Imagine if you could capture a memory by creating a one-of-a-kind necklace, bracelet, watch, pair of cufflinks, earrings, or keychain; a unique piece of wearable art that goes wherever you go. In other words, you could take your favorite beach, ballpark, trail, or golf course with you every day in a piece of jewelry that constantly reminds you of a special time and place that brings a positive vibe to your heart and a smile to your face. Well, now you can. I recently spent an afternoon with an extraordinary entrepreneur who has successfully bridged the gap between memories and art by creating a line of experiential jewelry. Her company, Dune Jewelry, has gone from a New England craft show favorite to a massive empire, now showcased in 700 stores across the country including The Paper Store and Uncommon Goods. The only thing more impressive than the incredibly unique idea behind the jewelry is the entrepreneur behind it. Her name is Holly Daniels Christensen and she took an idea that came about while working with her childhood best friend on Cape Cod and turned it into a colossal jewelry empire in less than a decade. Throw into the mix some major health challenges that caused her to have several major surgeries as her business was scaling, and you have yourself a female business powerhouse who has successfully proven that she can handle anything.
She’s humble, strong, independent, and driven. Instead of competing with other jewelry lines, she has created her own “blue ocean,” a term used in the famous book Blue Ocean Strategy, whereby she has created her own uncontested market space. Here’s Holly Daniels Christensen on how she has built an empire out of love and sandy hands:
Think Outside the Box: Prior to starting Dune Jewelry, Holly was a successful real estate entrepreneur who yearned to start a business that was simply different. It was in 2007 while sitting on a beach in Cape Cod when she finally got her outside the box idea. She was with her friend who had built a successful business making holiday ornaments with sand. They loved the idea of incorporating beach sand into a special memory, but thought there had to be a way it could be used in something that people carry around with them all year long. At that moment, they decided to take jewelry classes to explore the possibility of putting sand in to jewelry thereby giving people the opportunity to capture their favorite beach memories in a piece that they wear all the time. Fast forward to 2016, and now Dune Jewelry has a Sandbank at Holly’s world headquarters in Massachusetts where she has sand from thousands of locations around the world. She ships out more than 1500 pieces of jewelry per week to retailers and individuals around the world. Not only is her jewelry sold in stores, many clients ship sand to her artisans for custom pieces. Holly explained that thinking outside of the box is not only how her company was born, but it is also the entire culture of her business. She says that a think outside the box mentality allows you to remain totally open to all kinds of new ideas. As such, Dune Jewelry now incorporates not just sand, but also dirt from ballparks and golf courses, as well as turf, asphalt, cocoa beans, coffee and other dry substances that are incorporated into jewelry and other accessories like keychains, cuff links, and wine stoppers. Holly says when your business is born outside the box, you must continue to build a culture outside the box, so that the business ecosystem continues to grow and thrive.
Say Yes!: Holly says that although many business books and advisors say that it’s important to learn how to say no in business, her success has come from her philosophy of saying Yes whenever possible. She says that originally the business was simply incorporating sand into jewelry, thereby capturing memories for her clients. She says that if she had simply stuck to that particular niche she would have missed out on tons of cool ways to build her line of experiential jewelry. When Hershey Entertainment asked if she could incorporate crushed cocoa beans into a line of pendants, she said Yes. When the International Tennis Hall of Fame asked if there were a way to incorporate clay, turf, and asphalt into a one of a kind experiential key chain, she said Yes. Holly says that she has had unbelievably unique opportunities to partner with companies and brands all because she has remained open to saying Yes whenever possible. She says that if your business is where you want it to be and you are content, then by all means, decline new ideas and opportunities, but if you are anything like her, and you are anxious to keep building, growing, and expanding, then figure out a way to say Yes at every turn.
Never Give Up: Holly lost her favorite role model, her dad, at a very young age. Due to family circumstances she grew up very independent since the age of 15. To say life was difficult was an understatement, however, the silver lining is that she learned to survive. Her inner survival skills came out full force in 2013. This was the year that her business was really taking off with major partnerships with retailers around the country. It was also the year she gave birth to her second daughter and was inflicted with Graves’ disease. The disease resulted in Holly having several surgeries over a three year period, and caused her to have double vision and physically go cross-eyed for a stint of time. She says that not only was she in pain, but the fact that she was severely cross-eyed made it difficult for her to want to come to work and to get in front of clients to make sales, yet she forced herself to do it. She says that there was a long period of time in which she wore eye patches and sun glasses in order to correct and hide her condition. Specifically she recounted a big presentation of her jewelry that she had to make in front of a packed room to Boston’s Mayor Walsh. It was an evening event and she wore sunglasses to hide her condition. She says she simply explained to the mayor beforehand about her condition, and then went on with the show and did her presentation. Holly says that life is full of difficult road blocks and that you can either stay home under the covers or you can figure out a way to put one foot in front of the other to just keep persevering. Holly says that on the days she wants to give up, she thinks about her two little girls, and remembers that she has two jobs; one is bringing her experiential jewelry to the world and the other is being a role model to her kids, and she intends to keep teaching hers to never give up.
She is the founder, travel lover, and sand connoisseur of Dune Jewelry. She is successfully bridging the gap between jewelry and experiences, thereby allowing her clients to wear their memories. While some empires are built with bricks and mortar, this entrepreneur is building hers with love and sandy hands.