We love companies that really give back, and when it's a tiny mom & pop business working hard to make a difference, even better! Vivian Cheng and Eric Jean-Louis are a Canadian husband-and-wife design team who started their jewelry company, Blend Creations, in 2005. They recently launched a fabulous new limited-edition line of pendants called Metal for Monsters with the goal of raising $10,000 for UNICEF.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work. Blend Creations is about the fusion, composition and juxtaposition of different elements to create a timeless aesthetic. The name "Blend" came after a rapid-fire brainstorming session of words that best described the collaborative aspect of the company, as well as the different contrasts and complementary nature in the aesthetics of the jewelry.

When we became entrepreneurs, we always had the idea of giving back in ways that are meaningful to us. Earlier this year, we joined 1% for the planet, where we are committed to giving 1% of our gross sales to environmentally-oriented charities. More recently, we launched Metal for Monsters as a way of trying to raise money for UNICEF.

We were inspired to do Metal for Monsters after reading a very heart-wrenching story in the paper about children in other parts of the world who have suffered hardships that no one should have to endure. Once you become a parent, you see your own child in the context of any other child and we wanted to do something to help. We've teamed together with nine very talented artists who have contributed monster illustrations for limited-edition pendants. Only 100 of each of the 20 pendants will be available and they are $81 each, with $16 going to UNICEF. We hope to raise at least $10,000 for UNICEF with this project.

How did you get started as designers? We're both designers by profession; Eric is a graphic designer and I (Vivian) am an industrial designer, but neither of us are specifically "jewelry" designers. While we have always bounced ideas off of each other for our individual design projects, we started Blend Creations with the idea that we wanted to do something creative together as a business venture.

With our design backgrounds, we knew that together we could come up with products that we could both have a hand in designing, and jewelry was perfect because we were essentially designing things that we ourselves would want to wear. We've always like simple, modern, contemporary design, but couldn't find much in the way of jewelry that we liked -- so what better than to design it ourselves.

What we had seen in the way of stainless steel jewelry was a little too cold and industrial in aesthetic for our liking, so we approached our designs as a way of 'blending' the metal with warmer, colorful elements and the end result are the designs you see at Blend Creations.

What inspires your work? As designers, we tend to look at everything around us from a very visual perspective and pay attention to a product's relationship with the individual. So sometimes, what inspires us isn't actually jewelry -- it could be a shadow from an object cast onto a neckline, and that will inspire a pattern that we end up using in an engraved wood inlay. When we first started out, we saw a small notebook covered in this floral patterned Japanese paper and we thought -- that would make great jewelry!

Basically, it's about looking at things around us and applying the things that are visually pleasing into our designs.

Who are your favorite designers? In terms of fashion, we're both fans of Alexander McQueen's work. Our other favorite designers tend to be product and furniture designers of the past (like Charles and Ray Eames) and the textile designs of Angela Adams and Hella Jongerius.

What are your top fashion & beauty must-haves? Fashion-wise, we like classic staples -- a perfectly fitting pair of jeans, a great white shirt -- the sorts of things that never go out of style (which is the overall look that we go for with our jewelry).

Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? Start with the end goal in mind. That is, make sure you set goals with what you want to achieve and work backwards from there.

Where can people find your work? On our website: www.blendcreations.com.


We love all of the amazing independent designers out there and we wanted to find out more about what makes these creative types tick. If you do too, check out more of our Indie Designer Interviews.