Why Small Businesses Matter
Shop small, do big things for your community
Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as local businesses who are “tagged” have the opportunity to share their story!
You're IT Kaloi Jewelry!
Three questions with Camila De Sousa, founder of Kaloi Jewelry.
KALOI Jewelry is a fine jewelry company founded by mother-daughter trio Marta, Kaitlin, and Camila. Inspired by nature, culture, and beauty of Brazil, they curated their first collection in 2019. KALOI offers 18K gold, natural gemstones, and diamond jewelry products that are expertly handcrafted in Brazil.
Why did you start your business?
KALOI Jewelry is the result of three Brazilian women coming together with the mission of making people shine brighter. And we don’t mean that just physically, we also mean it in an emotional sense. We are a mother-daughter team, and at the time we started our business, we were all pretty unhappy with our current situations we realized the only thing that kept us going were our passions – style, fine jewelry, and traveling. So we combined all three and created KALOI Fine Jewelry.
Naturally, we chose our home country as the very first place to curate a collection in because Brazil is home to some of the world’s finest gemstones, gold, and luxury jewelry brands. We took the responsibility of becoming the bridge of luxury goods from Brazil to the United States, and today we are proud to represent a brand that not only sells fine gold jewelry but also lifts people’s self-esteem.
What is your best-selling product/service?
Currently, one of our best-selling products includes our gold chains. We are known for offering custom gold chains, that often feature different tones of gold as well as unique chain patterns. All of our chains are ethically handcrafted in Brazil and come with a certified sticker by AMAGOLD, a national and international certification that ensures the authenticity of each piece and sets the standards of how Brazilian jewelry is traded worldwide.
We believe this gives our customers peace of mind when shopping online, and increases the value of their purchase because of the level of expertise and craftsmanship behind the production of each jewel. We also make sure to work only with suppliers who are also part of the AMAGOLD association and have held their place in the organization for decades. Overall, we strive to teach the importance behind investing in authentic gold jewelry because not only does it hold its value long-term, but it also contributes to a sustainable life.
In a way yes and no. From the beginning, we knew we wanted to stick to selling online only so that we could offer the best of Brazil to the whole world. However, when we started our business at the end of 2019 right before COVID hit, we were forced to put a halt to our launch, due to everything shutting down which slowed the production of the jewels in Brazil.
That slow start allowed us to learn more about what it takes to sell online and let me tell you it’s not as easy as it looks! We were new to everything – taking pictures, posting on social media, marketing, and so forth, but we stepped outside of our comfort zone and did what we had to do to make sure we represented KALOI in the way it deserved. I would say that now that we’ve paved the way in the online space, we still have a long way to go, but implementing events in real life will also really help us spread awareness about our products and what we represent.
We have partnered with Venezia Marble since they are also Brazilian and sell luxury stone slabs, and they have allowed us to place a display in their store to showcase our latest collections. We look forward to partnering with other locals, and brands, and hosting events to get people excited about fine, luxury jewelry!
Camila would like to nominate Venezia Marble to be featured next!
Visit Kaloi Jewelry online here, and make sure to check out their Facebook, and Instagram pages as well!
HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!