Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work
#356: Elizabeth Solomeina (Jewelry Designer) (pt. 2 of 2)
This week on the podcast is part two of our interview with Elizabeth Solomeina. She’s a Russian-born jewelry designer, and co-founder and managing director of Flying Solo—a retail marketplace for independent luxury designers. She founded Flying Solo to address the need for a central space for designers to sell their work and connect with clients, stylists, and press. Her own jewelry incorporates materials such as topaz, pearls and diamonds and fashions them into Art Deco and Elizabethan-inspired pieces.
Tune in to hear how Elizabeth’s hard work and passion grew an idea into operations in NYC and Paris, and more innovative activities on the horizon!
Welcome to the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast: Making Art Work. We highlight how entrepreneurs align their artistry, passion, and vision to create and pursue opportunities to capture value in the arts. The views expressed by guests on the Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast are solely their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of the podcast or its hosts. The appearance of a guest on the podcast, the venture they represent, or reference to any product or service does not imply an endorsement or recommendation by the podcast or its hosts. The content provided is for entertainment and informational purposes only, and does not constitute business advice. Here are your hosts, Andy Heise and Nick Petrella.
Andy Heise:Hi Arts Entrepreneurship Podcast listeners. My name is Andy Heise.
Nick Petrella:And I'm Nick Petrella. Elizabeth Solomeina is with us today. She's a Russian-born jewelry designer and co-founder and managing director of Flying Solo, a retail marketplace for independent luxury designers. She founded Flying Solo to address the need for a central space for designers to sell their work and to connect with clients, stylists, and press. Her own jewelry incorporates materials such as topaz, pearls, and diamonds, and she fashions them into Art Deco and Elizabethan-inspired pieces. We'll link to Flying Solo in the show notes so you can see all of their clothes, jewelry, and more. Thanks so much for being on the podcast, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Thank you so much for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. I mean, their own desire, not when their parents drag them in or when you you actually immigrate on your own, uh, you already have a desire to try something. And you because I mean immigration is such a hard thing to do to begin with, you already have no fear. Because if you logically think about immigration, the odds of you making something good out of yourself in a new country is significantly lower than in your own country, right? So, and you have to somehow be crazy enough to do it. So, entrepreneurs are the same way. You have to be crazy enough to believe that your idea somehow is going to work against all the odds, because for any business, odds are not in your favor that you're going to succeed. I mean, unless you probably bought bought a very established grocery store that has just been already on the corner for many, many years. But yeah, anything new will, yeah.
Andy Heise:Yeah, that's a that's an interesting perspective.
Nick Petrella:Yeah. Has your journey as a business owner been as you thought it would be, or did you have detours along the way?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Uh very good question. Um I think at the beginning, I really didn't even know where it's supposed to go. And the whole idea was just to do it because I could not not do it. That that was the whole thing. Um there was idea that uh with with Flying Solo specifically, the idea was absolutely needed, and I didn't want to live with the regret of not trying it out. I think I'll be come I wouldn't be happy, but I still will be uh satisfied if we try and it wouldn't work out. At least I would know the reason why it didn't work out. But not to try it out when it just so many people really want it to happen. And I am personally driven by other people when other people somehow believe in you, and you even don't know if it's going to work, but somehow they put the trust in you that that's going to work. I mean, for me it's the biggest driver. Like, how can you possibly let the people down? So I think it's to this day is my biggest driver because right now we have we represent over 200 different brands, and anytime we do a show or they're in our stores, like they look up to you and you're like, I cannot let them down. We need to do our very best to make sure that they get the best chance to succeed.
