Inside Tucson Business - Feb. 2 2004

Sisters string successful jewelry business from New York to Tucson

By Cheryl Knuhtsen

Laurie and Lisa Designs, a custom designed jewelry business with retailers from coast to coast, began as a fun beading class taken by two sisters, Laurie Wetterschneider and Lisa Peterson, and became a successful family business conducted mostly via e-mail and phone.
"Lisa lives in New York and I'm here in Tucson," Wetterschneider said. "But we work well together and it's great to be grown up and to have this shared interest between us."

Even when they were little, the sisters enjoyed making jewelry together, whether stringing together Fruit Loops or elbow macaroni, they enjoyed each other's company and inspired each other. "Now we've moved into high quality stones and pearls and rediscovered the joys of being creative," Peterson said. Until two years ago, their professional lives were far from the beading life. At that time, Peterson was still a lawyer in New York, raising two children and working many hours.

"When we started Laurie and Lisa Designs in March of 2003 it was a pleasant surprise," Peterson said. "I had never done anything entrepreneurial. This is a fun chapter of my life-being at home and being creative." Wetterscneider, who had owned radio stations in Tucson and who had spent many years in the marketing field, concurred. "I don't miss radio at all," Wetterschneider said. "I was in semi-retirement and realized it was time to do something different."

When Peterson came to Tucson for a vacation, the sisters and their mother took some beading classes at Strung Out on Beads. "We were hooked," Wetterschneider said, though she admits that they did not set out to form a business. It was a word of mouth process, Wetterschneider said. Their partnership fell into a natural distribution of work, with the marketing going to Wetterschneider and the detailed inventory tracking carried out by Peterson. "Someone would see a piece and ask about it, and pretty soon we were putting them in retail stores," Wetterschneider said. "We play to our strengths." Laurie and Lisa Designs uses high quality stones and pearls for its beaded necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Their jewelry is carried in five locations in Tucson, one in Carmel, Calif., and at various locations in New York.

In addition, the sisters create custom pieces for customers wanting something specific for a particular outfit or for a special occasion. Jana Kooi, president of the community campus of Pima College is a customer of the company. Boasting of the superb quality of the stones and the superior craftsmanship, Kooi has commissioned four or five special jewelry pieces from Laurie and Lisa Designs. "Their pieces are so interesting in a design sense and I can get exactly what I want to match a particular outfit," Kooi said. Her favorite piece is a garnet choker that she receives compliments on wherever she goes. "Besides," she said, "I can get great quality stones at a price that is affordable."

Not pricing out the average shopper is something that Peterson insists they are mindful of. "We don't want to price our pieces to a point where women would think that they would need to discuss the purchase with their husband first," Peterson said Crafting jewelry out of amethyst, peridot, garnet, aquamarine, onyx, cracked crystal and pearls, the sisters have found their own niches and preferences. Peterson is currently working with pearls and mother-of-pearl and cracked crystal with sterling silver. "Our mother came up with the caption, 'The world is your oyster when you wear our pearls' and I think it sums it up quite nicely," Peterson said.

Sylvia Drew, designer and chief executive officer of Creative Arrangements by Sylvia, carries Laurie and Lisa Designs in her shop in the Westin La Paloma Resort and Spa and is thrilled with the reception the jewelry has received. "We are selling a lot more bigger, bulkier items and Laurie and Lisa Designs provides us with pieces that our customers are really loving," Drew said. Though some of the jewelry uses turquoise, the design is not traditional southwestern, but more modern. "The travelers are buying these up to take a little of Tucson home," she said.

Drew sees the bridal market as a hot place for the pearl and crystal jewelry and for custom designed jewelry. "With a one-week to ten-day turnaround, brides are finding that they can custom order gorgeous jewelry for themselves and for the whole bridal party that is unique and not too expensive," she said. The sisters agree that they want Laurie and Lisa Designs to stay small and have hired no outside help with beading. "We want to maintain a personal relationship with our vendors and we want to be able to provide custom jewelry to order for our clients," Peterson said.

They also insist that they do not want the business to become stressful. "If it becomes too taxing, then we'll know that something isn't right," Peterson said. For the time being both women want to stick with marketing to local venues, picking and choosing local retailers and enjoying the new business they have created. Cheryl Knuhtsen is freelance writer based in Tucson.

Laurie Wetterschneider (above) makes and sells handcrafted jewelry with her sister Lisa Peterson, a practicing lawyer in New York. The sisters sell their pieces at more than half a dozen locations in the East and Southwest United States.