Home Manchester Bowdon lady launches new luxury pearl collection

Bowdon lady launches new luxury pearl collection

Olivia Smith, from Bowdon, has launched Olivia & Pearl; an accessible, luxury pearl jewellery brand and online retailer.

Providing collectable, classic and contemporary pearl jewellery designed for a new generation of pearl lovers, Olivia & Pearl pieces are stylish, high quality, sourced ethnically while remaining affordable.

As a Royal Marine’s spouse, Olivia secured a Start-Up Loan from X-Forces to research, develop and market her brand. With the global pearl market estimated to reach £10.7bn by 2020, Olivia is keen to gain a slice of the market share and follow in the footsteps of Monica Vinader and Pandora.

Olivia says: “I was an avid lover of pearls as a little girl and often remember my dad returning from business trips with pearls. Having worked as an actor for 10 years and in advertising for a while, all I really wanted was to have control of my destiny and autonomy over my career. After I married, I also struggled with place and purpose as a military spouse – how do you maintain a career and friendships when you move around so much.


“When I finally made the leap to start up my own business, I wanted to turn my love for pearls into a brand and was privileged to receive mentoring from X-Forces CEO Ren Kapur MBE.”

The first collection by Olivia & Pearl celebrates women’s achievements. It focuses on entwining the contemporary with the classic and designing beautiful pieces created to celebrate individualism, beauty and power of women.

Olivia continues: “My friends are my ultimate inspiration; real, cool and sassy. Each piece tells a story and has been designed with the modern woman in mind.”

Since receiving the Start-Up Loan in 2017, Olivia has achieved so much and was recently named the winner of the Start Up Loans Company ‘Start Up of the Year Award’.

She concludes: “It was a complete surprise and absolute delight to win the Start Up of the Year Award. I am just thrilled. To people wondering if they should start up their own business, I say feel the fear and do it anyway. It is scary, and hard work, and you carry the business with you all the time, but it has been an incredible journey and it is truly amazing to see your ideas and decisions become a reality.”

With the first Olivia & Pearl collection now available, Olivia is already designing new pieces to add to the collection, and she will continue to support military spouses, helping them realise that they too can start up their own business and find their place in self-employment.