Nick Petrella:You know, when you were speaking earlier, I I thought it was pretty clever that you brought up a bunch of designers on because it's really no different than a luxury watch retailer, Rolex, Tudor, Omega. You have all of them in one spot. You became a destination, you became a nexus. Surely that helped your success.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Yes, and on top of that, uh what's um what really happened, uh we were it it wasn't just so many brands under one roof, as you mentioned, but we were also the ones that were able to bring whatever collection we felt will resonate with the client.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Elizabeth Solomeina:The biggest problem with retail, and why is it so like need change right now, and we can all hear that well, a lot of retailers already closed down, a lot of them are in trouble and not paying their vendors. There is a big fundamental problem with retail as with big retail as it is right now. And the problem is uh it used to be a wholesale game. It used to be that there is a bunch, there is a group of buyers for a big store like Barney's. They carefully select all the designers as a season ahead, and season is like being like six, seven, eight months ahead. So they select them, they put a purchase order, the designer will execute it, and they'll deliver to the store. So they'll put an order in February, they'll deliver in September. Uh, this world does not exist anymore, how we used to know it. Right now, uh, you see something. So uh designer released the collection on the runway, and that's when buyers basically see it. And we as customers want it right away because we saw it on social media, we saw it like everywhere. We saw it in magazines, we saw it. Used to be just um the shows used to be for a selected few, then it will be carefully uh go to like a few magazines, then we'll flip through those magazines, and those magazine pictures will be released later, and then it will build up to September when you can uh finally buy it in the store, and basically media used to control the narrative of how it shows up. Right now it's social media. You photograph it and it's there, yeah, and people want it. And if they don't get it, you will not possibly remember about it six months later. So it's a different world, and it has to change the whole idea of wholesale. So, big stores, what they still do is trying to guess what's going to be popular six months ahead, while the trend most likely already passed, most likely. So they the only way for them to buy is to buy something super safe that will be well basically classics that will most likely last uh through through that cycle. So that gives no room for new exciting things to pop up. So this model simply doesn't work anymore for new brands to come to the stage. So what we do is very different. We give that power to the brands. So our brands pay when a brand gets selected to be a part of Flying Solo, uh they pay membership fee uh to be part of our retail uh uh PR services if they want fashion weeks, depending on the services that they need. And that gives them the control to bring anything they want. So if tomorrow they came up with a new piece, they're like, okay, super exciting. Let's test the market. They'll bring the dress to the store and see how people react. Okay, the dress is being sold. Great. Maybe I should make another five of them. Bring it to the store, sold out, great. Maybe I should make it in two more colors. Okay, sold out like or put a dress on. Everybody's interested. What's the feel but why no one is buying? What's the feedback? Oh, no one can fit, like you know, the feet is off, like shoulders are off on the customer and things like okay. Let's adjust it. Went back to production, adjust. Okay, does that work? Okay, this one is sold. Okay, so then we're taking this part. So that loop was never possible with a big retailer. You either deliver it and it's sold, or you deliver it and didn't sell, and they're never going to talk to you ever again. So that's basically the only way. So we provide a different way, and I believe this is the only way for an independent designer to grow on their own. So, unless they have so much cash that they can just burn through that, uh that this is the most sustainable way for a smaller designer to grow into mid-sized brands and take off from there. Yeah.
Nick Petrella:I was gonna ask this later, but Andy, if it's okay, I it makes sense now. How do you determine which designers to include in the Flying Solo catalog? And what should young designers do to prepare themselves for a successful career in fashion? So just briefly, because I know we got a bunch of other questions to go to.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Yeah, absolutely. Um, and very good question. So um we do have a set of criteria, how we um uh accept the brands. And what's the what we looking for the most is a very unique point of view. So something that we haven't seen before, it has to be authentic to the designer. With that said, anyone in the world can apply. We have a very we have open application on Flying Solo NYC website. If you go to our Instagram, which is also Flying Solar NYC, there is linked and buy you with application and all the terms and everything and different services that we provide. So every season uh we take a look at the applicants, we see uh who might uh who will make a cut for our um uh to flying solar and what will be exciting for the customers. We also have categories that we need uh we need to accept. So we have uh clothing, we have accessory, we have jewelry. Now we also have beauty and home categories that we're accepting in uh it's also have to be diverse within price points. So we have the whole team that uh works on the selection, but at the core of it, designers just uh designers have to represent a different point of view, a unique point of view, and be true to themselves. We also need to mention that we accept um both very young brands and more established brands. So oftentimes um designers have hesitation when it's their very first collection. So we historically accepted quite a few brands that brought out uh their literally very first collection to us that was never shown before, and we grow them to now bigger brands, the ones that already opened their own stores and everything. Yeah, that took a while. So that's usually we're talking about five-year type of thing, but we're also very proud that we did. So um, if there are listeners from younger designers, so don't be discouraged, even if it's your first collection, uh you you still have a chance to be a part of Flying Salon.
