Adorn was one of the first boutique's I visited after moving to Calgary last summer and I've been in love with it ever since. Feminine clothing, gorgeous high-quality bags and a jewelry line designed by the owner Janine herself.
As spring changes to summer (or fall into winter for those of you in Australia) everyone is looking for ways to update their wardrobes. Janine Ferris, owner of Adorn Accessory Boutique in Inglewood shares a solution for rejuvenating your wardrobe without having to break your bank account: accessorizing.
“I think that any time you can revamp [your wardrobe] by accenting it with something that’s small [like jewelry], it can add to what you already have without making you feel like you have to sacrifice eating in order to indulge yourself," Ferris said. "Buying jewelry gives you that indulgence while adding to what you’ve already got. I think it’s just another great way to express your personal style."
It was this attitude that lead to the creation of the accessory boutique in the first place. Ferris started Adorn in Inglewood back in 2005 while still working full time for an insurance company. “People must have thought I was crazy,” she said, referring to the tiny little shop with no bathroom and no back door next to the neighborhood pub where it all began.
Now, nearly 8 years later, the boutique has relocated to a bigger location (still in Inglewood), Ferris has retired from the insurance business to run the store full-time, and Adorn is a huge success.
With all of the store's recent success, Ferris has decided to take a stab at designing her own jewelry collection (pictured above), “the first edition has gone really well…I just decided to do it on a whim and it’s evolved out of the seven years of experience that I have learning about what people want and what they like.”
She believes in using quality materials to create jewelry, while keeping each piece at a decent price point. (Her current collection ranges from $45 to $249).
The Francis Collection, named after Ferris' father who recently passed away will be coming out in a series of different editions in 2013. Each edition, or collection will focus on a certain colour framework. "The one coming out in end of January just in time for valentines day is going to be blush pinks and silky quartz and whites. It’s very soft and feminine,” Ferris said. And later on into the year we can expect to see some minty greens, corals, poppy and maybe even some emerald green.
“It kind of just evolved as an opportunity. It's part of what happened with the recession, a lot of distributors that I was buying from with the well-priced well-made jewelry dissolved. They disappeared and then I was left with super high-end or really cheap jewelry that will turn people green or fall apart and it was hard to fill in that gap."
"I think there’s a real void in Calgary for things that are outside of jewelry parties and so being able to introduce [this collection], I think there’s a real opening. I still want to keep it young and modern and fresh, because there’s the big gaudy stuff out there which can get pretty expensive, but that’s not the market that I’m going for. I’m single, I have a mortgage to pay, and I think that we can have beautiful things at a great price point, without them looking crafty and homemade."
