Go FORTH… Expansion!

As you might have seen from my latest Instagram and Facebook posts, I just wrapped up a lovely sojourn in upstate New York at our CMD production studio in Trumansburg, where I finished designing my upcoming FORTH EXTENSION collection!

I talked a little last week about my creative design and sketching processes, but you can really only take a sketch so far. So, during my time in New York, I worked with some of my production team to create samples of some of my most promising sketches.There is so much magic in the sampling process. Sometimes, happy accidents happen. 

The first few days in New York were hot, humid and I was a bit jet-lagged and exhausted from a successful West Coast Craft event earlier in the week. I found myself playing with a piece of wire, wondering when inspiration would strike when I thought, let’s throw some posts on this baby and see what happens. The result is one of my favorite hoop designs to date – I think you’ll love them, too.

Another favorite part of the process is the try-on stage. Once some samples were made, I had all my production gals model for me. I love seeing how pieces wear differently on each woman, and how I might be able to tweak a piece or round out a collection with something that might be missing.

When I release a collection, I’m always mindful to observe what people are attracted to and see how each person wears and pair the pieces in unique and truly individual ways. Sometimes, you don’t realize where the gaps are until you see what people gravitate towards and what seems to be almost lacking in a collection. This gives me a really good sense of where to start, and what pieces I should be focusing on. A great coach of mine advises me to “listen to what they want; give them what they need.”

Long necklaces are popular, and earrings are always a big hit, so you can be sure to find more of these types of pieces in the latest extension. After the Forth Collection was launched, I also noticed such a need and desire for a simple gold chain. So I’m thrilled to add a few really simple, but elegant gold chains with this release. I’m so eager to see how they take.

Look out for the official debut of the Forth Expansion Collection by Colleen Mauer Designs next month at NYNOW!