Andy Heise:That's great, yeah. You know, something um something that strikes me, and this happens frequently with creatives and artists who want to figure out a way to get their work to their audience. Uh so in your case, jewelry. You s you know, you started out as creating and selling jewelry, but now you find yourself operating this retail boutique curating collections. Um and so there there's sort of an interesting thing that happens there, right? So you need a way to sell your work, and then you kind of have to switch gears to okay, well now I have to start now, I have to focus on the retail business side of it. Was that a natural transition for you, or was that something that you kind of struggled with, had to figure out?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Um Well, it it definitely was a natural transition, but in a way that uh because I was also a designer and design like the original group were all design, all of us were designers. We basically uh created services and the way stores operate for ourselves first. So original idea wasn't oh my god, we're going to be 200 people uh designers. Whereas let's build something for 10 of us. So, the again, all the principles of flying solo and how we operate and how we bring collections and how we work with media and all those things were just created for us designers because we needed it first.
Speaker 4:Right.
Elizabeth Solomeina:And I think that was a very big success uh part of success of flying solo because we really didn't know how big retail is supposed to operate, and thanks God we didn't, because we would have done it the old way, they're well, arguably the wrong way now. Um so we did it our way, how we felt it's supposed to be done, how we needed to be done. So that's that's how that's how it so happened.
Andy Heise:Yeah. Well, and and that break that's something else you said earlier, uh that initial 10 designers or so that you had, when it came time to find a permanent space, you got tapped on the shoulder to go look for that space. Do you know, do you have any inkling or any ideas as to why you were chosen? They the group chose you to do that.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Well, um, I guess you have to ask the group, but I um I did uh lead large teams before in my previous career, so it was quite natural to me. I was a producer in my previous um my previous job, and video producer is the person that basically organizes everybody and makes sure that we have money, we have resources, we on budget, on time, and make sure everybody is put to work. So I guess it somewhat came natural to me, just an extension of what I already knew how to do.
Andy Heise:Yeah. Well, and um for for other people that are maybe working on creating um uh creative ventures or art arts-based businesses, uh there's always the question of where to put your efforts and when to switch your efforts. For example, like should I focus on design and production, or should I focus on marketing and visibility, or should I be out building partnerships and relationships? And when it's just you or maybe you and your sister or a small team of people, like figuring out where to put your attention can be can be difficult. So, how did you approach that and how did you prioritize those different activities that were necessary?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Um, well, at the beginning, when when you open a business, I think it's more things that just kind of being thrown at you and you just need to immediately deal with them. So it's not that you get to sit and decide, what am I going to do now? It's more like, well, we absolutely urgently need to this to be done yesterday, and that's what you jump on. And then the next things come alone, and then and next thing. Right now, I certainly have a luxury of thinking about strategy and what is going to be next for flying solo, like what are we doing the next year or in two years from now. So that's that comes way, way later. But it's also, you know, you already have some experience by then.
