Karissma Yve - CEO/Founder, Gildform
Photos courtesy of Hamaila
Gildform's Best In Design Winner!
On behalf of #teamgildform, congratulations to Hamaila, winner of Gildform’s Best in Design award.
Hamaila’s geometric aesthetic and subtle style gave her the edge for the award.
The digital age has made jewelry manufacturing and entrepreneurship more accessible than ever. Modern designers can get their products to market, promote them on social platforms like Instagram, and sell them on their websites without leaving the house. While most jewelry brand owners rejoice, these advantages do present a challenge: how do you carve out your own lane in a market that grows by the minute? How do you separate yourself from the pack?
For Hamaila, the answer is rooted in multidimensional designs and a wide range of creative inspiration.
Who is Hamaila
Passionate. Defiant. Courageous. Artistic. The daughter of Pakistani immigrants, she broke away from the stable career path she was expected to follow in order to find and pursue her passion. The change in direction was jarring for her family, who'd envisioned her following in her father's footsteps to become a pharmacist, but life had other plans. A fascination with furniture led to a woodworking class, which turned into metalworking and ultimately morphed into jewelry making. One year, one website, and one registered business later, Hamaila is here. And her family couldn’t be more proud.
Inspired Design
She draws inspiration from architecture, and simple geometry expressed in abstract forms. As you can see from her jewelry collection, the result is a three-dimensional take on minimalist style.
Her aim is to create wearable art that’s useful but also beautiful (likely influenced by a childhood pastime: IKEA catalog browsing). Hamaila’s not in the business of designing just for the sake of making sales. She strives to incorporate the people around her and cultivate a fluid thriving community. One of the ways she accomplishes this is naming her jewelry after the women who’ve made (and continue to make) a profound impact on her life. She weaves their unique stories into each piece and each product description.
Handcrafted Piece by Piece
This same intentionality is found in the design and production of her pieces. For starters, everything is handmade. Many of the pieces in her collections have multiple joints that need to be soldered and polished by hand before being worn.
Take the Nabi Earrings, for example, designed to embody the duality of her younger sister. Both powerful a
nd delicate. Both bold and subtle. Available in multiple sizes and materials, they fit any mood or occasion. Plus the cube design plays a trick on the eyes, presenting itself as a different shape depending on the angle. Statement pieces tend to be dynamic, and the Nabi Earrings are no exception.
Hamaila came to Gildform with designs that turned heads, but no sustainable way to produce them in larger quantities or with fast lead-times. Business growth is always the goal, but for solo founders, that's a recipe for long days and nights at the jeweler's bench.
Hamaila used Gildform to create 3D jewelry designs with ease and have them manufactured fast. She was able to upload images of the Nabi Earrings, have them turned into a 3d file within 24 hours, and have polished wearable products on her doorstep in only four days. With the time saved she can focus on chasing new inspirations, building the Hamalia brand, and nurturing jewelry maker communities like Ladysmiths of ATX.
Having access to Gildform as a tool, and #teamgildform as a manufacturing partner gives Hamaila the freedom to scale without losing the unique handmade quality her brand is becoming known for.
We’re excited to see what Hamaila designs next. Something tells us it’ll be practical, beautiful, and comfortable.
You can learn more about Hamaila and shop the collection at https://hamaila.com/ and catch up with Hamaila and the brand on Instagram at @hamaila.
Send Hamaila a congratulations by commenting below!
