Dune Jewelry Names Former Bremont VP as CEO

By Rob Bates | August 06, 2024

Dune Jewelry, a Norwood, Mass.–based brand that incorporates sand and earth elements in its products, has hired Bremont vice president Kevin Farrington as its new CEO.

Holly Daniels Christensen, who founded Dune at her kitchen table in 2010 and has served as its CEO for 14 years, will become its chairwoman.

A native of Dublin, Farrington joins Dune from Bremont, where he served as both vice president of global travel retail and vice president of North America for the British luxury watch company. Prior to Bremont, he was senior director of revenue and marketing at PPI Group, which provides services for the travel and tourism industry.

Farrington tells JCK he doesn’t plan to make any major changes at Dune.

“A lot of CEOs come into businesses with the intention to change everything,” he says. “My intention is to expand our reach and keep what’s special about the brand. We would like to expand our presence in our current retailers and expand in the cruise market, which is my primary expertise.”

Farrington says he plans to open more branded stores, primarily in U.S. coastal areas, using both owned-and-operated and franchise models. (Dune currently has stores in Norwood; Harwich Port, Mass.; and Ketchikan, Alaska.)

“We look at Pandora and Swarovski as models to emulate,” he says. “They are both ubiquitous brands across the United States.”

Farrington says he also wants to expand Dune’s luxury offerings, by adding more pieces with diamonds and semiprecious stones, and says he will seek a greater presence in the U.K.

He believes Dune will soon become a $100 million-a-year company, and says that shouldn’t require any outside investment. (Christensen is currently its sole owner.)

“For the foreseeable future, we have no intention of taking on any outside capital,” Farrington says. “Fortunately, the business is healthy as it is. We want to stay true to the original vision, and that becomes difficult when outside money comes into the business. Holly has a very strong desire to pass on this business to the people who are here and her daughters.”

In her new role of chair, Christensen will focus on designing new collections for Dune, strengthening relationships with retailers, and taking on a more public role.

Dune jewelry is currently sold at over 600 retailers, Farrington says. In 2018, Inc. named it one of the fastest-growing companies in the United States.

Top: Kevin Farrington and Holly Daniels Christensen (photo courtesy of Dune Jewelry)