The Future of Virtual Jewelry and the Jewelry Metaverse
Laryssa2022-12-15T12:56:33-08:00In episode #221 of the Joy Joya Jewelry Marketing Podcast, I share my interview with Zuzana Bastian, co-founder of JEVELS, the first NFT platform dedicated to visual jewelry and accessories designed by artists from all over the world. The primary purpose of JEVELS is to bring virtual jewelry to life through AR and VR technologies.
In this episode, we’ll be covering:
- What are some of the challenges and opportunities in virtual jewelry today?
- How can indie designers start exploring the possibilities of designing for the metaverse?
- What’s “phygital jewelry”?
- Why should traditional (physical) jewelry brands consider a jump into the metaverse, and what are some strategic ways that they can get started?
- …and more!
Check out the episode files as well as the transcript below.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 00:08
Welcome to the Joy Joya podcast, where ‘jewelry is joy’ and everyone is encouraged to add more polish and sparkle to the world. With topics ranging from marketing tips to business development, best practices, and beyond, this is the go-to podcast for ambitious jewelry industry dreamers like you.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 00:31
Hi, I’m your host, Laryssa Wirstiuk. Through this podcast, I aim to empower and inspire jewelry entrepreneurs and professionals so they can thrive while adding more beauty to the world. I’m passionate about digital marketing for jewelry brands, and I’m excited to share my passion with you. As we all know, ‘jewelry is joy’, so I’ll gladly seize any opportunity to talk about it.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 00:56
This is episode 221, and today I’ll be sharing a fun interview to wrap up 2022, something that you can hopefully enjoy and that will inspire you for the year ahead. My guest today is a pioneer in virtual jewelry. She and her sister are the cofounders of a business that sells virtual, precious, and sustainable wearable fashion that you can wear digitally. I’ll be sharing more about my guest in just a little bit, but here’s a preview of what we’ll be discussing:
- What are some of the challenges and opportunities in virtual jewelry today?
- How can indie designers start exploring the possibilities of designing for the metaverse?
- What’s phygital jewelry?
- Why should traditional jewelry brands consider a jump into the metaverse?
- What are some strategic ways that they can get started?
- …and more!
Laryssa Wirstiuk 01:57
But before we get to the solid gold of this episode, I’d like to take a moment to remind you that this podcast has both an audio and video component, so you can either listen on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube by searching ‘Joy Joya’. I love creating this content as my active service to you, my awesome listeners and viewers, and you can support the podcast for free by taking the time not only to subscribe but also to leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, which helps other jewelry dreamers find it too.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 02:30
In this segment of the podcast, I give out my Sparkle Award for the week. During this segment, I highlight a jewelry brand that’s impressing me with its marketing. The Sparkle Award is also interactive, so you can visit SparkleAward.com to nominate a jewelry brand that’s inspiring you these days, and I might feature your submission on a future podcast episode.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 02:53
This week’s Sparkle Award goes to Mejuri for their creativity, brand collaborations, and willingness to experiment with new and innovative marketing tactics. I recently received an email campaign about their new collaboration with Piecework, which is an up-and-coming puzzle company that caters to millennials and Gen Z. They say their puzzles are an antidote to obsessive work culture and an addiction to screens.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 03:20
Through this new collaboration between Mejuri and Piecework, the two brands created an exclusive 1,000-piece puzzle called the ‘Golden Hour’, which features a fun and colorful flat-lay photo of Mejuri jewelry. It’s just another way to get customers to interact with the brand in a playful way. It also provides, of course, cross-promotional exposure for customers of both brands. The other thing I think is super fun about this collaboration is that there’s a golden ticket hidden inside 20 of the puzzle boxes. So 20 lucky customers will get a surprise Serpentine Necklace worth $500. How cool would it be to open a puzzle and discover a necklace that you weren’t expecting, just for you? I love this idea, and it definitely achieves the purpose of surprising and delighting customers.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 04:17
As I mentioned, you can visit SparkleAward.com to nominate a jewelry brand that’s inspiring you these days, and I might feature your submission on a future podcast episode.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 04:28
Let’s discuss some recent news related to jewelry or marketing. Each week I share my thoughts about three relevant articles, and you can get the links to the articles by checking out the show notes. My first article comes from the official Instagram blog, and it’s called “Announcing new Instagram content scheduling”. Instagram recently let everyone know that they released a new in-app tool. It allows you to schedule reels, photos, and carousel posts up to 75 days in advance. This may not be super helpful right now since you’ve likely already created and posted the bulk of your holiday-related social media content. But this could definitely benefit you in the new year, especially around busy gifting holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 05:20
