The Journey from a Bankruptcy to Sleep-In Earrings - The Story Behind MNOP Jewelry

In 2013, the fashion company I worked for went bankrupt. It didn't come as a shock – the company had been struggling for a long time, barely hanging on. But when you're sitting there at 8:00 in the morning in a staff meeting and a bankruptcy administrator tells you that you're all laid off – well, it's still shocking anyway.

My role was as a technical designer and pattern maker. I was the one who constructed all the products and designed them together with the design team. In our small town of rural Sweden, those kinds of jobs didn't grow on trees. And this had been my dream job.

Our family – me, my husband, and our 2-year-old – faced a choice. Move to one of the big fashion cities or start down a new path. There was something completely different calling to me. A freer, more alternative life in the countryside, on the family farm a few miles outside town. I had dreamed of moving there ever since I first visited as a 15-year-old. Besides, I had never really thrived as an employee. All the projects I'd done on my own had been more fun – selling skirts in a local clothing store, selling fabric sanitary pads locally and internationally through e-commerce. The freedom and joy of working for yourself was calling.

So the choice wasn't that difficult. With a 2-month-old baby and a 3-year-old, the moving truck headed to the big red house that my in-laws had built when they were the same age we were now.

But what do we do now? Parental leave gave me time to breathe. To fly kites with the children and think about what kind of company I wanted to start. Taking a job and commuting every day from this wonderful place wasn't even on the table.

I made a list of conditions. How much money I had to invest. What I wanted to do with my days, how flexible it needed to be. How fun it should be. Countless business ideas were tested against the list, and MNOP Jewelry was a perfect match!

But starting a business isn't a walk in the park. There's so much to learn about marketing, finance, bookkeeping, and sales. And I wasn't even a goldsmith! I could construct clothes, not jewelry!

Stone by stone, the company and my own knowledge were built. In January 2020, Lina started working with production. And in the fall, another position was created to handle shipping orders.

Now here we sit. Enjoying everything we've managed to accomplish. A fun and flexible job. Where it's not a catastrophe if you need to stay home with a sick child. Where we make comfortable jewelry by hand and sustainably. Where recycled silver is transformed into sleep-in earrings that follow you through both daily rushes and quiet moments. Where we can be proud of our production, our products, and our material choices.

And when we need a break from work, we just open the door. Breathe in the the rolling countryside. Let our eyes rest on the 500 year-old castle ruins on the other side of the lake. Or walk to the big oak tree that stands in the middle of the farmyard. Safe and stable and always ready for a grounding embrace.

Sometimes the best stories begin with a lost job.