Nick Petrella:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You have a wide variety of experience in pretty much every aspect of the fashion industry. So as I was listening to your answers now and of course doing my research on you on online, I was wondering if you know how much uh you think young fashion designers should should learn about the industry. So online I see you hire models. Is that something like young designers should learn to model so they have a bun better understanding of how to photograph and move in their designs? Or do things like that not matter?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Um, as a young designer, you need to learn a lot of different skills, including how to cast and direct models. Because the reality of it, while at some point you might have teams that you work with and it will be done by someone else, when you know everything yourself, you are much more efficient and directing others. So, with that, I am so grateful for all my background and uh that I was doing um film and video before. So that's why when we do our big shows, I can direct the entire video team. I'm not even the one directing them anymore. But at the beginning, I was able to, when we had very limited resources and all of that, I was able to tell them exactly what needs to be done. And of course, when you have limited budgets, you don't have the very high professionals, so you have to manage them quite a bit. So um, so same things for young designers. Learn everything that you can. I do not believe in general there is any skill that you learn will go unused in your life. I think everything that I learned throughout my entire career, like my entire work journey, came useful here in Flying Solo. So when you learn something, but and then you become entrepreneur, so you started your own fashion, but all little skills, even if you uh learn how to make artisanal coffee, that will come very handy when you be serving that coffee to a potential client in the store, and they'll be also impressed by how great it is. So don't undermine even little things like um photo shoots, models, uh, how to do it, uh merchandising yourself. Merchandising is one of the most important things when it comes to retail.
Andy Heise:How to cut how to cut copper piping.
Elizabeth Solomeina:How to cut copper piping, exactly. I think I'll have the skill till the rest of my life.
Nick Petrella:Well, you know, it's probably not sweating pipes, probably not that much different than soldering jewelry. Well, yeah.
Speaker 2:Um well, there is a technique to that, actually. There is a separate tool that was uh you needed to learn how the how to do it. Yeah.
Andy Heise:And I I want to come back to this. You know, being uh reactionary, like, well, this is what we need to do, so this is what we're gonna focus on to thinking more strategically. Uh and particular when it comes to thinking about growing the business. Like how do you how do you balance when making that decision to grow, I think, is probably pretty difficult, but it's one that you've made many times. Um and also but balancing that desire for growth, um, whatever that means in terms maybe it's monetary recognition, whatever those types of things are, and balancing that with sort of the creative aspects of the business as well. How do you how have you approached that?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Um that's a very interesting question. Um there are times in the company when you have to or you need to uh grow just wide and get all the recognition and make it bigger, and there'll be times for the company where you have to grow deep, I would say. And uh, because you grow so wide and so fast, uh, you need To redo the process. So it's basically what uh what I noticed about uh well flying soul specifically, it's one company when you're just you know 10 designers and uh you basically don't have any employees, it's just basically managing community. Then you start getting two of your employees, and that's becomes a slightly different game because you can actually tell people uh you know what needs to be done and they have to do it because they're employed by the company. Then you all of a sudden start growing to bigger scale. So then designers start being less of their workers in the company because they build the entire thing, so now they join the fruits of the whole thing. So first you have like six people that work for you. Uh it's it's one structure, it's it's like more like family, everybody sits next to each other, everybody knows each other's like daily problems, like family things going on every day. Then you become 15, and you already like could be a few mini groups within the group, then you become 25. Now we're about 50 people, and it's a completely different game. I mean, you not necessarily know the uh aspirations of every person in your company. There will be like some levels of management you need to manage by groups, and um yeah, that's that's how it grows, and it will be different stages, over exciting. But what I encourage uh your listeners to remember that just embrace the change, it won't be the same in all those stages, and you cannot operate by the same rules. When when we were six people company, it was a completely different scope of things that we're doing and how we're operating compared to it's now. None of it, neither of it is good or bad. Right, it was great then and it's great now, but you just need to be flexible of changing your mindset of how you operate the company.
Andy Heise:Yeah, that's great. I love your I love your uh growing the business breadth and growing the business depth. I think that's a really good way of thinking about it.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Thank you.
