Camille Hamel, SK 2015, jewellery designer in Shanghai, “the experience of a lifetime”

To pursue her lifelong passion for designing and making jewellery, Camille Hamel created the Zoaje brand with her husband Clément in 2013, while she was still a student. Her entrepreneurial spirit was no doubt reinforced by the dynamism of Shanghai, where she has chosen to live and to grow her business while reconciling small-scale production and openness to the world.

Why go abroad and, more particularly, why China?

I knew I wanted to live overseas; I’ve always loved travelling and discovering the world. The international dimension greatly influenced my decision to study at SKEMA Business School (PGE 2015). I went to Suzhou in China as an exchange student because I felt a strong pull to this completely unknown country. I had no preconceived ideas. I had a feeling that it would be the experience of a lifetime for me and it was.

I also got to go to Mexico on a student exchange programme, with the man who is now my husband. We really fell in love with that country, the culture, the people. But in terms of career opportunities, it wasn’t really the best place to get ahead. We’d also fallen in love with Shanghai, and that’s why we came back here. It was a lifestyle choice more than a career-related choice.

You built up your professional experience around the world of fashion and luxury ?

I’ve always loved that world and, in general, anything artistic. I knew that I would need a job with a creative component. My internship at Façonnable in Shanghai during my gap year was the clincher. I started making jewellery on the side because I’d always been drawn to artistic creation, and then I studied Luxury and Fashion Management at SKEMA.

You were very young when you started your business?

Yes, we were still students. With Clément we launched a really small side-business during our gap year in Shanghai. We are still working together on the venture today. I’m on it full-time, and he also has a job in children’s fashion. Our business, Zoaje, is growing little by little. There are now 5 of us on the team.

My days are rarely ever the same, but I spend a large part of my time on business development, jewellery design, buying materials, and digital marketing. I also still make a lot of the jewellery myself.

Our jewellery is made from 14K gold filled, a material I discovered in the United States, part way between gold plated and solid gold. Through a process of applying heat and pressure, the base metal (brass) is covered with a thick layer of 14-carat gold: a piece of gold-filled jewellery contains 50 to 100 times more gold than a gold-plated equivalent. I import all the pieces I need directly from the USA. I also import semi-precious stones from all around the world. The tricky part is finding the same products over an extended period of time; that’s why we create limited editions and bespoke pieces. We also have ranges in rose gold, yellow gold, sterling silver, and solid gold. I work with a workshop in Shanghai that helps me with soldering, because I’m not a trained jeweller, although I am thinking about getting trained up in the near futur.

How do you want your business to grow?

I’d like to keep production in-house; I don’t want to outsource to factories. I’m going to hire a person I can train to work alongside me. We want to control the entire process, from production to social media, growing our network of retail outlets, managing our website and photos...
In January we opened our showroom in Shanghai and it doubles as our workshop. It’s handy for meeting with customers, stores, and for organising events. I’m going to focus on developing stores in China and Europe (France) and continue to build up our own online store. We sell our jewellery on an American platform selling handmade goods, and since a few weeks ago we have our own web store. So we’re really focused on getting the word out on social media right now. In France, our orders are delivered within two days. We currently receive 150 to 200 orders per month.

Is your marketing the same for all your customers, regardless of their nationality?

The brand centres on travel. It has universal appeal and reflects our “lifestyle” philosophy. We talk a lot about our aspirations, stones, the creation process and the things we love. We translate everything and everyone gets the same content. We target women aged 25 to 35. The fact that I’m French is a draw-card in China, where there isn’t a lot of fine jewellery to be found. Traditionally, Chinese women wear chunky jewellery made from very yellow gold. My jewellery is more discreet and easier to wear every day.

Would you have started your business if you’d stayed in France?

For sure. But in France it seems more complicated; you feel judged; people are quick to tell you that it’s a crazy undertaking. Here in Shanghai, everyone has the entrepreneurial mindset and we young entrepreneurs support one another. I think that has made a big difference. Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of energy, but China is the perfect place to get started, as long as you learn the language. At the start of your career, it’s possible to take risks. No doubt it’s harder later to drop everything and just have a go.

Contact: https://zoaje.com/contact
Camille’s Linkedin profile

Interview by Marie-Pierre Parlange, lepetitjournal.com for SKEMA Alumni