If you want to practice or get started scheduling your posts right in the Instagram app, all you have to do is tap the ‘Create’ button, select your content type, whether it’s a real or regular post, etc. Then you’re going to tap ‘Advanced Settings’ and then tap ‘Schedule’, which will enable you to set a date and time in the future up to 75 days in advance. At this time, while they’re still developing it and working out the kinks, features like product tagging, collaborative posts, cross-posting to Facebook, sponsored posts, and fundraisers won’t be able to appear on the scheduled posts or reels. But you can go back and edit posts, change content, and reschedule content. It’s a really great way to get ahead of your social media schedule, especially if you don’t already use another third-party tool like Later or something similar.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 06:16
My main takeaway from this is that it actually seems like a useful feature introduced by Instagram. I’ll definitely be taking advantage of it occasionally for my own business, and I’ll definitely be mentioning it to clients, especially those, like I mentioned, who aren’t using third-party scheduling tools. I think during busy times of the year, it could be a really great way to post or schedule reels, especially ahead of time.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 06:43
So the next article comes from searchengineland.com, and it’s called “How to improve E-A-T for websites and entities”. Search Engine Land recently shared this article about E-A-T and the role it plays in search engine ranking. I know that you have Christmas cookies on your mind, but E-A-T has nothing to do with eating sweets and treats during the holiday season; it’s actually an acronym that stands for expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness. People who work at Google admit that the company assesses these three characteristics—expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness—when deciding how to rank a website in search results. Taking E-A-T into consideration especially helps Google ensure that it’s delivering trustworthy and reliable content—basically, not fake news. It’s important to know that E-A-T influences search engine rankings, but it’s not a ranking factor for Google search.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 08:00
If you create content for your website, like blog posts or other special guides, you’ll want to pay attention to how you can boost your E-A-T to help you rank even better in Google search results, so here are some tips: Make sure you’re creating content like blog posts and other website content that demonstrates you have expertise in your area or niche. Collaborate with other recognized people in your area, including influencers or maybe other experts in the field. Use simple, easy-to-understand terms instead of jargon. Avoid superficial or thin content, and instead, try to go deep. See what your competitors aren’t talking about, and then fill those content gaps. Make sure you’re always linking to authoritative sources when you’re sourcing something or quoting something in an article or blog post. Encourage your satisfied customers and fans to share their positive experiences and reviews. So my main takeaway is that if ranking in Google Search plays an important role in your digital marketing strategy, then you’ll definitely want to focus on boosting your expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness in the new year.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 09:24
The last article comes from JCK and it’s called “Permanent Jewelry Continues to Evolve With More Styles and Options”. JCK recently posted this article online about the evolution of the permanent jewelry trend, which I’ve talked about on this podcast before when we discussed trends this year. The adaptation of this trend and even quickly being introduced to market changes, new services, and new products are happening at lightning speed. And JCK believes that this permanent jewelry trend has now actually moved on to a second phase where there are options now, like at-home permanent jewelry products and new styles and new add-ons. So it’s even going to a new level.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 10:14
This one brand, La Daje, says their Forever Locked bracelet is the first permanent bracelet with a class that does not require welding or zapping. Customers can select a design and size and then lock it forever in the comfort of their own homes. This can be a really great jewelry option for customers who may have bracelets at home and enjoy [wearing them], but they just can’t be bothered with them because the clasps are difficult. It’s not necessarily the first piece of jewelry that you think to put on—usually, that might be earrings or your favorite rings. So if you have customers who love bracelets or love the idea of bracelets but are very low-maintenance jewelry wearers, then maybe this is a good offering for them.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 11:27
Also, having this as an in-store experience really provides a rush and excitement over something that customers can’t get online. As you probably know, with people shopping more and more online, it can start to feel a little bit impersonal behind the screen. There isn’t the touchy-feely aspect of shopping when you are exclusively shopping [through] e-commerce. So this is definitely a novelty—a memorable, high-touch experience. And then there are these other customers who are opting for these at-home bracelet options that offer them freedom and the ability and independence to do it themselves. So there’s really a lot of interesting stuff happening in this space.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 11:57