Nick Petrella:Yeah, the only constant is change.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Exactly.
Nick Petrella:So before Andy kicks off the last three questions, I'm wondering do you have any fun projects on the horizon that you can share with us?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Absolutely. So something that we are working on and will be coming in uh the June of 2026. We are going to organize a Flying Solar Fashion Awards. And that is awards for the entire industry, not just designers, and to celebrate all the people that uh work in the entire industry, including handmakeup artists, including stylists, including production people on the set. Because it's always bothered me the fact that film industry is being celebrated. We have Oscars where we celebrate every single person on the set and give them awards. We have the same for the theater, we have the same for the music industry. And fashion people, the ones that love to party the most. So we are just meant for big party uh and meant for, and there's a lot of people that are invisible that actually making it happen and should be recognized for their uh efforts, are never in the picture. We only know realistically, we only know designers and we only know models. That's the only people from the industry that we know. But in order to make it happen, so many more people have to be involved. So we want to recognize those people. So we are going to open um applications very soon. Applications will be obviously it will be uh free to submit people uh to potentially be awarded. Um we'll do the ceremony in June of 2016. It will be uh 2026. We started with 2016. Uh 2026, and uh yeah, that's that's our next big project.
Nick Petrella:Wow, that sounds great. That's a great idea.
Andy Heise:I love I love I've I've worked with you know just in whatever various projects, people with experience in the fashion industry. And one thing I love about working with them is they are planning a year in advance. It's part it's sort of the cycle of those things. Uh whereas a lot of times we're just kind of like, well and the party. And the party. Well, Elizabeth, we've reached the point of the interview where we ask all of our interviewees the same three questions. And the first question is what advice would you give to others wanting to become an arts entrepreneur?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Make sure that you really want it. Uh, please don't go in any kind of arts for the money because it's just not a successful path. Trust me, there are a lot of industries where you can make money, better money, faster money, more money. Um, but if you cannot exist without creating, it's your it's just in you and it needs to come out. Only then go into any kind of art entrepreneurship because only then people can see your passion, people will be led by you into new things, they'll be excited by your creation. So do it only in that case.
Nick Petrella:What can we do to ensure the arts are more accessible and reaching the widest possible audience?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Um, well, there are a lot of things that can be done, uh, but I always encourage everybody who wants to support artists, entrepreneurs, just to vote with your wallet. Honestly, the best way to support a fashion designer or someone in art that is starting out, just buy their things. It's that simple. Like if you love your their things, just buy something from them. And if you absolutely cannot afford, share it with the friends that might be interested, show their work. If you truly believe that they're great, you will have no problem sharing with your other friends. Look how great that person is. And that is how people start making money, and that's how they continue the business.
Nick Petrella:That's wonderful.
Andy Heise:Lastly, what's the best artistic or entrepreneurial advice you've been given?
Elizabeth Solomeina:Wow, that's that's a good one. Um I don't even know from the top of my head. I mean, majority of uh my people that came, um I came across and gave me a really good guidance. The only thing was just do it. Um it's just go for it, do it, go figure it out, and that's it. There is no everybody agrees that there is no planning that will prepare you for the unknown. Because when you're starting something new, when you're starting something truly new, it will be a new path. So there is no need in very detailed planning. Yes, you just need to kind of pick the direction where you're going so you just know where when you get there that you actually got there. But uh, other than that, you just don't know. Be flexible, uh, just start doing it. You'll find a lot of the uh a lot of the things that you thought will be true, not true. You'll have to pivot a million times, but it will be fun. Look, it's part of the whole adventure to do this whole thing.
Nick Petrella:Yeah, it's great. Great way to end. Elizabeth, it's been great hearing your passion and energy, and I look forward to watching Flying Solos continued growth.
Elizabeth Solomeina:Thank you so much. Thank you, guys.
Nick Petrella:Thanks, Elizabeth. Thank you.
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