How Ana Piteira created a global jewellery brand from scratch

Ana Piteira was already running her own successful business when she came up with an idea that would change everything.

Ana Piteira was director of her own PR agency when she saw a gap in the market. Picture: Supplied

Ana Piteira could have been forgiven for resting on her laurels.

As the director of successful Sydney fashion PR and sales agency OMGFIVE, she had her hands full managing accounts for high profile fashion brands like Kate Sylvester and Anna Quan.

But Piteira had bigger plans and when she saw an opportunity to start her own jewellery brand, she leapt on it with gusto, creating Reliquia.

Reliquia — from the Portuguese word for a family heirloom — is a nod to her family’s heritage and her mother and grandmother’s jewellery boxes.

“A few years in I could see a gap in the market for jewellery that could be worn every day,” she says.

“At the time there really wasn’t anything like that around. It’s the type of jewellery I really love wearing and, growing up, my mother and grandma would wear.

“I wanted to recreate that feel but with a more accessible price point. And that’s how Reliquia started.”

Ana Piteira was director of her own PR agency when she saw a gap in the market for jewellery like her grandma used to wear.

Piteira admits her experience and contacts in fashion PR helped enormously.

“It meant I practised what I preached,” she says. “From the very beginning our main goal was making sure the jewellery was out there and being worn by as many people as possible, so I basically leveraged every connection and friendship I had, and gave everyone all the jewels they wanted.

“That really helped because it meant the jewellery was being worn by everyone and it was really visible and accessible, and it also meant I got a first-hand reaction really quickly, so I quickly got across what worked and what didn’t.

“I learnt really quickly what the brand DNA was and what people were coming to us for.”

The result has been a successful jewellery brand that is not only stocked internationally, but has also spawned two sister labels, Valet Studios and Respiro, to fill even more fashion niches.

Piteira used her experience to grow the business. Picture: Supplied

When Reliqia first started, Piteira says she had no idea it would be such a massive success.

“I really just wanted it to get out there and I wanted to see it on girls I related to and who really understood the brand, and then obviously I wanted to work with stores I felt really understood the brand and represented it really well,” she says.

Piteira then created Valet Studios, moving away from the neutrals and classic designs of Reliquia to create bolder statement pieces. It was picked up by US and European stockists within its first year.

“With [Valet Studios] I’m working with some big international stores. That was always a big dream of mine so it’s really exciting to see that being realised now,” she says.

“We already had a solid foundation of stores that worked with Reliquia, and they were more open to taking on the sister brand. We were in a really fortunate position that way.”

And as if that wasn’t enough, Piteira has added a third fashion business Respiro, creating handbags that match Valet Studio’s earrings and hair clips.

Piteira says her biggest challenge throughout all of this success was a time of rapid growth — something she admits is a nice problem to have.

“There was a point in time where we grew really quickly — we experienced massive growth over a period of 12 months. Having the infrastructure in place so that everything could operate seamlessly was important,” she says.

“Our team had to grow quickly and we urgently had to move space into a new office.

“Obviously they are all really happy problems to have but there was a period where it was a little bit chaotic as we were trying to find our feet with processes and systems.”

All the stress has been worth it for Piteira though, whose focus remains on her big wins.

“For me the highlights are mainly around picking up big stockists,” she says. “When we got Net-a-Porter it was really exciting.”

“We’re in some really great department stores in Europe now too, like Selfridges, Liberty, Galeries Lafayette, and Le Bon Marche. They’re all stores I’ve always loved going shopping in. They give you such an amazing customer experience and I was really excited to be represented by them.”

But Piteira’s greatest joy remains in seeing people wearing her pieces.

“The girls that consistently wear the jewellery every season — the jewellery obviously resonates with them as much as it does with me and that’s been really special,” she says.

Lily Allen wore a Reliquia piece on her recent tour of Australia, which Piteira says was particularly exciting.

“I’m a really big fan of Lily Allen so I was so excited when she wore it. It’s those little moments that you can’t predict that just make it really fun.”

Running four successful businesses is not simple, of course, and Piteira says she’s working on becoming better at time management.

“It’s also important to realise what’s important for me to be doing personally and what I can delegate. It’s definitely a learning process and I definitely haven’t mastered that quite yet,” she said.

Between all of this Piteira says she still finds time to relax.

“I hang out with my friends and drink wine,” she laughs. “Down time is generally time I set aside for friends and family. I find that quite relaxing.

“I feel more relaxed when I’m around small groups of friends and family so that’s really what I do to decompress.”

Piteira says she’s incredibly proud of all of her businesses, and the people she’s attracted to work in them.

“I think I’m most proud of the little community that I’ve built,” she says. “Our team has grown and we’re all young women who are passionate about the industry that we’re in,” she says.

“The team that I’ve built and our work culture means that it’s a nice place to come to work. Everyone’s really positive about the brand and everyone really cares about it.”