The other thing that I think is really helping this trend take off is that there are super attractive price points. One of the brands mentioned in this article said $90-something up to $400 is the average price point. That’s a lot more attractive than a lot of other fine jewelry options out there. I realize a lot of these things are typically very delicate; they don’t have a lot of embellishment, which is why the price point is lower. But for your typical jewelry consumer, that can really feel like a bargain, especially when you’re getting an experience tacked on to it.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 12:36
My main takeaway is that, whether or not you like this trend, I think it’s doing a great job of making fine jewelry accessible to people who may not have enjoyed wearing it before—the fuss of it, the clasps, remembering to put it on when they’re really busy, or who maybe thought it was just out of reach for them. So it will be interesting to see what else happens in this space. For more information about any of these articles, check out the links in the show notes.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 13:08
I’m so excited to introduce my guest today, Zuzana Bastian. She’s the founder of JEVELS, which is the first NFT platform dedicated to virtual jewelry and accessories designed by artists from all over the world. The primary purpose of JEVELS is to bring virtual jewelry to life through AR and VR technologies. Zuzana also provides consulting to jewelry brands that are trying to enter the metaverse. Drawn to fashion innovation and the world of NFTs, she has partnered with other experts to bring a state-of-the-art solution to elevate digital fashion and virtual jewelry. If you don’t already subscribe to the Joy Joya podcast on YouTube, I highly recommend that you check out the video version of this episode since Zuzana and I wear virtual jewelry during our interview. It’s super fun, and I think you’ll like it. Without further ado, here’s Zuzana.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 14:15
Hi, Zuzana, thanks so much for coming on the podcast. Welcome. I’m very excited to have you as a guest today!
Zuzana Bastian 14:21
Hello Laryssa. Thank you very much for inviting me. I’m very honored to be with you and talk about JEVELS!
Laryssa Wirstiuk 14:29
Yay! So I think the first thing that I really want to know, and I think that the listeners and viewers will want to know, is how did you first become interested in the metaverse? How did you get into this space, to begin with?
Zuzana Bastian 14:42
Well, I haven’t known the term ‘metaverse’ until maybe last year, but I have discovered virtual fashion before. It was driven by the wish to bring a sustainable solution to the fashion industry and also an innovative solution that changes the world, I would say. It’s driven by sustainability; I mean, we are all aware of the huge negative impact the fashion industry has on our environment. But we are not going to stop dressing ourselves, right? Fashion is helping us to be who we are; it’s helping us to be individuals, so we need to find more sustainable solutions.
Zuzana Bastian 15:37
So when I discovered virtual fashion at the end of 2020, I knew this was it because we spend so much time in virtual space. Working in a global company, I am sometimes sitting in virtual meetings eight hours a day. At that time, I was wondering, “Why do I have to dress physically for this?” So the first push was not to do something in the metaverse; the first push was quite logical to bring an innovative and sustainable solution to the fashion industry.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 16:19
At what point did you realize that this was something you could actually make come true? When did it feel real to you?
Zuzana Bastian 16:27
I’m not a fashion expert, but thanks to my sister, who is also a huge part of JEVELS, we’re becoming more and more fashion-conscious with regard to sustainability. We started to talk with designers, brands, and people who already have some experience with augmented reality, virtual reality, and even gaming. We have seen that with virtual clothes, wearability is not that easy when it comes to augmented reality. And augmented reality is really something you can wear in real life, right? We are wearing these amazing virtual designs right now. So when we saw what was missing in different discussions with the key players in the industry as well, we knew that we wanted to focus on virtual jewelry. Michael Kors said that jewelry is “the exclamation mark of an outfit,” and I really, really think that [is true]. I mean, imagine my outfit without these earrings. So we knew that we wanted to focus on jewelry because it is just so special.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 17:56
I fully agree with that. I support that idea. So what was the process of launching like? Was there a really big learning curve to get to the point where you are today?
Zuzana Bastian 18:09
Yes. So as I said, I’m not from the fashion industry, so of course, we had to learn everything; we had to learn about the whole fashion industry in general in the real world, but also what is possible in the virtual space with the current technologies. Furthermore, the blockchain and the Web3 space somehow came with it as a logical decision because, of course, we are working with virtual designs, so it makes absolute sense to tokenize these designs as NFTs through the blockchain. So we needed to read a lot and talk to as many people as possible, and then we really needed to come and decide on the vision and what we wanted to achieve.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 19:14
What were some of the challenges that you faced and maybe still face today?
