Interview by Carol Wright | Photos Courtesy of MYKA
MYKA, a leader in the global personalized jewelry industry is releasing three of their most popular pieces as NFTs in a limited edition collection. We got to chat with Ronnie Elgavish, MYKA’s VP Global Marketing Director about the new collection and how MYKA came to be.
Take us back to the beginning. How did MYKA come to be?
MYKA’s story is a very personal story in itself. 15 years ago, our founders – two passionate brothers who have been curious to develop meaningful inventions, decided to experiment for the first time with name-cut necklaces at their little workshop. They created a little prototype that received overwhelming responses, so they decided to expand this further and try out an engraved version as well, the rest is history. Today, MYKA is so much more than name-marked jewelry and is leading the personalized jewelry industry. We are passionate about creating personal, memorable experiences for every one of our consumers, wherever he or she might be around the globe.
Tell our readers a bit about MYKA’S Love Is campaign and the unique pieces that can be purchased right in time for Valentine’s Day.
Our “Love Is” campaign is our opportunity to connect people who love and wish to express their emotions by all means, including gifting. For 2022, we are both putting in focus our signature personalized designs, The Russian Ring Necklace, Personalized Vertical 3D Bar Necklace, and Charming Heart Necklace, and offering it as the perfect Valentine’s Day gift while expanding the gifting experience: for example, by introducing an innovative personalized gift box – crafted by order to display the personal name of both recipients & gift-givers; we’ve received an array of applause for this unique packaging experience and decided to create a dedicated design for Valentine’s Day that I am sure our customers will – literally – love.
NFTs are everywhere but it’s not as common to see them in the jewelry space. What inspired you to create a limited edition NFT collection?
MYKA, which is deeply rooted in the world of fashion and technology introduces genuine innovation with value. Our teams are tech-savvy, and our designers are always thinking about how to interpret our collections in new ways. We found that NFTs are a gift worth giving; it’s personal, eternal, and makes a surprising expansion to three of our classic designs. We always like to dream ahead of time, to a future period where our collections will also be presented in alternative environments, such as the metaverse.
How did you go about choosing which products to turn into NFTs?
We brainstormed on how to turn our limited edition NFTs as accessible as possible – both in terms of visibility and price. We selected our three bestselling designs. These are signature pieces for our brand that have been repeatedly chosen by millions of customers around the world as their favorite ones, so the selection was easy; that being said, we do have plans to broaden our activities in the virtual worlds and to create more personalized experiences, services, and products so I suggest to stay tuned and follow up on this. Our social channels will soon expose more.
What is your advice for aspiring jewelry designers?
Design is a world within itself, but it’s always part of an external ecosystem – be it the consumer, the business world, and of course, macro evolutions such as the one we’ve experienced in the past few years. I believe designers capable of connecting the dots between the various contexts will enjoy being more relevant than others to the market, all the while generating genuine innovation & relevance to the customers they wish to engage with.