If you haven’t already, meet Julie Lamb. She’s passionate, she’s fierce, she’s all-around awesome—and her jewelry is pretty wicked, too. Whether you’re from New York or have visited and fallen in love with the city, Lamb is your go-to jeweler for repping the Big Apple, with collections such as City, featuring the likes of borough-specific tokens and manhole covers as its icons, and Metropolis, combining inspiration from the city’s architecture with symbolism of superheroes.
There’s more for coast-to-coast wear, like Lamb’s Elements collection, a line of layerable, stackable diamond pieces, and a made-to-order selection of limited-edition pieces. The designer also makes big on her last name, with the Be Ewe collection, an ode to expressing one’s individuality, complete with adorable lamb icons. It’s this symbol that attracted the adoration of a wide audience of knitters (as it turns out, her lamb icon is a wonderful representation for those who love to work with wool), an unexpected fan club the designer has not only embraced but also goes the extra mile to cater to.
Lamb is a hustler. It was she who alerted me, via DM, to last year’s Finery Row event right in my neighborhood, proof that she puts in effort to make sure people turn out to see her. You can’t just post pretty pictures and expect people to turn up—you’ve got to pull them in yourself.
Lamb was kind enough to take the time to answer some questions for this latest edition of Social Life.
JCK: First, tell us a little bit about you. How did you get into jewelry design?
Julie Lamb: I’ve been making jewelry out of anything I could get my hands on from a very young age. I was making my own beads from clay and enamel paint in elementary school and stringing them on necklaces my mom would actually wear (in public!). I’d raid my dad’s garage for metal bits, make pendants out of keys, rhinestones, and nail polish—it was all sorts of alternative materials until I went to Syracuse University for metalsmithing.
Image via: @julielambny
Do you have any help running the Julie Lamb Fine Jewelry account, or do you do it yourself?
Mostly me, but I farm out Facebook because I detest that sloppy platform. It’s a rabbit hole! Instagram is my jam. Visual, focused, beautiful branded bullet points.
Do you have a personal account as well?
Nope. Do I have to? I enjoy the separation of real life and brand identity. Obviously there’s crossover, but do you really need to see what I drank for dinner or know what Netflix series I’m bingeing? I’m already overdosing on screen time!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6YRP4EFxFk/
Image via: @julielambny
It’s hard to put into words exactly, but your Instagram feed just feels like you—it’s like your followers can see your jewelry, but they can also get a sense of who the designer is too. Is there a strategy behind your posts, or is the key to just be yourself?
It’s me! Hopefully the best version of me. There’s a loose strategy, I do it pretty organically, and for the most part it’s in tune with my daily life. I mix the jewelry shots in between quotes, selfies, drawings, events, holidays, signature colors, and the occasional Boomerang. For the ‘Gram I try to keep things light (unless I’m waxing poetic about design), positive, and inspiring. It’s kind of a platform for daily affirmations—something I wouldn’t do in the mirror, but talking to myself all the same! My moods and inspirations show up, for sure. With a mission to “Have Fun With Fine” jewelry, I aim to entertain and be entertained. Personality and humor are key elements: If I’m laughing, my followers might get a giggle too. It takes discipline to snap content wherever you go. I’m getting better at that. When I’m really at a party I want to be partying, not posing! Ha ha, what a great problem to have.
Are you on TikTok?
Noooooooooo. I don’t want China to steal all my photos, and video makes me uncomfortable—recording it and watching most of it. I need to do more video, New Year’s resolution!
https://www.instagram.com/p/B5WJ3W5FU2z/
Image via: @julielambny
What do you think the next big thing is in social media?
Full integration. Never getting off your device. Let’s say Instagram added food shopping, ordering in, and making appointments. One platform where you message friends, sell product, boost advertising, get the news and weather, catch up on your favorite series while live commenting, play a game—you see where I’m going with this? Scary but true—we live in the future now, it’s 2020!
Everyone has a different definition of success when it comes to social media. What is yours?
Organic growth. One hundred percent all-natural followers. Would I have liked to have a larger audience by now? Of course—everything is a numbers game, but I’d rather have a low number than a fake number. You want to attract your specific customer and get to know them. I’m happy with growth however slow it may seem as long as I keep ticking up. Getting to 10,000 will be a milestone for me. Out of the social channels, Instagram is always driving over 80% of traffic to my website.
A nonmathematical pillar of social success is when people tell me they enjoy following me and we have a familiarity upon meeting IRL because they’ve “gotten to know me” through my feed. That lets me know I’ve connected and I’m sharing original content.
First site you check in the morning?
Instagram. Also if I can’t sleep at 3 a.m., Instagram.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B26swERlUJV/
Image via: @julielambny
What are your five favorite Instagram accounts to follow (these can be jewelry or other)?
@jonathanadler; @gelarehmizrahi; @kremkow; @wittyidiot; @watts.on
Social media pet peeve?
The gross overshare. Mundane content. “Fake it till you make it.” Dog ears filter. Algorithms.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3kcHgRlTSi/
Image via: @julielambny
Tell us one of your 2020 goals.
To be more open. Open to new opportunities, meeting new people. Opening my mind to think bigger. An open heart, open to giving and receiving. Open for discussion. Open to experimenting and learning. Open for business! I will apply this to social media as well. Honesty and authenticity come with feeling more comfortable, in a safe place to share and reveal more of myself. In the beginning you don’t want to piss anyone off taking sides on divisive issues like politics and religion, especially when your lens is set to “Have Fun With Fine”! Yet being too constrained can read as generic and inauthentic, which would be worse! My social media platform will be 5 years old on April Fools’ Day this year. I’ve learned that the more I give, the more I get both personally and professionally.
A social media mantra to leave us with?
Be Ewe.
Top: Julie Lamb (photo courtesy of Julie Lamb)
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