Zuzana Bastian 19:19
Yes. We are still getting started, so there are a lot of challenges. You mentioned: How did I enter the metaverse? I mean, we don’t even know if this is the metaverse—what we’re doing already. I believe that this is still evolving—what we have is some virtual space, but for sure, not the metaverse—as I mentioned, the whole interoperability of all these technologies which are emerging right now. So the challenge right now, and I think this is the general challenge of all the people who are active in this space, is interoperability. You cannot take just one file and wear it in all of the virtual spaces in general. That is why we encourage our designers to mint the GOB file so that the owner of the NFT is actually the owner of the design. And already right now, but also more and more in the future, he is going to be able to upload the file and wear it in any space he goes. This is not yet possible, but this is where we see the future.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 20:35
I know you were also saying that one thing you want to do if you touch the earrings that you’re wearing, for example, is have them move as you touch them. So it sounds like there are a lot of features that you’re still trying to implement.
Zuzana Bastian 20:49
Yes, of course, because they experience what we have learned. People want to have a real experience with their virtual jewelry. So when somebody tries on the earrings, I don’t know how you reacted when you first saw yourself wearing your earrings. But most people react by touching the earring. Right now, it does move when I touch it. Of course, it already reacts quite well to my movements, but we are really working on the possibilities of how the technology can be even better and the experience even more realistic.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 21:33
That’s really exciting. I love it. I know that the designers play a huge role in what you’ve built so far, so I’d love to know more about how you brought on designers and how that relationship works.
Zuzana Bastian 21:48
We are very lucky that the space is still evolving, and designers are very happy about new possibilities and how to bring their designs to customers. What we say also [is that] we bring virtual jewelry to life; we make it wearable. The collaborations actually depend on the capabilities of the designers. It’s possible that there is a traditional jewelry designer who would like to enter the space, but he doesn’t know how, so we connect him to other 3D designers who can maybe help him digitize his designs or recreate the AR/VR wearability. Every collaboration is a little bit different. Our main goal is to make these designs wearable [while] bringing the most value to designers [so that they can] have an equitable revenue as well.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 22:48
So what are some of the benefits that designers can gain by being part of the platform?
Zuzana Bastian 22:55
Yes. Actually, I never said it, but JEVELS stands for virtual jewels. It’s already in the name; we focus on jewelry. So on our platform, you will find jewelry and other fashion accessories, unlike OpenSea, where you can really find everything, so you might get lost. But on our website, our platform, our designs are also wearable in augmented reality and virtual reality. We bring together this community that supports each other and helps each other—we are active on Discord as well—to really create a movement to bring virtual jewelry to life so that everybody feels included and empowered.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 23:49
That’s so exciting. It sounds like a really great opportunity for a designer who wants to experiment with new material, let’s say.
Zuzana Bastian 24:01
Yes. The virtual material can be anything; it can be dragon skin, and it can be material that cannot even exist in real life. So this is really exciting.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 24:18
That’s fun. So what does the consumer get when they make a purchase from JEVELS? What does that whole experience entail?
Zuzana Bastian 24:26
Yes. You experienced it yourself, so maybe you would like to talk about your experience.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 24:34
Well, first, I want to also remind the listeners that if they’re not watching on YouTube, they should watch this on YouTube because they can actually see us wearing our virtual earrings. The ones that I have on right now, I purchased before I even connected with Zuzana. I forget where I heard about JEVELS; I think it was in a New York Times article, maybe, and I was like, “I need to check this out.” At first, I wasn’t sure about it, but then when I saw the designs, I actually thought they were so cool that it made me want to take a chance on it. I particularly liked these earrings that I’m wearing right now. I already had one of those wallets where you can make that transaction, so I went ahead and did it. I had a little bit of trouble, but I reached out to them, and they immediately helped me out, and it was totally fine, and I was able to get it going. And then I was so excited to use it on Zoom. And now I’m so happy to have these earrings in my collection.
Zuzana Bastian 25:45
I’m so happy to hear that, yes. That’s true that it might be challenging to connect it, but we are working on it. As I said, we are just getting started. So what does the customer get? First, when he comes to the website, he can explore all the designs we have by many different designers. I think right now, we have approximately 20 designers and 50 designs on the website. All designs can be purchased through, as you said, a wallet—so in crypto. Our system is backed by the Ethereum blockchain. When you have some Ether in your wallet, it’s very easy to purchase it through the wallet. We also give the opportunity to buy with credit cards, which makes it more customer-friendly as well, mostly for those who don’t have any crypto experience yet. And actually, most of our customers pay with PayPal or a credit card.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 26:53
That was actually the first crypto I ever purchased—to buy earrings—because I was like: “You know what, I’m going to go through the full experience; I need to understand how this works.” So it was all new to me.
