This month, for our Belle & Kate Adores feature, we spoke to the dynamic co-founder of Majene, Elsa Kurniawan, to discuss how her cultural heritage and her family inspire her to keep going every day. She shares the structural complexity behind Majene's stunning designs, the challenges of running a business across two countries, and why her Murakami Louis Vuitton bag is a sentimental, forever keeper in her luxury collection.
Scroll down to read our full Q&A with Elsa Kurniawan on motherhood, business, and must-have vintage.
Q: Running a business means putting a piece of yourself into everything you do. How does your personal identity shape Majene?
A: Jewelry has been a huge part of my identity. I feel like cultural heritage, and probably watching my mom growing up getting ready with all of her gold jewelry, has just basically resonated with me and it stays with me.
Q: What fuels your drive to stay inspired and keep going every day?
A: I know this sounds really cliché, but my kids are what inspires me pretty much every day.
Q: What does your design journey look like from sketch to final sparkle?
A: I usually work backwards, so I would take a look at all the materials, like the stones, whether we're doing a lot of heavy yellow gold or white gold, and I would just work out the sketches in my head, and then realize that into rough sketches.
Q: What's your favorite piece of your creation in Majene Jewels and why?
A: It's really tough to pinpoint one piece of Majene item that I love, but I think the Alphabet Pendant that I'm wearing right now. This is like one of our initial basically designs that we collectively worked as a group. So I think that was probably my favorite piece.
Q: Are you working on any special jewelry pieces right now?
A: The square ring that I'm wearing right now, it looks really simple, but there's a lot of like structural complexity behind it.
Q: With your business in Indonesia and you in Singapore, how do you keep everything flowing smoothly?
A: Let's be honest, I don't! So there are a lot of challenges. I think navigating through and pushing through challenges. But it has been manageable so far.
Q: What's your favorite jewelry and bag combo?
A: This ring right here that I'm wearing has never left my finger, so it's probably one of my first pieces that I've ever gotten from my parents, so it does not leave my finger. And I've been really into this vintage Louis Vuitton lately, really, really into vintage lately, so this is probably my favorite bag.
Q: Which handbag is a forever keeper in your collection?
A: I think the Murakami Louis Vuitton edition that they did, I think many, many years ago, which I think there is a newer edition of it. So I was pretty right to have kept that.