Brisbane mum creates $2.3m jewellery empire Kellective by Nikki after sacking
The Brisbane mum lost her job just a few weeks before giving birth to her first child but a gamble with $1000 in savings has turned into a “wild” ride.
Small Business
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Nikki Kelly had dedicated eight years of life to her corporate banking career but just two weeks before she was due to go on maternity leave she was made redundant.
She said the experience left her “anxious” particularly at the thought of returning to a new workplace with a baby in daycare, who was likely to get sick often.
While the mum set out to enjoy her newborn, little did she know that making one piece of jewellery would be life-changing for the 34-year-old.
“I had been wanting to make a necklace for me with my son’s name on it and I couldn’t really find anything in Australia that was exactly what I wanted,” she told news.com.au.
“There wasn’t much of the dainty, everyday wear in the minimalist style so I thought maybe I could make one myself as I had all this time as the baby sleeps.
“I would wear it to the gym and mum’s group and I would get compliments so I made a couple for other people.”
It planted the idea that she could make her jewellery side hustle – which she aimed to make $200 a week from – into a job.
She used $1000 of the family’s savings to buy some tools, set up a desk from Aldi in their garage and create an Etsy store.
The mum-of-three thought it was “pretty cool” when she was getting a couple of sales a week but from there the business took off.
She was forced to convert her personal Instagram page into a business account and “hounded” a friend to join the business to keep up with demand as it spread via word of mouth.
The jewellery maker said she heard stories of a new mum buying her necklace and then the whole mother’s group grabbing one too – a huge part of her success.
The brand Kellective by Nikki was born – although she admits she deeply regrets its name for not using proper spelling.
The single bar necklace with a name, which she started out with, is still a bestseller, along with letter initial necklaces.
Ms Kelly said she was proud of the quality of her jewellery which could endure beach days, showers and being worn every day and still look the same three years later.
“I still don’t take it lightly that people trust me with $90 or $100 and how could I give them a product that only lasts a couple of months?” she said.
“I wouldn’t be able to jump on Instagram stories and talk about a product that doesn’t last or you would have to take off to do everything, so with my pieces you can put on sunscreen, or go to the gym and sweat and shower with it on.”
Since starting in 2017, Kellective by Nikki has sold more than 100,000 necklaces which are all made in Australia.
“It’s not a very common thing nowadays and when you look at a brand if you buy a handbag you don’t see a person making the handbag, but just an expensive label,” she said.
“Our products show the making of it in our office and we send little maker cards so it might be from Bel or Sam with their photo and a couple of lines about themselves and I think that really personal touch is great with people being able to connect with the brand.
“To make our jewellery, we have individual stamps in every letter in different fonts, so it’s hand done not machine done and we design our own stamps.
“We have birth flower necklaces, we have 12 of the birth flowers, and they are all hand drawn in the office and made into stamps. All images belong to us, we drew them all and manufactured them.”
She expects to make 25,000 pieces this year alone with the brand also offering bracelets, anklets, earrings and rings which range in price from $35 to $145.
Things have gotten so big, last April the businesses moved into its own warehouse.
In just six years, it has also gone from making $1000 to a whopping $2.3 million annually with Ms Kelly never having taken on a loan or sought out investors to fund the business as she is quite “risk averse”.
But it isn’t about the money, she insists.
“I now have 12 staff and a lot of mums that work part time, which is really cool given the reason I started it was I was worried about being a working parent,” she explained.
“I feel I can provide a safe, no judgment area for people and people bring their kids in on school holidays. It’s this cruisy business that has become a family environment and people make jewellery all day.”
But it’s also had a deeply personal impact on her family, after being with her husband for 17 years, who was largely the main breadwinner.
“At the end of 2020 he left his job and became a stay at home parent and he did that for two years. I think that was really impressive to me if I had to think about what was the thing that I am most proud of,” she said.
“As we do have children so young and we didn’t ever want to put them in full time care. I think the thing I’m most proud of in terms of building the business is to give my kids their dad – to afford them that time with their dad – he is definitely the fun parent.”
Subsequently he has joined the business while they look after their children aged seven, five and three.
But Ms Kelly said her jewellery isn't just for mums.
“It can be for people who want to give something to their friends, something say like best friend necklaces without the 12 year old girl design, so we have a stamp with a big sun on a pendant and we cut in half so it’s like a sunrise and sunset,” she said.
“It’s much more of an adult minimalistic simple classic necklace rather than a gimmicky thing.”
The team have also seen a number of unusual names requested as designs for their necklace, which she said her staff love as it gives them inspiration and they often add them to their own baby name’s list.
“We often get things and we wonder are they dogs or children’s name because its hard to tell. Children’s names can be so wild and free,” she added.
“We get personal things and these things don’t mean anything to us and we go back to the customer and ask what does that mean out of curiosity. If they want to share and a lot of them do, it’s often words that they say to each other all the time or random numbers that is a little in joke.
“Nothing is input into a machine and automatically generated, people look at everything as they are quality checked and everyone sees a piece throughout the workflow and it’s sweet to see so many people invested in the story.”
Ethical manufacturing is also important to the brand with no waste from the jewellery – Ms Kelly said any metal with mistakes is put in a scrap jar, sent away and melted down into sheets of metal that they buy back.
“Having no product waste is really good and I think there is a lot where small businesses can have a really big impact,” she said.
The pandemic was also a boom for the business with Ms Kelly saying she “couldn’t remember sleeping much” as the orders rolled in, while grappling with homeschooling and her husband working full-time too.
However, she was also able to help friends out who had been laid off or stood down from their jobs.
“I feel like I have a different type of culture in our office. It’s much more of an informal and friendly place than I think most workplaces would be,” she said.
“I would like to keep on growing but I only want to do it if I can keep that sort of vibe in the office.
“If I had to dream really big I would like to be like Michael Hill – I would want to be a household name in jewellery – and known for good work, ethics and great customer service.
“I would almost like to be known for trying for putting people before profits and showing that can be a model that works and benefits everyone.”
Originally published as Brisbane mum creates $2.3m jewellery empire Kellective by Nikki after sacking
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