Zuzana Bastian 27:07
Great. Well, congratulations! I’m so happy to hear that. So when you purchase, you don’t just get an AR filter—you know that, obviously. You get the whole file with the design, which is very valuable because in the future you can customize it according to your needs and fit it on your avatar in the virtual space. So this is really exciting, [being able to see] what you can actually do with your own NFT.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 27:44
From a practical perspective, are there certain tools online that they could use this on? How can they actually show it off to people?
Zuzana Bastian 27:55
Yes, so we create our AR filters with Lens Studio, which comes from Snap Inc. for Snapchat, because we feel that Snap is really developing its technology day by day. This is really exciting to see. Snap is also very interoperable, so you don’t just use it for Snapchat. You can, of course, record the video and use it on Instagram and other social media as a video to show off to your friends. You can also wear it like us on Zoom, Google Meet, MS Teams, YouTube—I don’t know if you’ve tried it live on YouTube—and on Discord. So it’s really exciting [to know how and] where you can use it. I really hope that in the future we can wear them in real life when we wear our AR glasses or AR contact lenses, or we can even put them on some people on the street to see how they look on other people. It’s going to be really exciting when AR goes out into the streets.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 29:13
That sounds like there are so many possibilities there. It’s really cool. I also want to talk about the term ‘phygital jewelry.’ I want to talk about what that is. And what role does that play in your business model?
Zuzana Bastian 29:33
Yes. That’s a very good question because ‘phygital’—actually, many people don’t like the term. I love it because it’s so great to connect the physical and digital worlds. I mean, there are so many opportunities in this space. So for me, ‘phygital’ means having the possibility to wear your virtual jewelry in real life and also through immersive technologies [such as] augmented reality, virtual reality, mixed reality, etc. Actually, I have an example with me. These earrings I’m wearing virtually actually exist physically as well. We digitize them. Now you can wear them in any room you enter; you can wear them in physical rooms [and] also in virtual meeting rooms. We even did a fun filter for Brooklyn Fashion Week where you could change the color.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 30:38
Oh, that’s so fun!
Zuzana Bastian 30:41
You can try it. Actually, this filter is accessible to anyone. So you just type in ‘JEVELS’ and you can find many of our filters on Snapchat and try them out. This is one of them. This is really fun. I mean, I’m wearing a green T-shirt.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:04
If you hold up the real earring again, based on the video, you can see that the virtual ones almost look nicer and more sparkly and shiny. Maybe in real life, it’s different, but at least in this Zoom video, I kind of prefer the virtual earrings.
Zuzana Bastian 31:24
Thank you very much. And this is actually where we see the huge potential [for] virtual experiences. You can add animation. I can show you other designs we have. Also with animations, like, for instance, these earrings where we have a neat sign that is rotating, which is really fun.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 31:46
Oh wow! So for people listening, she’s wearing earrings that have a rotating element in the middle. She’s not even moving her head, but they’re rotating independently, so it’s like a little mini dynamic sculpture or something.
Zuzana Bastian 32:03
This is really, really fun. Ah, what else do I have? This is a little more extravagant, but for my gamer avatar, I definitely like to wear this one.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:16
Now she has a whole headpiece on that has moving elements and colors. That’s very cool. Very elaborate.
Zuzana Bastian 32:25
Or also for a party, I would absolutely wear this one.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:29
Yes. It’s great for a cool Halloween party, maybe. Love it.
Zuzana Bastian 32:36
[I can] cover my eyes if I haven’t slept well.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 32:42
It’s definitely good for the early morning work meetings where you don’t want people to see how late you’ve been up partying the night before.
Zuzana Bastian 32:52
I feel like the Queen of England, actually, with this one, together with Gary James McQueen and King James. This crown was worn during the Platinum Jubilee weekend—it was the first weekend of June in England—over 1 million times, which is great.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 33:12
Oh, that’s so cool.
Zuzana Bastian 33:13
We really see the adoption of virtual jewelry. Another example, for instance, is these earrings; it’s also a free filter everybody can try. It’s actually eye rings, and I wouldn’t be able to wear eye rings in real life.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 33:30
It’s so cool—earrings for your eyes!
