São Paulo – In a market where gems and unique designs stand out, Amarjon Biojoias emerges to win a new audience: eco-friendly jewel lovers. Established in 2008, the Brazilian company makes pieces from leaves, flowers and seeds.
“Before establishing Amarjon, I saw that the semi fine jewelry I worked at was becoming a little saturated. Searching for a new niche to work with, I found bio jewelry. Over time and research, we honed this technique, and now we seek to interfere as little as possible with the nature design to create the items,” says Isabel Ribeiro, managing partner at Amarjon Biojoias.
The 16-year-old brand has sold jewels to several Brazilian states – like Pará, São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Bahia, Goiás, and Ceará – and other countries, too.
“Exports started incidentally. One day, a Brazilian living in Denmark was vacationing in Bahia, discovered our pieces and wanted to resell them there. He started the business in 2013 and hasn’t stopped since. Then we saw our potential to start exporting,” says the Amarjon Biojoias partner.
After Denmark, the company reached France, Italy, Poland, the United States, Canada, the French Guiana, Japan, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and most recently, Turkey. To reach all these destinations, Ribeiro said she was supported by the Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency (ApexBrasil). She points out that ApexBrasil was present across all stages of the process, from teaching her how to price her products to find new partners.
“The Turkish are our most recent trade partners. Last year, they came to our store in Rio de Janeiro and were thrilled, saying they wanted to open a branch store there. In December 2023 we started having meetings, and last May we signed the contract. We’ll soon not have a franchise but license our brand there.”
Although the company hasn’t exported to the Arabs yet, Ribeiro does plan to do that. “We still don’t know much about this market, so we wouldn’t even know how to start. But we have every intention to start exporting to the Arabs – we just need a direction, an opportunity form someone who gets it.”
Jewelry’s production and expansion
Based on raw materials from the Latin American country’s main biomes like the Amazon, Caatinga, the Atlantic Forest, Pampa, craftswomen hired by Amarjon Biojoias make rings, earrings, pendants, bracelets, necklaces, and other accessories.
“The leaves are collected, dehydrated, waterproofed and metallized by the hands of our skilled craftswomen. Then they are molded and properly prepared for the final stage – the gold plating. The care with which each item is worked and the thick gold layer applied ensure durability and high quality standards,” Ribeiro explained. “The entire process takes a month to be finished.”
After selling to several Brazilian states and even other countries, came the idea to open their first brick-and-mortar store. “We wanted to open it, but we didn’t know where it could be. Then a client of ours told us about a vacant space in the Eco Resort Arraial d’Ajuda. We opened the shop during the pandemic, in 2021, and it was a hit, as both the resort’s visitors and our customers are concerned about sustainability and nature conservation,” said Ribeiro. “The resort is in a beach district called Arraial d’Ajuda in the municipality of Porto Seguro, Bahia state.
The company’s second store opened at the Sheraton Grand Rio Hotel & Resort in Rio de Janeiro in September 2023, and this year’s May saw the opening of its third store, at the Grand Palladium Imbassaí Resort & Spa, in the coastal district of Imbassaí in the municipality of Mata de São João, Bahia state.
“Our fourth store will open later this year, and we have another project for the next year. After seeing so many customers interested in expanding our business, we started thinking about creating franchises. This’ll be our focus starting 2025,” says the company’s partner.
Earrings
The earrings are the top-selling products, and the target audience is mostly made up of women from 35 to 55. Aiming to widen this audience, the sustainable jewelry brand made a different campaign on Mother’s Day.
“To reach more buyers, last year we developed a campaign with matching items for mothers and daughters. We made smaller earrings for children on Mother’s Days. It was so successful that we’re currently developing a children’s collection.”
Read more:
Brazilian jewelry has store in Riyadh
Pearl farm? A dive into the emirate that grows gemstones
Report by Rebecca Vettore in collaboration with ANBA
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
