I have been wanting to change our brand name from LoveHate for many years now, but it's
- loads of work and,
- b: a great leap of faith to bring all our lovely customers onboard after so many years of our first brand name.
So, why the change? Well… I never really liked the name LoveHate!
I started making jewellery more than 20 years ago. My original plan was to make a bit of cash on the side while studying fine art at RMIT, but look at where I am now! This was in the time before the internet, well, the internet that we have now anyway. I could send an email if I plugged a large cord into the back of my giant computer and after a series of robotic beeps it would connect to the internet and we could do this wonderful thing called email. We could also search google and it had about 30 images on any one subject, if you were lucky. So with no internet, if you spotted someone on the street wearing something that you liked you would actually stop them and ask where they purchased it. This was how I began selling the jewellery that I made, people would stop me on the street and ask about my designs. I would exchange a phone number and they would call me and place an order.
Fast forward a couple of years and I was designing ranges and selling them to a couple of still prominent fashion stores around Melbourne. I designed and made things under the name Love by Geneine Honey. Fast forward another 5 years and I had opened a little store on Gertrude street in Fitzroy selling my jewellery as well as objects that were the creative side hustle of many Melbourne artists. The store was called Little Salon and our home was on Gertrude St for some 16 years.
In about 2004 or 5 a friend of a friend had a little business building websites. Still not convinced of the importance of the clunky internet's future, I agreed to let her build one for my designs.
Tasked with buying myself a domain name, I settled on love.com.au but alas, it had already been taken, so on a whim I bought the name lovehate.com.au.
I continued to call the brand Love by Geneine Honey until eventually the internet became the behemoth that it is today and people took our domain name as everything. People started calling and when we answered the phone with "Hello, Love by Geneine Honey" they would reply "Is this LoveHate?" face palm emoji. I realised I had to go with the flow and changed the name to LoveHate and another 12 years went by.
As you may have noticed, over the last 5 years or so we have transitioned from making fun costume jewellery to more and more bespoke and one of pieces. I am so very fortunate to have customers that have grown with me and I think we all see the need for long lasting design made from sustainable materials that can be made right here in our Fitzroy North studio. Reflecting on this ethos which developed over the years, I knew I wanted to brand what I do with a name that fits with the small and unique nature of my business and designs. So I decided to take the leap!
I love our new logo designed by the very talented Chelsea of Madewilde Creative, and I really hope you enjoy the new branding and packaging we’ve been working on over the last few months. We look forward to seeing you at our store and studio, in the same location on Brunswick Street with the same team, but with our new name on the door - Geneine Honey Bespoke Jewellery.