Zuzana Bastian 33:33
[There are] unlimited opportunities in this space, and it’s really exciting. But yes, let’s maybe go back to ‘phygital’ because it’s an exciting term. I think it’s a very good entry point for brands who don’t yet want to provide an entirely virtual experience, maybe for their traditional users to create an experience with their existing physical products so that they can change colors—as I just showed you—or sizes, or they can personalize it in other ways with other animations and so on. And I think personalization is going to be an important part. I mean, we see it already with Nike sneakers, where you can personalize them. So yes, phygital is a great opportunity for bigger brands that don’t yet want to enter the virtual-only space.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 34:37
I could also see digital being a great way to test products, or even new colorways or metals so that you’re not investing in actually making the product before you know how the consumers will respond to it.
Zuzana Bastian 34:50
Yes, and actually, I think there is a survey that showed that by using AR try-ons, there are, I think, 30% fewer returns in retail. So this is really good from the sustainability point of view [as well].
Laryssa Wirstiuk 35:13
That’s a great point, because I think after the pandemic with a shift to more e-commerce, even though people are going back to stores, a lot of retailers aren’t keeping the same inventory or the same range of inventory in stock, so a customer needs to go online to be able to find the full assortment. And these tools can really help people try stuff on and, as you said, avoid returns, which can be really costly and really devastating to the environment. Yes, there are a lot of bad [things] about that.
Zuzana Bastian 35:51
Yes, absolutely. I think [that a] virtual has a lot of advantages. It cannot break, for instance, [or] get stolen. So all the disadvantages of real-life products, you don’t have them with virtual [ones].
Laryssa Wirstiuk 36:08
Yes. Are there any other reasons? Let’s say there’s a jewelry brand listening, and they just do physical goods right now. What are some other reasons you might tell them to consider getting into virtual goods?
Zuzana Bastian 36:22
I think a very good reason is also to explore other populations for their products. We see that Generation Z is very active on social media. They don’t actually need physical products; they interact with their friends all the time on TikTok, Snap, and Instagram. This is also where they want to show off what they own, because when I have something closed in my house and I don’t meet my friends in real life [but rather] only through virtual channels, I can wear it in real life, but it’s not the same experience like when you can really show something virtual, which can move, change colors, and is really special. So I think younger generations are going to drive this change toward more virtual experiences and also virtual fashion.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 37:31
Yes, that’s a great point. So what do you imagine for the future of JEVELS? Where are you hoping to go with this?
Zuzana Bastian 37:39
We have so many plans, and we really hope to become the place to go when you want to find jewelry to use in the virtual space. We really are aiming to collaborate with as many designers and as many brands from all over the world as possible to bring their designs to life and create amazing experiences for their customers. There are so many components to this; it’s not just NFTs. We would also like to explore other possibilities, [such as] how to wear virtual jewelry without actually having to buy the NFT. There are also on the blockchain other token standards, which we could use in the future. I think we have to co-develop the technologies with key players to build on our vision and achieve our goals.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 38:53
Well, thank you so much. I loved sharing our virtual earrings with each other. I loved hearing more about the whole experience of virtual jewelry. Is there anything else that you would like to share that we didn’t talk about today, or anything you have coming up on the horizon?
Zuzana Bastian 39:11
Yes, I think I would just encourage everybody to try it out. Go on Snapchat. And if you don’t have Snapchat, download it because it’s great, and search for JEVELS. There, you can find many of our free filters and then connect with your friends this way. You can show off your virtual jewelry, and it’s really unique.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 39:40
Well, thank you so much. This was so fun!
Zuzana Bastian 39:44
Thank you very much, Laryssa, it was really a lot of fun, and I thank you very much for your interest. I really admire what you do, and it’s great to learn from each other.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 39:57
What did you think about my interview with Zuzana? To learn more about her, you can connect with her on LinkedIn. I’ll put the link to her profile in the show notes, or [you can] visit jevels.com to check out the amazing selection of virtual jewelry there. You can also always email me, Laryssa, [at] laryssa@joyjoya.com. If you love this podcast, please share it with a friend who would appreciate it, and don’t forget to subscribe as well as leave a review on Apple Podcasts. To purchase a signed copy of my book, Jewelry Marketing Joy, visit JoyJoya.com/book for more information.
Laryssa Wirstiuk 40:36
Thanks for listening. Remember to subscribe so you never miss an episode. For more information about working with Joy Joya, visit joyjoya.com, where you can sign up to download our free eBooks about various topics in jewelry marketing.