Earlier this year, the Boston-based jewelry company Hearts on Fire debuted a special collection created in collaboration with four young women from the Lynn chapter of Girls Inc. The Lorelei Collection incorporates never-before-seen design elements, and the Girls Inc. members were involved in every step of the process, from brainstorming to production to marketing.
“So much goes into creating a jewelry collection. We had them learn and use skills from a variety of departments, including creative, technology, mathematics, marketing,” says Trisha Spillane, director of public relations and brand communications at Hearts on Fire. “The goal behind this specific project was to expose the girls to various aspects of the business and let them explore what might interest them in the future.”
Girls Inc. is a nationwide organization that offers programs and mentorship to empower girls to reach their full potential. During the Hearts on Fire project, the four Lynn Girls Inc. members created mood boards, learned to design with CAD programs and 3-D printed molds, experienced a professional photography shoot and more.
Emely Gomez, one of the Girls Inc. members who worked on the project, says she was particularly inspired by color. Her mood board was bursting with bright hues. Hearts on Fire specializes in diamonds and it’s unusual for them to feature color in their designs. The incorporation of rubies into the Girls Inc. Lorelei collection shows how deeply involved in the process the young designers were.
“Not only did red represent the Girls Inc. color, but it made me feel heard when my idea was able to be implemented in the design,” says Gomez. “It was a new experience for me. It definitely opened my mind to new things and exposed me to different careers while I was doing it.”
Another first in the collection was the addition of a “flip ring,” a ring engineered to flip from a side of rubies representing Girls Inc. to a side of diamonds representing Hearts on Fire. The primary motif of the collection is a twisting spiral radiating outward from a central diamond. This is meant to represent how a girl’s life flourishes and grows with time, experience and support.
A portion of the proceeds from the Lorelei collection will be donated back to the Girls Inc. program.
Gomez says, “We’re giving back, not only in our community of Lynn but on a national level, while also having fun and expressing our creativity in this project.”
