cannot stop.
What kind of feedback are you getting from your customers?
The most frequent question we have heard lately is: «Will our customers still want to wear jewelry after a period such as this? » We have pondered at great length on this and we have found the answer in the desire for beauty and rebirth that has accompanied every difficult moment in history. Jewelry has always existed and it has always been an expression of identity and belonging. Selling and buying modalities will obviously change. We will need to be very careful but it will also be a time to express our own skills and professionalism. Empathy and trusting relations will be indispensable factors.
How important is systemization?
Systemization is fundamental, regardless of this moment. United, we are stronger and better prepared. In my opinion, jewelry spin-off would work better and have greater results if we could transmit beauty, art, workmanship and creativity in a more collective manner. We have to preserve our district with skills and tools that can help both large companies and small artisan workshops, which are the framework and tradition of our country and our profession. This is why I think that an agreement between jewelry companies is not only necessary but could also work.
Where do you think the greatest problems will be in coming out of this crisis?
Never before has ‘us’ been more important than ‘I’. Together we can overcome this crisis, together we can recover. We therefore need to follow the rules and be ready to re-start by giving our utmost.
How has communication changed during the pandemic?
With the discretion and respect that the moment demands and that we all feel deeply. We want to nurture love by drawing on dreams and the future. Creativity, art and design have always generated beauty and strength and it is also thanks to these that we will be able to overcome this difficult period. We cannot and must not suppress our natural instinct which would like to shout out loud to the world “we can do it, everything will be alright” but we want to do it in our own way so that the days will be easier and our voices will continue to be heard. That is why we have continued to post jewelry on our social pages, not only to display beauty but also to show that our product is Made in Italy, made by hand and respects the ethical code that many rightly speak of.
A thought on the future of jewelry?
With the crisis comes renewal and reconstruction through the desire for creativity and beauty. The jewelry world can re-discover the value of authenticity thanks to companies that express real, tangible content. Manufacturing quality and innovation find space at the expense of those companies that invest in huge marketing operations that blind the eyes of the final consumer, urging them to buy. And then, let’s not forget Made in Italy, the feather in our cap, that absolute value that makes every Italian creation full of styles, dreams and the “dolce vita”. Made in Italy has never been so full of pride nor so strong. We have to re-start from this, without making compromises.
This pandemic has forced our timing to slow down, highlighting some of the jewelry industry’s dynamics that were too often oriented by mere profit without taking the human factor into account. Maria e Luisa Jewels has always focused on people, which is why it makes jewels meant to be travel companions, not items of consumption. Luxury cannot and must not be fast, it needs attention, quality and workmanship. We have invested in these values in the past and they are what we are investing in now and will invest in in the future. At the company level, nothing has changed. Our aim has always been to give people and families value and quality of life. We are working remotely as much as possible because we think that happy people make greater professional, qualitative and human contributions to the company and the families themselves.
Have you introduced any initiatives to reduce the impact of this situation caused by COVID-19 to a minimum?
We are planning new sales strategies and, in the meantime, we are trying to further relations with the final customers by increasing social activities.
What worries you most about the future?
If you want to be a champion, you have to train every day. We have to do the same. We need to be ready and to have innovative ideas that we know will attract and generate interest and emotion. Doubts arise with every new day and this new crisis also poses the same questions: will I be worthy of future challenges and change?
How are you proceeding with your production and distribution activities?
The year began in the best of ways. Obviously, with this emergency, both production and distribution have stopped. Now we have to help our customers to sell the stock in their warehouses. Now more than ever, being active on the social channels and giving visibility and space to collections is absolutely vital. That’s where the store is now, on a screen. We have to understand the potentials and opportunities and act quickly. This is what we are asking our commercial partners to do because jewels are dreams and dreams cannot stop.
What kind of feedback are you getting from your customers?
The most frequent question we have heard lately is: «Will our customers still want to wear jewelry after a period such as this? » We have pondered at great length on this and we have found the answer in the desire for beauty and rebirth that has accompanied every difficult moment in history. Jewelry has always existed and it has always been an expression of identity and belonging. Selling and buying modalities will obviously change. We will need to be very careful but it will also be a time to express our own skills and professionalism. Empathy and trusting relations will be indispensable factors.
How important is systemization?
Systemization is fundamental, regardless of this moment. United, we are stronger and better prepared. In my opinion, jewelry spin-off would work better and have greater results if we could transmit beauty, art, workmanship and creativity in a more collective manner. We have to preserve our district with skills and tools that can help both large companies and small artisan workshops, which are the framework and tradition of our country and our profession. This is why I think that an agreement between jewelry companies is not only necessary but could also work.
Where do you think the greatest problems will be in coming out of this crisis?
Never before has ‘us’ been more important than ‘I’. Together we can overcome this crisis, together we can recover. We therefore need to follow the rules and be ready to re-start by giving our utmost.
How has communication changed during the pandemic?
With the discretion and respect that the moment demands and that we all feel deeply. We want to nurture love by drawing on dreams and the future. Creativity, art and design have always generated beauty and strength and it is also thanks to these that we will be able to overcome this difficult period. We cannot and must not suppress our natural instinct which would like to shout out loud to the world “we can do it, everything will be alright” but we want to do it in our own way so that the days will be easier and our voices will continue to be heard. That is why we have continued to post jewelry on our social pages, not only to display beauty but also to show that our product is Made in Italy, made by hand and respects the ethical code that many rightly speak of.
A thought on the future of jewelry?
With the crisis comes renewal and reconstruction through the desire for creativity and beauty. The jewelry world can re-discover the value of authenticity thanks to companies that express real, tangible content. Manufacturing quality and innovation find space at the expense of those companies that invest in huge marketing operations that blind the eyes of the final consumer, urging them to buy. And then, let’s not forget Made in Italy, the feather in our cap, that absolute value that makes every Italian creation full of styles, dreams and the “dolce vita”. Made in Italy has never been so full of pride nor so strong. We have to re-start from this, without making compromises.
