Namaste. Hello. Bonjour. Halo. Habari. Welcome to my third post in the “Celebrating Small Businesses” series. This is a special one because I am breaking the monotony of showcasing women entrepreneurs. Am happy to introduce Ryan Cade of the Forest Design Lines fame.
Ryan Cade is the owner and lead designer at Forest Design Lines – an amazing small business that creates handcrafted jewelry, using only high-quality materials. And I kid you not when I say that every single piece is a work of art on its own. No exaggeration there! When you check Ryan’s work you will know what I am talking about.
Interestingly, Ryan started Forest Design Lines when he was in his early 20’s. He loved wearing bracelets and after not being satisfied with the quality of bracelets he was purchasing, he decided to start creating his own. After making a few bracelets for himself, his friends started asking him for custom bracelets. That’s how his work started getting recognized, and he then and decided to take it a step further. Thus, Forest Design Lines was born. Isn’t that an amazing startup story? And truth be told, I really didn’t expect the owner of such a creative outlet to be a male. Ok, not trying to be biased here, but jewelry is normally a woman’s domain. When I realized it was a man behind all that amazing work, I knew I had to talk about him in my Small Businesses Series.
Back to Ryan. He began designing and creating beaded bracelets in his apartment. He made sure he focused on high-quality material, such as 14 karat gold and natural gemstones, because he is a believer of very high quality work. Each piece of jewelry is strung together by hand without the use of machinery or mass production. That’s really awesome! But the best part is yet to come. What I truly love about Ryan and his business. He incorporated ‘giving back’ to the world where he got my inspiration from. Ryan plants 10 trees every time a piece of jewelry is sold. And that’s also where the name Forest Design Lines originates from.
He is constantly designing and creating new pieces for the company and he makes sure to release a set of select pieces at the beginning of every season, by focusing on the collection’s style and materials around the unique aspects of that particular season. For example, the most recent collection for Summer 2020 has a focus on brighter stones such as turquoise while also having more mellow colors such as brown opals. They are some amazing pieces, that all bracelet lovers have to see. I keep telling Ryan, I need piece of every gemstone 🙂 Yep, they are that good.
Currently, the Forest Design Lines jewelry is only sold online through the website. But, Ryan is working towards growing the brand around the United States through Influencers and online marketing. In his words, “when the business grows, I will also teach my craft to others to meet the growing demand.” Good luck Ryan and we truly hope your business reaches such a high that you have an office in every big city of the world. Our best wishes!
And, I’ll be back very soon with news of another prolific entrepreneur. Until then, take care and stay safe.
Love and Light,
Archana Kapoor
