Small Business, Future Proof Vincent Tynan and Julie Danz, Juvi Designs

Vincent Tynan studied computer programming in college before dropping out and going to Mexico where he found himself in Chiapas, a contested area and the centre of the Zapatista uprising.

“I found myself in the middle of the mountains where there was a lot of amber being produced. I started carving it and developed an interest in jewellery, going on to study jewellery making in Taxco, a seat of jewellery-making and silver-mining where there are many renowned teachers.”

Returning to Ireland, Tynan began bringing back jewellery and making his own, which were of a bold, ethnic design. It was when he met Juvi Designs co-founder and his future wife, Julie Danz, that a finer element was brought to the product.

“Julie was an interior designer in New York and worked with Carleton Varney, a very well-known, flamboyant designer who has connections to Ireland. I was set in one style of jewellery,” says Tynan. “I was more inclined to make chunky stuff whereas Julie added a more feminine, lighter design to what I was producing. Obviously this made sense cost-wise too, as the price of materials began to shoot up.”

Juvi was established in 2004 and is now stocked in major department stores such as House of Fraser, the Kilkenny Shop and Arnotts as well as boutiques around the country.

Tynan says that he and his wife bring different aspects and experience to the table in the business. He had 20 years’ experience in the jewellery industry as a maker but also dealing with shops and raw material suppliers.

“Julie didn’t have that experience – I taught her the ins and outs of the jewellery business and she taught me the design side of things,” Tynan says.

“I think you get lucky with things sometimes. In 2006 [the year the couple married] Dublin Fashion Week was on and we won a competition in Brown Thomas to be featured in the store. Our jewellery was placed on the ground floor outside the Chanel concession and we did really well. We got a taste of being in a department store. It also allowed us to approach other department stores with proven sales figures.”

The couple began negotiating with House of Fraser, going back and forth to the UK in the process. “We signed terms and conditions and then, on the actual day we went in-store in Dublin, Lehman Brothers collapsed. They were telling us we should be doing €400,000 or €500,000 per year which other brands were doing for them.”

Department stores operate on a minimum sales structure with the department store taking a percentage of sales.

“You are thus in a position where you are under contract knowing that if you don’t hit the minimum amount of sales, you still have to pay them the agreed percentage of sales.

“So they take a percentage but there is also a minimum guarantee clause in the contract to make sure that they are covered for the square footage you’re taking up. If you don’t hit the sales, you still have to cough up the money.”

Tynan says that it was difficult to get good staff for the business at the time. “We were offering €40,000 per year, with perks, to be a sales manager and we could not get the right staff. No one came to the interviews in the boom times, it was a bit mad.”

Tynan stepped into the managerial role, engaging with the store and working on the shop floor while Julie focused on the design side. It also made sense financially in order to balance the books in those early years.

“People would drop in and say, ‘I like that necklace but I’d rather if it had a certain length chain’. I’d do that for a sale. We want to engage with our customer and produce something that you can buy and gift to people without spending a huge amount of money.”

Tynan says that working on the ground in the stores provided him with a deep understanding of how the industry works.

“We were just breaking even for the first two years or so and then we started to see really good growth, in the region of 22 to 23 per cent.”

Tynan says the brand began to see a real turnaround in sales about three years ago.

In the marketplace, Juvi is competing against brands such as Thomas Sabo, Links of London and Pandora but Tynan says that because they keep their costs low and strive to offer “affordable luxury” at a good price, “people can see genuine products at an affordable price”.

“We are doing really well in Arnotts under the Irish Craft Collective. selling more than Thomas Sabo and Links of London in the store.”

Being identified as an Irish brand works well in some stores but isn’t a major point of interest in others, says Tynan, but he agrees that it does help when it comes to competing in a market awash with mass-produced items. Brand-wise Tynan says he admires companies such as the UK’s Monica Vinader, which had turnover of £14 million last year. “They have massive investment from VCs but if we could go in their direction, it would be great.”

Juvi looks to be on course for 25 per cent growth this year and it was recently taken on by the House of Fraser website.

“In five or ten years’ time I would like to see us in some international airports and stores in the UK as well as our concessions here.” www.juvidesigns.com